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The Enlightenment Enlightenment: An intellectual movement that started in seventh century England that spread throughout the world. It dealt with the ideas of: god, nature, reason, human rationality, perfection of society, secularisation, progress, optimism, and individualism. From the beginning, the Enlightenment centered around the greatness of the rational thinking of man. The period of Enlightenment was a time of extensive change in people's lives and ways of thinking. It lead to the critical reform, and eventually revolutionization of the arbitrary, authoritarian state. Economic and social advancement of the middle classes also helped to characterize the social history behind the enlightenment movement. Some beliefs of the Enlightenment period were: 1) Reason is the most significant and positive capacity of the human; 2) Reason makes all humans equal and, therefore, deserving of equal liberty and treatment before the law; 3) All human endeavors should seek to impart and develop knowledge, not feelings or character; 4) Separation of power, in which the power of the executive, legislative and judiciary would be divided and brought together under a constitutional monarchy. Some of the writers which helped to advance these views were Voltaire, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Diderot, Holbach and d'Alembert.  Example: One of the literary works to emerge at this time was Candide by Voltaire. In which, Voltaire, pokes fun at optimism through the tale of a young man named Candide. Who ridiculously keeps an optimistic view through the most terrible of circumstances, including the death of his best friend. At one point one of the characters says, "I have wanted to kill myself a hundred times, but somehow I am still in love with life." Enlightenment Timeline  Compiled by: Amanda, Natalie & Miranda

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Marxist Criticism:  (Angel Murphy)

    In order to explain Marxist Criticism, we'll need some background on Karl Marx and his work The Communist Manifesto.
Marx believed that society can be separated into two groups:
Proletariat, the working class.
Bourgeoisie, the ruling class.
Mode of Production, guide or structure of an economy, such as capitalism.
Base, economic system.
Superstructure, the institutions, includes literature, within a society.
    The way in which the bourgeoisie and the proletariat classes interact affects our economy. The understood guide for an economy is their mode of production. Our economic system and the beliefs that create it, are what Marx referred to as a base. The base both supports and determines the superstructure, which is the institutions that society puts into place, our legal system is an example. This relationship represents a societies ideology: the common ideas that guide a group. Therefore the tension between the bourgeoisie and the working class created in their interactions influences society. Any changes in the way they interact produces historically documented shifts in society. Marxist criticism is based on the fact that society is always moving and changing.
    Marxist critics of literature believe that literature is a major stimulus towards the evolution of societal opinions and attitudes. Literature is a superstructure. Therefore literature affects the way the proletariat and the bourgeoisie interact. The literature can either support the current base and ideologies or inspire change. The only requirement of being good literature is that the author must knowingly create the work to have some social significance.
    A book such as Betty Freidan's The feminist Mystique incited women to speak up, step out, and promote change. This is obviously a extreme example of literature effecting opinion. But it is good literature according to Marxist criticism. A girl in the 1960's probably did not know that her unhappiness with current gender discrimination was almost universally felt by all women. Most members of a generation, especially the young, feel that they are alone. Later, historians can document mass societal changes based on society sharing common thoughts concerning social issues. The single individual is unaware at the time that they are, in fact, part of a larger movement. Literature can bring social issues into the spotlight and inspire people to either promote change or support the current ideologies.
    Marxist criticism intends to discover the social importance of a work and determine whether it is for the current system or calling for a change. The impact of literature on society is extremely evident and some works have obviously impacted society to a greater degree than others. However, this does not change the fact that Marxist criticism considers every work important, as long as the author takes a stance in some way.

 http://www.cumber.edu/litcritweb/theory/marxism.htm

http://www.lawrence.edu/dept/english/courses/60A/marxist.html#marxlit
 
 

Medieval Literature was Literature written in the Medieval period ( 800~1500 ) (Lynn & Joey) Example 1:   Sir Gawain and the Green Knight - Written in poem form.This piece of Lit. has the theme of Chivary and honor. The Green Knight is said to be a shape shifter the author is unknown, partially because this story was told by word of mouth. Example 2.   Beowulf: Written around 1000, the author is unknown. Beowulf was told by minstrals and word of mouth. Medieval Lit was most written in old English and is past mouth to mouth. Example 3. Cantebury tales by Geoffery Chaucer was writtin in the late 1300  and is in poem form. Its made up of  many different stories about some travelers going on a pilgramige to Cantebury and each traverler tells a story, Lynn's Medieval research paper

 
 

