American Enlightenment and Romanticism: Ideas and Literature
Key Ideas of the American Enlightenment
Tabula Rasa: John Locke used this term to describe the human mind as a blank slate at birth. According to him, all knowledge is imprinted on the mind through sensory experience, making it a very physical process.
Concept of God: Contemplations, like those of Anne Bradstreet, often involved observing nature while acknowledging the presence of God. Careful observation and detailed recording of nature were key. It was believed that through intelligent observation,
Read MoreExpository Texts: Humanistic, Scientific, and Informative
Expository Texts
Expository texts are intended to explain or make known to receptors present knowledge in an objective manner. These are texts that convey humanistic studies on individual human beings, and texts that communicate scientific knowledge that has to do with nature. Informative text addresses a subject the issuer believes receivers do not know, exposed with the intention of informing them.
Argumentation
Argumentation is an easy way of trying to convince the receiver of thoughts or beliefs.
Read MoreCatalan Literature: Decline, Renaissance, Baroque & Neoclassicism
XII-XV Century (Decline)
Status: Decline
Movements:
- XVI Renaissance (Peter Serafí)
- XVII Baroque (Chancellor of Valley Stoves)
- XVIII Neoclassicism, Enlightenment (Baron Maldà)
The decline represents a drop in the quality and quantity of works in Catalan. A key event was the death of Martin l’Humà without children, leading to a succession issue between Ferdinand and James d’Urgell of Antequera. Ferdinand d’Antequera was chosen. The presence of poets like Sant Vicens Ferrer led to the Castilianization
Read More19th Century Literature: Romanticism, Realism, and Modernism
Nineteenth Century: A Literary Overview
The 19th century was a period of significant political, social, and economic change. The first half of the century saw the rise of Romanticism and Realism.
Romanticism
Romanticism emphasized sentiments and imagination over neoclassical reason. It was prominent in poetry and drama, but also influenced art, journalism, and historical novels.
Realism
The second half of the century witnessed Posromanticismo, a more intimate form of expression. Realism shifted from
Read MoreEarly English Novels: Defoe, Swift, Richardson, Fielding, Smollett
The Rise of the English Novel
Ian Watt, in ‘The Rise of the Novel’, discusses the challenges people faced in accessing literature before the 17th and 18th centuries. These challenges included limited literacy and economic constraints. Throughout the 17th century, there was a growing importance of merchants and tradesmen, and the entertainment of the middle classes became a legitimate objective of literature. The full emergence of the novel in the 18th century was a product of the middle class
Read MoreSpanish Literature, Theater, and Poetry Since 1975
Postmodernism in Spanish Literature
Due to the political and social changes of the 1980s, postmodern thought emerged. It is characterized by the rejection of ideologies and aesthetic theories, and the practice of mixing languages from different disciplines, such as literature and cinema. Postmodernists defend popular culture and the hybridization of styles. Postmodern thought is reflected in everything, from the taste for the fusion of genres, to how the author plays with references known to the
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