Literature: What, Why and How

What, Why and How of Studying Literature

1. 

An introduction to the discipline of Literature

As a part of student-reflection on learning, they are asked to add a page on their Digital Portfolio about:

• What is Literature?
• Why study Literature?
• How does it make any difference?

To help students in this process of reflective learning, some useful blogs, videos, web-articles are shared here. As it is necessary to give line of thought or some starting points, so that students can realize what is expected, here are some resources:

• What Literature is for?

Dilip Barad - an Online Session with Sem 4 Students on 'How to Write How Literature Shaped me?'

 

How to write 'Learning Outcome of Studying Literature'?: Dilip Barad

 

 Literature in the Digital Era (Scott Hartley's The Techie and the Fuzzy: Why the Liberal Arts will rule to Digital Era)

• What Books Do for the Human Soul: The Four Psychological Functions of Great Literature“Writers open our hearts and minds, and give us maps to our own selves.” (MARIA POPOVA)

• How English Literature Shaped me - Aravind Adiga

• Is BA English in India just timepass? (Ketan Krishna)

• Surviving BA English

• IIT dropout finds B.A. English syllabus equally uninteresting (Pagal Patrakar)

• Life at ‪‎Delhi University‬ | 5 things every English Honours student goes through in college!

• Why students study English literature in the era of technology?

• Are the intellectual benefits of 'reading' overrated?
• Education without Liberal Arts is a threat to Humanity - Santa J. Ono 

We can also ponder on the characters in literary texts in syllabus

Here are some noteworthy links:

• The 10 Most Hated Fictional Characters

• YOUR 20 MOST-LOVED LITERARY CHARACTERS

Additional resources:

     Websites:

1.      http://dlibrary.acu.edu.au/staffhome/siryan/Academy/Foundation/What_Is_Literature.htm

2.      http://www.und.edu/dept/linguistics/wp/1997Meyer.PDF

3.      http://classiclit.about.com/od/literaryterms/g/aa_whatisliter.htm

You Tube Videos:

1.      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=neRyi3i3K20&feature=related (Importance of Literature)

2.      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dRvav7oyjTY (what is literature)

3.      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-wv6DUKInE&NR=1 (Prof. Ron Wheeler)

4.      http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8UOMGQfuLk&feature=related (a day in the life of English literature student)

Books:

1.      Eagleton, Terry.  Literary Theory: An Introduction.  Oxford: Blackwell Publishers Inc., 1996.

2.      Hernadi, Paul. Ed.  What is Literature?  Bloomington & London, Indiana University Press, 1978.

3.      Wellek, René and Austin Warren. Theory of Literature.  Mitcham, Victoria: Penguin, 1963.

4.      Rees, R J. English Literature: An Introduction to the foreign readers. Macmillan. 1973.

5.      Scott James R.A. The Making Of Literature (1946).

6.      Hudson, William Henry. An Introduction to the study of Literature (1913)