World Lit Midterm

David Damrosch 

• -ability to find ones self in the
• literature

-timeless 

• -written expression that exposes
• different cultures 

• Goethe coined the term world literature
• (Weitliteratur in German) 

• the international circulation and reception of literary works in early 19th century
• and shows a sense of an arising global modernity

National literature is now a rather unmeaning term; the epoch of world literature is at hand and everyone must strive to hasten its approach 

• the
• network of world lit has an economic character 

Frits Strich 

• "National one-sidededness and
• narrow-mindeddness become more and more impossible, and from the numerous
• national and local literatures there arises a world lit."

• -world lit is the quintessential lit of modern times 
• -Marx and Engles (wrote Communist Manifesto)

Claudio Guillen 

David Damrosch  (Harvard) 

• a work of lit can often reach out beyond its own time and place, but conversely
• it can also provide a privileged mode of access into some of the deepest
• qualities of its culture of origin 

second half of the 20th century

David Damrosch

• concerned about the study of world literature in translation, which could diminish the importance of the
• original language and context of the text.

• Some scholars emphasize the need to pay attention to original language and contexts. 

David Damrosch 

1) Hsuan Tsang/Tripitaka

• -empty center of the group, carried
• forward by his more active disciples, both willing and unwilling

• 2) Sun Wu-Kung, Monkey
• Aware-of-Vacuity

• -vital, humorous, mischievous,
• adventurous, arrogant & rebellious (but becomes faithful to his master and
• committed to the pilgrim)

3) The Bodhisattva, Kuan-yin

• -potential Buddha helping suffering
• humanity

Chinese- Ming dynasty (1368-1644)

• Based on journey of the Buddhist
• monk Hsuan Tang (aka Tripitaka) from China to India in search of Buddhist
• scriptures during the T'ang Dynasty (618-907) 

-17th century work -published in many chapters which are independent but also have a continuous story told and added to over many centuries

-things added in episodes 

Journey of immortality

Supernatural aspect

Translated Journey to the West and renamed it Monkey

1) "literary/classical" spoken

2) written story

• -classical stories: short pieces
• with emphasis on particular phrasing

-vernacular stories

-manner of oral storytelling

-detailed descriptions

-lively dialogue

• -speculation on the motives of the
• characters

• -fantastic creatures: gods, demons,
• and bizarre kingdoms

-descriptive and repetitive

-hyperbolic

-phrases indicate a serial form

• Buddha teaching
• All things are on fire

• That which you think are important
• are not important/all things change

To achieve enlightenment,  you must detach yourself from the world

Sensory input things are illusions and are not important 

1830-1886

Gothic poetess

• The Narrow Road to the Deep North 
• Japanese
• Haiku
• Seasonal, paradoxical, centerline twist (snow on the pine tree/chills my body warm by fire/insulating cold)

• Russia
• 1860-1904
• His 
grandfather 
had
 been 
a 
serf 
who
eventually 
saved
 enough 
money 
to
 
• purchase 
his 
freedom

Chekhov
 managed 
to
 work 
as 
both 
a 
physician 
and 
a 
writer 
until
 he
 died (“Medicine 
is
 my
 lawful 
wife, 
and
 writing 
is
my 
mistress.”)

Bought an estate in 1894

Symbolic for a grandson of a serf to become a landlord

His plays were radically experimental


His plays did not typically have a strong political or moral message

• Worked from 1930's on USSR leaders insisted his plays be produced across the country showing how the lower class could rise
• In the West, his work was taken to stand for individualism and human dignity

• His work continues to be difficult to categorize
• Innovative drama
• -no melodrama; each charater is just as complex and just as simple as life
• -stresses ensembles instead of heroes and moods instead of actions
• -shows attention to detail (relates to his medical training)
• -concise

Stanislavsky’s 
production hailed as "one of the greatest events in the history of Russian theater and one of the greatest new developments in the history of world drama"

• 1904
• Depicts Russia at end of 19th century
• Tsar Alexander II officially ended serfdom in 1861 diminishing the influence of landowners (and pseudo aristocracy)
• -the shift in wealth and power brought a sense of impending crisis
• -Bloody Sunday launched Russian Revolution of 1905

• 1) Tragedy of downfall of Russian aristocracy
• 2) Prophesy of approaching feudal Russia and happier future

• Paradoxical blend of comedy and tragedy
• -social picture firmly set in specific historical time: dissolution of the landed gentry & rise of peasant
• -Chekhov in his distrust of ideologies and heroics extends his sympathy to all characters

owner of the estate and the cherry orchard around which the story revolves. 

 A businessman, and the son of peasants on Ranevsky's estate. 

• Gayev is Ranevsky's brother. He has several intriguing verbal habits; he frequently describes tricky billiards shots at odd and inappropriate times. He also will launch into overly sentimental and rhetorical
• speeches before his niece Anya stops him, after which he always mutters "I
• am silent" at least once. 

Ranevksy's adopted daughter, who is twenty-fouryears old. She is in love with Lopakhin, but she doubts that he will ever propose to her.

• Ranevksy's biological daughter, Anya is seventeen years old. She seems to have
• lived a sheltered life. Anya and Trofimov become so close that Varya fears they
• may become romantically involved.

A student at the local university, he knows Ranevsky fromtutoring her son Grisha before he died

 A nobleman, and fellow landowner,who is, like Ranevsky, in financial difficulties. Pischik is characterizedmainly by his boundless optimism—he is always certain he will find the moneysomehow to pay for the mortgages that are due—but also by his continualborrowing money from Ranevsky

Anya's governess

Ranevsky's eighty-seven-year-old manservant. he frequentlytalks about how life was before the serfs were freed. He is possibly senile,and is constantly mumbling.

Yephikodov is a clerk at the Ranevsky estate. He lovesDunyasha, to whom he has proposed.

the young manservant who has been traveling with Ranevsky ever since she left for France. He is always complaining about how uncivilized Russia iswhen compared to France. He has a strong taste for acrid-smelling cigars.

A maid on the Ranevsky estate. She functions mainly as a foil to Yasha, her innocent naïveté and love for him emphasizing and making clear his cynicism and selfishness. She is also the object of Yephikodov's affections, a status about which she is very confused.

Was 
first 
released 
in
 South 
Korea 
in
 2003.


Was 
released 
in 
the 
U.S. 
in 
2004.


Is
 divided 
into 
five
 sections 
(the 
five
seasons of 
the 
title)

Was
 a 
clear 
departure
 from 
the 
director’s
previous, 
extremely 
cruel 
films.


Received 
many 
awards,
 including 
awards
from San
 Sebastian 
International 
Film
Festival.

• Franz Kafka (1883-1924)
• Bohemia/Austria-Hungary
• The Metamorphosis 1915

• 1883-1924
• Jewish born in Catholic Bohemia (he studied Judaism and Hebrew)

Son of a German-speaking shop keeper (German was the language imposed by Austro-Hungaria government)

Drawn to lit when his father pushed him towards success in business

Resented his father's overbearingness, but felt deprived of his mother's love

Lived with his parents most of his life

Worked for a large insurance company from 1908 to 1922 until he retired because of his TB

Novellas: 

The Metamorphosis (1915)

In the Penal Colony (1919)

Story Collection

The Country Doctor (1919)

A Hunger Artist (1924)

Novels

The Trial (1925)

The Castle (1926)

Amerika (1927)

• Korea Ch’ae Man-Sik (1902-1950)
• Modern histories of Korea and Japan

Everyday realities of Colonial Korea

The unreliable narrator

• Characteristics of Modernist
• literature

Irony and satire

Treatment of women

Title of the story