Essay; Literarture
Faizal Risdianto,S.S,M.Hum 4 INTRODUCTION TO LITERATURE
CHAPTER II ENGLISH LITERATURE
2.1
WHAT’S ENGLISH LITERATURE? To answer this question, you should first know the meaning of literature? There are a
lot of definitions of literature. Some short explanation on it would be useful for you. Very often it simply means anything that is written: time tables, dialogues, textbooks, travel brochures and so on. If you are thinking of buying a bicycle or a motorcycle or a washing machine, you will probably want to see the literature about it. If you are medical student, you will have to read the literature about surgery. An advertisement for soap is as much literature as Shakespeare’s plays or Dickens’s novels. So, we may conclude all written materials, like this general grouping: historical books, magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, novels, catalogues, plays, short stories, encyclopedias, etc. We can divide this large mass of material into two different groups. The first one mainly presents information and the next mainly gives some entertainment. In English we use the word in at least two different ways: Informative literature and imaginative literature. Informative literature tells us about facts, explanations, history, real ‘great’ life figure, etc. It tells us the world, for instance, the life of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, The story of Malcolm-X, etc. Its main purpose is to offer knowledge. Hence, there is also imaginative literature that aims to arouse thoughts and feelings. Its author expresses his ideas, his feelings, his attitude, he may talks of things; people, etc. He wants to communicate feelings, not facts; emotion, not information only. Imaginative literature according to many men of letters and writers has fuller and deeper sense than informative literature. Now when we use the term of literature in this book, we will be talking about written material that deals with thought and feelings in imaginative or ‘serious’
CHAPTER II ENGLISH LITERATURE
2.1
WHAT’S ENGLISH LITERATURE? To answer this question, you should first know the meaning of literature? There are a
lot of definitions of literature. Some short explanation on it would be useful for you. Very often it simply means anything that is written: time tables, dialogues, textbooks, travel brochures and so on. If you are thinking of buying a bicycle or a motorcycle or a washing machine, you will probably want to see the literature about it. If you are medical student, you will have to read the literature about surgery. An advertisement for soap is as much literature as Shakespeare’s plays or Dickens’s novels. So, we may conclude all written materials, like this general grouping: historical books, magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, novels, catalogues, plays, short stories, encyclopedias, etc. We can divide this large mass of material into two different groups. The first one mainly presents information and the next mainly gives some entertainment. In English we use the word in at least two different ways: Informative literature and imaginative literature. Informative literature tells us about facts, explanations, history, real ‘great’ life figure, etc. It tells us the world, for instance, the life of Prophet Muhammad PBUH, Napoleon was defeated at Waterloo, The story of Malcolm-X, etc. Its main purpose is to offer knowledge. Hence, there is also imaginative literature that aims to arouse thoughts and feelings. Its author expresses his ideas, his feelings, his attitude, he may talks of things; people, etc. He wants to communicate feelings, not facts; emotion, not information only. Imaginative literature according to many men of letters and writers has fuller and deeper sense than informative literature. Now when we use the term of literature in this book, we will be talking about written material that deals with thought and feelings in imaginative or ‘serious’