Understanding Key Concepts in Literature: Genres, Figures, and Values
General Literature Concepts
Likelihood in Fiction
In literature, fiction refers to the relationship we establish with literary reality. The literary world isn’t reality itself, but a representation of it from the imagination of the author. The reader may consider the facts as credible and then establish a likelihood ratio, meaning the situations in the work may be possible or not.
Literature Values
Through reading, pleasure receptors are exposed to different literary values. Literature instructs through the transmission of ideas with a didactic purpose (to transmit a piece of reality). It also provides a simple aesthetic emotion that serves the senses, which can be enjoyed through the development of the novel.
Tradition and Innovation Defined
Tradition and innovation are two interconnected concepts that drive cultural progress. Literary innovation involves the evolution of the traditional. Pieces that were once unrecognized are now, thanks to evolution, recognized as creative material. For example: manuscript (tradition) > printing (innovation) > digital (innovation). Innovation comes from a tradition that is continuous. For example, civilization: tradition has grown into a culture that, in turn, led to innovation.
Elements of Human Communication in Literature
In human communication, there are six elements: transmitter, receiver, context, channel, code, and message.
Literature has a poetic or aesthetic function, and its key element is the message (what is to be transmitted).
The Use of Context in Literary Works
Having knowledge about the context of a literary work is fundamental. Many works are dependent on and have no meaning if we do not know their context, since their content may refer to any historical or social movement. What binds a reader in the 21st century to a work from the 13th century is the concept of probability, meaning both understand what the author wants to convey.
Stylistic Resources (Literary Figures)
Rhetoric is a set of terms that refer to the technicalities of style.
This is a series of technicalities with which the author can play with words. They aim to capture the reader’s attention through technicalities (rare expressions).
Myth
Myths are lore beliefs with didactic applications and significant events.
Metaphor, Synesthesia, and Symbol
- Synesthesia: Poets exchange sensory items.
- Metaphor: Serves the semantic features of words.
- Symbol: Abstract things to which we give an intellectual value, such as the symbol of religion in Christianity.
Literary Genres
Literary genres are categories established by tradition that allow us to classify literary works by their characteristics. The main genres are lyric (poetry), epic (narrative), and drama (theater).
Epic
- Prose:
- Fiction: Narrated extensively.
- Story: Narrated in a short form.
- Apologue: Conveys teaching ideas by narrating the events of a character.
- Legend: Has a real story as its base, but includes imaginary facts and characters.
- Verse:
- Epic: Stories of heroes or groups in a narrative (e.g., the Bible).
- Cantar de Gesta: Deeds of a hero in medieval times.
- Epic Poem: Relates the exploits of heroes in verse.
Lyric
- Ode: In modern times, the content is simplified to simple praise of people or beings. In the old days, odes were reserved for characters who achieved fame and were loaded with philosophical or moral content. The etymology of songs is a song of admiration for any element of nature or people.
- Elegy: Expresses feelings of pain for an individual misfortune or collectively. The difference between medieval and contemporary elegies is that medieval elegies add philosophical reflection, while contemporary elegies only praise the person or item that causes pain.
- Epistle: A verse letter expressing intimacy or moral or philosophical ideas.
Drama
- Comedy: Focused on holidays and mocking issues, and always had a happy ending.
- Tragedy and Drama: Now, the two come together in the same content that is tragic, but tragedy speaks of greater magnitude, and drama of smaller magnitude. In ancient times, tragedy was reserved for the fatal outcome of heroes.
- Tragicomedy: Touches of tragedy and touches of comedy = happy ending.
HAPPY ENDING IN LITERATURE = POETIC JUSTICE.