tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4502985655295832482024-03-13T11:20:39.468-07:00For the Love of LiteratureI want to share my love and knowledge of Literature. I am especially keen to inspire students and help them do well in their exams.Constance Singamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13378706490905561442noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-450298565529583248.post-25932828251246089152011-03-01T00:23:00.000-08:002011-03-01T00:23:49.165-08:00New Criticism<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><!--StartFragment--> <br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I seem to remember studying the individual, social, historical background of writers and their writings to better understand their work. This approach at analysis offered a wide range of perspective on texts. But my students tell me that they are discouraged from doing so and are asked by their teachers to focus on the texts. This is the ‘New Criticism’ approach. ( It is called ‘new’ but it has been around for some 50 years now.)<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">This approach or technique of analysis is meant to deal with the poem in its own terms and as complete in itself. This requires a rigorous study of the text itself, a close reading and focussing on the structure of the work and aspects such as rhythm, meter, theme, imagery, metaphor, etc. Literary techniques are de rigueur. The meaning is to be found in the text itself. The text, the adherents to New Criticism claim, is autonomous.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">It ignores the fact that the reading is subjective and the reader is not<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>rational in her approach to the reading but brings into the reading her own perceptions and experiences. Critics of New Criticism also attack the technique as isolating “the work of art from its past and its context” and “uninterested in the human meaning, the social function and effect of literature”. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">In Singapore schools, focus on “New Criticism” poses difficult challenges to students whose first language is not English. I am often surprised to hear that students are expected to understand texts such as Mark Twain’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Huckleberry Finn</i>, and Alice Walker’s <i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Colour Purple</i> without the background knowledge of the history of slavery.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;">I wonder too what people will make of </span><span style="color: #001067; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Verdana; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-style: italic; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Pablo Picasso's<b><i> Mural "Guernica" (1937)</i></b> </span><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">about the bombing of Basque city of Guernica by German air force during Spanish Civil War. <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Arial; mso-bidi-font-size: 13.0pt;">Surely an understanding of the historical, social and even psychological background of the writer and his/her times, the artist and his subject will serve to enrich the experience of learning and teaching literature.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
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</div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Constance Singamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13378706490905561442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-450298565529583248.post-44926941343473020282011-02-06T03:27:00.000-08:002011-02-06T03:27:39.270-08:00<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">Poems, essays, novels have been my most reliable and happy companion. Beside my bed is one of my favourite books- "English Romantic Writers". The lines from Wordsworth's "Tintern Abbey" poem were read and re-read many times and each time I read it I feel the same sense of pleasure and comfort.<br />
A reader, if he or she is a lover of nature can relate to the poem; it is timeless in its beauty and resonance.<br />
<br />
Here is an excerpt:<br />
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</div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">…Once again<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> Do I behold these steep and lofty cliffs, <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">That on a wild secluded scene impress <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Thoughts of more deep seclusion; and connect<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"> The landscape with the quiet of the sky…<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;"><o:p> ...</o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">These beauteous forms,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Through a long absence, have not been to me<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As is a landscape to a blind man's eye:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">But oft, in lonely rooms, and 'mid the din<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of towns and cities, I have owed to them<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In hours of weariness, sensations sweet,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Felt in the blood, and felt along the heart;<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And passing even into my purer mind,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">With tranquil restoration: -- feelings too<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of unremembered pleasure: such, perhaps,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">As have no slight or trivial influence<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">On that best portion of a good man's life,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">His little, nameless, unremembered, acts<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of kindness and of love. Nor less, I trust,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">To them I may have owed another gift,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of aspect more sublime; that blessed mood,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In which the burthen of the mystery,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In which the heavy and the weary weight<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of all this unintelligible world,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Is lightened: -- that serene and blessed mood,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In which the affections gently lead us on, -- <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Until, the breath of this corporeal frame<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">And even the motion of our human blood<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Almost suspended, we are laid asleep<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In body, and become a living soul:<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">While with an eye made quiet by the power<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of harmony, and the deep power of joy,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">We see into the life of things.<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; 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</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">If this<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Be but a vain belief, yet, oh! how oft -- <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">In darkness and amid the many shapes<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Of joyless daylight; when the fretful stir<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Unprofitable, and the fever of the world,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">Have hung upon the beatings of my heart -- <o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="mso-layout-grid-align: none; mso-pagination: none; text-autospace: none;"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">How oft, in spirit, have I turned to thee,<o:p></o:p></span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><span style="color: #000d4f; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-ansi-language: EN-US; mso-bidi-font-family: Times; mso-bidi-font-size: 16.0pt; mso-bidi-font-weight: bold;">O sylvan Wye! ...</span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 14.0pt; mso-bidi-font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div><!--EndFragment--> </div>Constance Singamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13378706490905561442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-450298565529583248.post-1101283353988480292011-01-23T20:54:00.001-08:002011-01-23T21:09:55.073-08:00Literature and You<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<br />
Why Literature?<br />
<br />
Let us consider the two texts listed below<br />
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1.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>An Enemy of the People by Henrik Ibsen (1882)<br />
