21st CENTURY

WORLD LITERATURE 3 Ways of LOOKING at World Literature:

- Connection & Communication
1. CLASSICS
- Global Context
- Sums Total of the world’s national - work of transcendent ; fundamental
literature. value.
- circulation of work beyond country’s - talks about TIME (Long lasting).
origin. - Value: Moral
- lit. that Gains Translation.
- inspire New Genres, enrich Local Ex. Greek & Roman Literature
Tongue’s Vocabulary through * the Aeneid by Vergil
Adaptations of new words, concepts, * The odyssey by Homer
meanings at diff. time & places. * Shakespear’s works & plays.

1. Part of local culture. - Talks about important values such as

2. Influences Regional Culture. honour , courage & strength of
3. Later becomes; part of the Global character.
community.
2. MASTERPIECE
Moves: Local —> Regional —> Global
- outstanding achievement of an
Lit. Sandard:
artist.
UNIVERSALITY
- can be Old / Contemporary Works.
- works that are able to Adjust, Adopt
& Aquire meaning in diff. cultures
Ex. The Great Gatsby by F. Scott
- Fitzgerald
Classic Examples of World Lit.: Faust by Geotte

ORATURE- (composed & transmitted 3. Multiple WINDOWS in the

ORALLY before writing was introduced.) WORLD
- Poetry
- Stories - serves as “WINDOWS” in foreign
- Theatrical Pieces worlds.
- Songs
- gives glimpses of the World Outside
Our Own.
- Myths
- You become someone else when you
- Legends go out.
 Ex. Narnia; Nutcracker; Alice in - formulates the Relationship between
the Wonderland Author & Work.
- develops the significance of race,
21st Century- can hardly be a Classics (
class & gender of literary study.
written in Contemporary times [Today].
- need the TEST OF TIME to be - trace the history & evolution of diff
genres (narratice, dramatic & etc.).
considered CLASSICS.
- What has been developed?
- can be. MASTERPIECE / MULTIPLE
Examples of Literary Theories:
WINDOWS TO THE WORLD.
A. FEMINISM
Reading World Literature:

- helps us to be more EMPATHETIC. - Feminist Criticism

- Oppression of Women (economic,
- They can feel what it was like... political, social, psychological)
- Settings & Characters might be diff. - Marginalization
& unfamiliar. (Readers can find - misogyny- hatred to women.
Commonalities of Human
Experiences & find out we are all The
Same.)

21st CENTURY LIT B. POST-COLONIAL

- considered as World Lit. but not
Classic. - produced by those who were
- helps us to be more EMPATHETIC: colonized.
- authors are Euro=centric hegemony,
being able to feel what the author
feels.
C. HISTORIOGRAPHIC METAFICTION
Ex. Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood
(gives interpretation of Homer’s The - rejecting present beliefs & standard
Odyssey) on the past.
- Combined parody of past works.
“21st Century Lit can be understood
through Literary Theories.” Historical Fiction
- a story set in the past, often during
LITERARY THEORIES: a significant time period.
- body of ideas.
- theory that reveal what Literature Metafiction
can mean. - parody
 - fiction that is from another fiction. - dangerous mix of divine power &
Ex. Maleficent human insecurity, prone to jealousy
& grudges.

D. WORLD ENGLISHES XENIA

- ancient code of Hospitality.
- english as a medium of expression - Hosts provides Guests: Safety, Food
from diff. countries. & Comfort.

WORLD HISTORY LIT.: Today’s World : HISTORY & LITERATURE

have a small GAP
- in ancient time they are considered : separate discipline
to be 2 parts of a whole.
- World history that... Ancient World: two parts of a whole
:the same
: a way to interpret the world in two
different ways.
THE ODYSSEY & THE ILIAD by Homer:
Note: The Odyssey and Iliad by Homer -
- contains historical aspects.
considered as part of Greek oral History.
- time of Homer believed the myths to
be true. “A LOW ART” an Excerpt from
- part of Greek Oral History. Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood:

Vocabulary:
ODYSSEY • Factoid - briefly stated; trivial fact
- made for LISTENERS rather than
READERS. • Eminent - “Superior” exhibiting
- Troy Story II eminence; standing above others in
- Composed of 24 Books & 24,000 Line some quality / position.
Poems
• Compulsion - irresistible persistent
Performed by RHAPSODES “Stitching impulse to perform an act; can’t
Together (Oral Poets) control.

