Thinking Literature : Page 10 of 18 : English Literature Notes and study materials for B.A/M.A English honours and UGC-NET English aspirants.

Structuralism in English literature

November 5, 2022August 7, 2022 by Shyam

Ferdinand de Saussure is most known today for his 1916 publication, Cours de Linguistique Générale, which is essentially a compilation of his lectures. The English version of the same text was eventually published as Course in General Linguistics. Saussure contends that language functions as a structure.

Transcendentalism in American Literature

November 5, 2022August 3, 2022 by Shyam

A theological, intellectual, and literary movement known as transcendentalism emerged in the eastern United States during the first half of the nineteenth century. In opposition to empiricists and rationalists, the transcendentalists had doubts about knowledge derived from either perception or rationality. They asserted that knowledge should come from personal revelation and intuition rather than through human skepticism.

Epic Theater by Bertolt Brecht | Characteristics of epic theater

November 5, 2022July 26, 2022 by Shyam

A dramatic movement known as “epic theater” emerged in the early to mid-20th century from the beliefs and work of several theater artists, including Vladimir Mayakovsky, Erwin Piscator, Vsevolod Meyerhold, and—most notably—Bertolt Brecht.

Existentialism in English Literature

November 5, 2022July 22, 2022 by Shyam

Back in prehistoric Greece, Plato and Aristotle assumed that everything had an essence. A certain set of fundamental characteristics that are required for anything to be what it is. That object would be a different thing if those characteristics weren’t present. Now, Plato and Aristotle believed that everything, even ourselves, had an essence and they think that even before we are born, we already contain our essences. Our essence therefore provides us meaning. because our purpose when we are born is predetermined. Essentialism, as it is commonly called, was the dominant worldview until the late 19th century, and many individuals still hold it to this day.

Okonkwo Character analysis

November 5, 2022July 19, 2022 by Shyam

Okonkwo is the central character of Chinua Achebe’s Okonkwo, the timid and indolent Unoka’s son, tries to succeed in a society that seems to value manliness. By doing this, he disavows all he thinks his father stood for. Unoka was polite, engaged in music and conversation, indolent, impoverished, wasteful, and a coward. Okonkwo actively embraces opposing beliefs and develops into a successful, affluent, frugal, fearless, and aggressive man who is vehemently opposed to music and anything else he considers to be “soft,” such as conversation and feeling. He is really stoic.

Things Fall Apart as a Postcolonial Novel

November 5, 2022July 11, 2022 by Shyam

Nigerian novelist Chinua Achebe’s first book, “Things Fall Apart”, was released in 1958. It shows life before colonization in the southeast of Nigeria and the European invasion in the late 19th century. The story centers on Okonkwo, an Igbo man who is also a champion in wrestling in his locality. The book is divided into three sections: before colonization, during colonization, and after colonization. The first section introduces Okonkwo, his parents, and the larger Igbo community while the second and third sections discuss the impact of European colonialism and Christian missionaries on them.

Pre-Raphaelite brotherhood

November 5, 2022July 10, 2022 by Shyam

William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais, and Dante Gabriel Rossetti, three Royal Academy students, founded the Brotherhood in 1848 with the goal of reforming the Victorian art world by reviving the pure, uncomplicated art of the Middle Ages. At the Royal Academy and Free Exhibition Show in London in 1849, The Brotherhood made its debut. The initials “PRB” were used by the three men to sign their artworks in addition to their signatures.