2.<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>The English Teacher by R. K. Narayan (1945)<br />
These two books, one a play and the other a novel although written at different times and come from different cultures, have common themes:-<br />
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1. Individuals against authority / against more powerful forces<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span><br />
2. Individuals who stand up for the good of the community<br />
3. Questions of moral responsibility<br />
4. Family values, ordinary lives upset by crisis, and wrestle with decisions of conscience and moral responsibility.<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #9fc5e8;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">These themes are universal, which means that a reader, whatever his or her background, can relate to the issues, to the themes, to the stories, to the characters and their struggles.<span></span><span></span></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;"> Why Literature? Why do we read them?</span><br />
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•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Story-telling was always a way of teaching. For instance all major religions have used stories/myths to teach about their religions and values. A good example of this is the Bible<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Historically oral story-telling was a way of passing down family myths, religious myths, cultural myths from generation to generation <br />
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•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> Stories offer us a world beyond our own experiences – a world without borders – different place, different times, different cultures –<br />
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•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> It gives us insight into other peoples and lives – their emotions, their hopes, their anxieties – they feel much like we do – learn that values are universal—we can relate to their fears, anxieties, hopes etc.<br />
<br />
•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span> These experiences educate us and makes us more human. For instance the reader of the The English Teacher cannot but identify and sympathise with the husband when he is almost destroyed by his wife Susila’s death .<br />
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•<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>Other themes that we in Singapore can relate to and are dealt in these stories are the marriage debate ( Susila’s views ) the Casino debate ( Tom and Peter Stockman) the Language debate ( Krishnan’s views on the English language and western culture) Father’s obligation and responsibilities etc. how to keep a budget.<br />
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Literature teaches us that the everyday lives of people everywhere are the same – they are quiet and simple, organized around the experience of love, families, making choices, coming to terms with disappointments, loss, death. But within those limitations people live full and balanced lives.<br />
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Good Literature brings these to life like no other forms of writing can.<br />
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Try writing an objective piece of writing – a report, an argumentative essay and then try a story. See which comes alive.<br />
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In summary<br />
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1. It IMPROVES our LANGUAGE AND WRITING SKILLS<br />
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2.DEVELOPS POWER OF IMAGINATION<br />
3.CULTIVATES CREATIVE THINKING<br />
4.Develops CRITICAL thinking skills<br />
5.DEVELOPS ANALYTICAL SKILLS<br />
IT IS FUN. YOU DON’T HAVE TO MUG<br />
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"<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">NOTHING WAS EVER TAUGHT EXCEPT THROUGH PLEASURE’ "</span><br />
WILLIAM WORDSWORTH<br />
<div><br />
</div></div>Constance Singamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13378706490905561442noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-450298565529583248.post-53986248840072920772011-01-19T21:08:00.001-08:002011-01-19T21:19:44.121-08:00Why Literature<!--StartFragment--> <br />
<div class="MsoNormal">Reading Literature. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Reading and then Literature came to my rescue at a time when I knew very little of the language and eons before the “Speak Good English” campaign began exhorting Singaporeans to speak good English. I was lucky in one other way – I had good teachers – self-confident, dedicated and free from central controls -<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>and a school environment which insisted that everybody, teachers and students, spoke good English.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">No other distractions, no other politics with regard to language teaching and learning, and no other strains of English distracted us from the acquisition of standard English. I was thirteen when I switched from my mother-tongue, Malayalam to English. It was not an easy adjustment to make but then I had no - where to go except to English if I wanted to be part of the mainstream of society.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">During my struggles with the language I discovered the pleasures of reading and literature. Reading newspapers, magazines and all the self-help books and self-improvements books that form the bulk of reading in Singapore don’t count, certainly not in developing one’s language skills and an appreciation of its beauty.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">But literature offers more than that and nobody extols the role of reading and literature<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>better than Harold Bloom, that great authority on the subject:</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“There is a prime reason why we should read: Information is endlessly available to us but where shall wisdom be found?... Reading is one of the most healing of pleasures… Ultimately we read to strengthen ourselves.”</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">“Searching for truth, I turn to fiction” wrote Joseph Nye, the author of “The Power Game: A Washington Novel.” He is the former dean of the Kennedy School of government at Harvard University and was responsible for the Carter administration’s efforts to slow the proliferation of nuclear weapons. As a longtime professor of international politics he used to suggest that his students supplement their academic readings with films and novels. In a recent article in The International herald Tribune” ( 11 March 2005) he explained why. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">In fiction, he said, he could elaborate the dreams and nightmares involved, ‘describe the struggles for power, the effects they have on friendships, and the problems of sorting out moral obligations…He wanted ‘to portray the way policy is influenced by the seductiveness of power, the temptations to prevail and the struggles to maintain one’s moral compass.’ Academic abstractions could not convey what it is like to wrestle with issues, as powerfully and as imaginatively as fiction could.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Another book “The Moral of the Story: An Anthology of Ethics Through Literature”, edited by Peter (a leading moral philosopher) and Renata Singer, draws on some of the best works of fiction, plays and poetry to demonstrate how literary sources can add richness to discussions of real-life moral questions and dilemmas.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">There are many more reasons for studying Literature for it offers immense opportunities in the classroom for developing the power of the imagination, creative thinking, critical and analytical skills, and writing skills, all of which are current major concerns for educationist in Singapore today. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">Unfortunately, literature was dropped from core curriculum in Singapore schools when it became focused on exams- for the achievement short-term gains rather than long-term goals of preparing young people for life and citizenship responsibilities. A 2002 survey in the United States (IHT 13 April 2005) suggests a correlation between a decline in reading with a decline in arts participation, declining levels of historical and political awareness and writing skills. </div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal">And a decline in the standard of English in Singapore. The best way to teach or learn a language is through Literature. In some countries, (for instance in Australia where English is the first language) literature and language are combined. So should our schools in Singapore.</div><div class="MsoNormal"><br />
</div><!--EndFragment-->Constance Singamhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13378706490905561442noreply@blogger.com0