HOMER • Edifying - enlightening / inspiring

- blind author
• Inklings - slight knowledge / vague
GREEK PANTHEON notion. (*gamay na idea)
 • Unscrupulous - immoral 2nd Part:
- Penelope as role model for all
• Minstrel - class of medieval musical women.
entertainers.
3rd Part:
• Preposterous - absurd - Penelope didn’t question his
husband’s actions.
Characters:
4th Part:
• Odysseus - King; Wise; Brave;
Arrogant
- Low Art (chismis sang mga hisaon)
- 10 Years after Trojan War 5th Part:
- 7 Years = stuck sa Island. - Spin thread of my own = Penelope
- 20 years = wala ka puli sa Ithaca. will tell her own story.

• Penelope - faithful wife. MEXICO:

- Spaniards colonized Mexico.
• Telemachus - son of Odyssseus & Language Barrier ruins communication
Penelope
was a problem before.

• Athena - helped Odysseus We employ translators to avoid

miscommunication & war.
• Poseidon - cursed his trip Great Civilizations that RULED Mexico:
behave & dress like Indians
• Circe - turned into pic • Mayan
• Olmec
• Calypso - Immortal goddess
• Toltec
Pillows • Aztec
Lastrigonean
Aeaen
“LA MINCHE” by Laura Esquivel (2006)
Underworld Name:
Aeae
I. Malinal - noble born
Syrin II. Malintzin - put into slavery
III. The Tongue - learned a lot of
1st Part:
languages
- Manipulator (making fool of people) IV. Doña Marina - became a translator
V. La Malinche - she became a traitor
 • Flabby - (of a part of a persons’s body)
Vocabulary: soft, loose & fleshy.
• Resonant - echoing
• Enormous - large, immeasurable great • Contaminated - make (something)
space impure by exposure to / addition of a
• Abyss - deep / bottomless poisonous / polluting substance.
• Cosmos - universe seen as a well-
My body will be mine when I’m thin. I will
ordered whole
eat a little at a time, small bites. I will
vanquish ice cream. I will purge with
“Words have energy and power with the
green juices. I will see chocolate a poison
ability to help, to heal, to hinder, to hurt,
and pasta as a form of self- punishment. I
to harm, to humiliate and to humble
will work not to feel full again. Always
moving toward full, approaching full but
“THE GOOD BODY LANGUAGE” by Eve
never really full. I will embrace my
Ensler
emptiness, I will ride into holy zones. Let
me be hungry. Let me starve. Please.
Vocabulary:
Bread is Satan. I stop eating bread. This is
• Vanquish - to defeat thoroughly. the same as not eating food. Four days in,
a scrawny actress friend tells me, “Eve,
• Purge - free someone (from unwanted your stomach has nothing to do with
feeling, memory / condition) diet.” What? “It’s the change of life,” she
says. “All you need is some testosterone.”
• Testosterone - steroid hormone that I try to imagine what I would be like,
stimulates development of male totally bread deprived and shot up with
secondary sexual characteristics, testosterone. “Serial killer” comes to
produced mainly in the testes. mind.
Hahahahaha
I’m walking down a New York City street,
• Neurosis - (in non technical use) and I catch a glimpse of this blond,
excessive & irrational anxiety/ pointy- breasted, raisin-a-day stomached
obsession. smiling girl on the cover of Cosmo
magazine. She is there every minute,
somewhere in the world, smiling down
• Omnipresent - widely / constantly on me, on all of us. She’s omnipresent.
encountered; common / widespread.
She’s the American Dream, my personal
nightmare.
• Scone - small unsweetened/ lightly
sweetened biscuit-like cake. Pumped straight from the publishing
powerplant into the bloodstream of our
culture and neurosis. She is multiplying
on every corner. She was passed through
my mother’s milk and so I don’t even 1. UN- United Nations
know that I’m contaminated. - organization of 193 countries formed
after World War II to prevent
Don’t get me wrong. I pick up the international conflict and promote world
magazine. No, no, no. It’s the possibility peace.
of being skinny good that keeps me
buying. I discover a Starbucks maple
walnut scone expanding in me, creeping 2. WhatsApp
out. Flabby age leaking through the - mobile messaging app.
cracks. Big Macs, French fries, Pizza Land,
four helpings, can’t stop. My stomach is 3. Latrine
America. I want to drown in the cement.
- toilet or outhouse,
Obviously I’m missing something. Maybe
if I go find the woman who thought this - used by large groups in a camp.
up, she’ll reveal the secret.
4. NGO
“Diary of a teenage refugee” by Amira - stands for non-governmental
organization,”
- Spring of 2011. - any not-for-profit citizens' group that
* protests erupted in the Middle Eastern is organized on a local, national, or
country of Syria against President international level.
Bashar Al-Assad’s government
“Diary of a teenage refugee.”
— lead to violence and rebellion.
One night the bombs were coming closer
* NOW: Syria is experiencing a Civil War and closer. We were all sitting together
- 400,000 dead downstairs because we couldn’t sleep. As
- 4.8 million refugees left their country. houses were being destroyed one by one
- 6.3 million had to flee their homes. in our village, neighbours were running
from one house to the next. So some
neighbours were gathered in our house
* Millions left in poor living conditions;
too.
shortages of food & drinking water.
A rocket landed on the roof of our house,
- from 16 yrs. old Syrian girl named but no one was injured. We ran in fear to
Amira. another house. We were so terrified we
(detailing the past three years of her life didn’t even think about taking anything
in a refugee camp in the neighboring with us. Soon after, our house was totally
country of Lebanon.) destroyed. We left with no IDs, nothing.