Modern Literature 1900-1940 Erica Foss and Dana Garry what is modernism?   modernism is a time in our history when traditional values began to change and literature became an outlet for the troubled and rebellious souls. modernism attempted to rethink science, art, culture, ethics, philosophy and psychology. It attempted to the find new or hidden meaning in the human experience and had to deal with coming to terms with new ideas. what got modernism started?   modernism is the product of the first world war and its destruction. it is also a rebellion by the young. modernism is basically a break with tradition. what did wwi have to do with the beginning of modernism?     The horrors of war that were endured were a big influence on the writers. those that lived through: trench warfare, aerial bombardments and the other fighting tactics, were scared by them. why were the younger generations concitered part of the start of modernism?     in the 1920's the first youth movement began, it was titled the "cult of youth". two things happened to the young: 1) the idea that the young were wiser than their elders became accepted also that the older generation looked to the younger for guidance became an accepted thought. 2) the young were not admonished for their rebellion but rather admired. where there any other contributors to the modernist movement?     Yes, there are two more contributors. the rise of popular culture and disillusionment with american values. The rise of popular culture has to do with "high" and "low" culture. High culture is the entertainment media of the well educated. They tended to like the difficult works of literature and experimental music. The low culture liked the mass entertainment : cinema, phonograph record and paperback novels.  the two ways that modernists have adapted to the gap between the "high and low" cultures is by two terms: Elitism- addressing works to smaller, more highly educated public and accommodation- the deliberate incorporation of popular culture into their works.     The disillusionment of american values took root in the government. Several contributors are: prohibition, goverment corruption, the great depression and the ties of fascism in europe. is modernism a highly educated american thing?   no, anyone could do the modernist thing. there was the harlem renaissance, which was the african americans who found their voice in the 1920's, they began to write their oral tradition down. Then the beat poets (1950's) group of middle class writers. Americans were not the only ones to write in the modernist style there were authors from europe and russia to name a few. Who are some of the authors of the modernist period and what did they write?   John steinbeck- the grapes of wrath sinclair lewis-main street joseph conrad-heart of darkness lewis carroll- alice in wonderland e.e.cummings- my father lived through the dooms   of love william faulkner- sound and fury anton chekov-sea gull (play) fydor dostoievsky- notes from underground franz kafka- the metamorphasis leo tolstoy- anna karenina william butler yeats- the wonderings of oisin (poetry) james joyce- portrait of the artist as a young man

 

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Post-Modernism:  (Raphael Duncan & Richelle Braun)

Post-Modernism: contrasted by Modernism, whose authors attempted to come to new terms with old ideas in attempt to find the "deep structure" of the human experience, Post-Modernism is identifiable by authors who were highly skeptical of any "deep structure," regarding all structures as subjective and ideologically tainted

Example:

The Garden of Forking Paths by Jorge Luis Borges - Published in 1941, Paths tells the story of a Chinese teacher spying for the Germans on a final mission that will lead him to a startling revelation (insert scary music here). This work is blatantly Post-Modern in that it regards our structure for what life is as "ideologically tainted." Centering on the thought that there is such a thing as a "forking in time," that every choice we might have made actually was, and is currently playing out in an alternate reality. Right now you are carrying out your life as usual - in an alternate reality you may be dead. In the manner that it mystifies our sense of the world, it is a clearly Post-Modern work.
 
 
 
 

Psychoanalysis (1): a group of theories which concern the relationship between the conscious and the unconscious.   Psychological Criticism(2):   the application of psychoanalysis within literature.  There are three basic questions psychologists try to answer with this method. One:  How are the author’s psychological conflicts revealed in his or her work? Two:  What is an in-depth analysis of the characters if they were real people? Three:  What is the appeal of the work to the readers in relation to their own ability to work out hidden desires and fears?     Pride and Prejudice: A Psychological Criticism Applied by Katy Holt and Malene A. Little  Jane Austen, author of Pride and Prejudice   Characters  Readers    1. http://www.utdallas.edu/kmarshal/lit/criticism.htm accessed 5/1/02  2. A Dictionary of Literary and Thematic Terms; Edward Quinn; Facts on File, Inc.  New York: 1999, page 263.

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Renaissance: (1485-1603) French for "rebirth"(Rosanne & Tonya) This time period was characterized by an intellectual and economic growth in Europe. This was an age for artistic, social, scientific, and political thought. Major Renaissance Literature: William Shakespeare: basically everything written by Shakespeare is well-known and revered today. Sir Thomas More: author of Utopia, this book illustrated a perfect society; basically outlining how Europe (or any other country) could attain it. Edmund Spenser: probably best well-known for his multi-volumed work The Faerie Queene.

Romantic Period 1750-1850: (William Deline & Shelly Folkestad)

The writers of this period did not seem happy with their world. They were interested in remote and far away places, the medieval past, folklore and legends, supernatural things, and nature and the common man.