Terms:
Our dad took us out of the country We can’t go to school here, and there are
through a smuggler. We escaped that no jobs available because too many
night in a rented car. Whenever we people are looking for work. We don’t
passed a checkpoint, we hid under the even have any books. So we just help out
seats of the car and the driver covered us with cooking and cleaning, or watch TV
up. all day. We are really bored.

We crossed the border illegally, through To pass the time we do each other’s hair
the mountains. We got out near the and draw pictures of each other, or listen
border and had to walk about 100 metres to popular songs on the TV. We also
across the mountain. When we heard a make our own clothes.
plane, we started running. We were very
scared. We are afraid because the government
doesn’t know we are here. If they find
When we arrived at the refugee camp, out, we could be sent back to Syria. But
there were already many tents. We the UN protects us.
bought some materials to make a tent—
some wood and plastic sheeting. The Some of the people who are not
men built it. Our tent has two rooms and registered go into the mountains and
a kitchen area. There are 13 of us living hide whenever the officials come to
here. count people in the camp. Then they
The neighbours helped us by giving us come back to the camp afterwards.
things like bottled water, mattresses,
blankets, cups and plates. We could pick
up and leave at any time, as we don’t We hear from home mostly via
have anything of value here. My most WhatsApp and sometimes TV. Only a few
treasured things are my necklaces. I wear old people are still living in our village.
them all at the same time, because they There are a few rooms still standing in
have many memories. One was given to the destroyed houses, and they live in
me by a boyfriend, but I don’t want my those.
mother to know about that.
We have to pay for water to be brought
We have so many needs that you can’t in by truck, but it’s very dirty. But now we
count them. At home things were cheap. have a water filter in our tent. We now
Everything is expensive here. We even have a latrine that was installed by an
have to pay for water. In winter there NGO. We receive food distributions, so
was snow halfway up the sides of our we have enough food. We make large
tent and we couldn’t even see out of it. amounts of simple meals that we can
At home we had our own bedrooms, but share out easily for all the children, like
here we all sleep together in the tent on rice, beans and peas. There are shops,
the ground. hairdressers and tailors here.
It helps to know that we are not alone, as
there are many others here in the same
situation as us.
We’ve been here for three years now. We
miss everything about home. We would
love to go back.