One type of work that originated from this period was the Gothic novel. This was a horror story focused on violence and the supernatural. This type of novel influenced writers such as Nathaniel Hawthorne and Edgar Allen Poe.

Among the more notable authors of this time period are Charles Dickens, John Keats, Sir Walter Scoot, Lord Byron, Jakob and Wilhelm Grimm, William Wordsworth, and Jane Austen.

Jane Austen's works typify this period. Pride and prejudice, for example, focuses on remote and far-away, almost fairy tale like places, though the action isn't fairy-tale like. Nature and the common man is a recurring theme and the supernatural idea of the love evolves are exressionistic of the Romantic period.

Painters in the Romantic period tended to use bold lighting and deep shadow effects. They were interested in far away exotic subjects like Oriental themes. Dramatic scenes of nature were provided by many painters of this time period. Perhaps the best example of a Romantic painter was Delacroix.

Romantic music was modified classical music. It was aimed at lyric expression and organic unity. Folk songs were often used as themes. Schubert, Mendelssohn, Schumann, VonWeber, and Chopin are among the better known musicians of this period.

Romantic society tended to oppose political tyranny and individuals took part in revolutionary activities. The revolutions in France and America in the late 18th century were influenced by romantics. These revolutionaries were associated with economic and social reform, having many of the same views and themes as writers of this time period did.
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The Victorian Era (Liz Koenig) The Facts ~named after Queen Victoria who reigned as queen of Britain from 1837 to 1901 ~includes most of the 19th century (1800's) ~known as the era of grace, beauty and elegance ~saw more changes socially, industrially and scientifically than any other era                     ~free trade was adopted                     ~telephone and railway use became more popular The "Proper" way to do things Men visting women     What is acceptable:         ~must wear dark suit and dark gloves         ~shoes must be taken off in hallway         ~on his first call he must have a card for each lady in the household                     ~they are indications of his character*                          *today this is known as a bad way to pickup chics at the bar         ~the man and woman always needs a chaperone     What is not acceptable:         ~calling during lunch hour or dinner         ~bringing your dog along         ~mentioning that the room is chilly or ask her to come closer to the fire Women visiting women     What is acceptable:         ~keep a list of acquaintances and keep a regular visiting book         ~if you call in the morning only stay 15 minutes or less         ~if you call in the evening you can stay up to an hour Advice for newlyweds     For the wife:         ~be polite to any guests your husband brings home         ~do not change your dress & appearance after marriage     For the husband:         ~be a true gentleman and considerably polite at home         ~his evenings should be spent at home and in her society         ~rude and harsh things should not be said after or before marriage Etiquette of the table     Do not:         ~slouch         ~fidget         ~talk loud         ~blow soup to make it cool         ~break bread into your soup         ~do not eat too much of one thing to draw attention         ~do not eat too fast                     From website: http://www.thevictorianemporium.net Literature of the time     Authors:         ~Jane Austen                 ~Pride and Prejudice         ~Charles Dickens                 ~Great Expectations                         "And then I looked at the stars, and considered how awful  would be for a man to turn his face up to them as he froze to death and see no help or pity in all the glittering multitude."         ~Charlotte Bronte                 ~Poem "Parting"                             There's no use in weeping                             Through we are condemned to part:                             There's such a thing as keeping                             A remebrance in one's heart:                             There's such a thing as dwelling                             On the thought ourselves have nursed                             And with scorn and courage telling                             The world to do its worst.                             Will not let its follies grieve us,                             We'll just take them as they come;                             And then everyday will leave us,                             A merry laugh for home.                             When we've left each friend and brother,                             When we've parted wide and far,                             We will think of one another,                             As even better then we are.                             Every glorious sight above us,                             Every pleasant sight beneath,                             We'll connect with those that love us,                             Whom we truly love till death!                             In the evening, when we're sitting                             By the fire perchance alone,                             Then shall heart with warm heart meeting,                             Give responsive tone for tone.                             We can burst the bonds which chain us,                             Which cold human hands have wrought,                             And were none shall dare restrain us,                             We can meet again, in thought.                             So there's no use in weeping,                             Bear a cheerful spirit still;                             Never doubt that Fate is keeping                             Future good for present ill!                     From websites: http://victorian.fortunecity.com   1870's Bustle Gown-            Bustline 30-31"        Waistline 25"     1890's wedding dress-       Bustline 30"        Waistline 22"  1894 Promenade Gown            Bustline 32"            Waistline 25"                                                    Circa 1870 Man's Suit      Waist 34"     Inseam  29"    Pictures from Website: http://victorianelegance.com

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Xavier - a type of wolf that loves computers.
 

Xavier surfing the net.

The ANTI-Xavier.