For centuries, views of the world and its inhabitants have been expressed through various ways of art or philosophy. These views can often be related to the seeking of truth to the creation of life, politics, or the problems of the world from before, now, and after. Accordingly, it is by paintings, books, or music, that words or images have an abundant effect on people. Society indicates that knowledge is power, so then why are we sometimes burdened with the errors of generations before? The quote, “writing in English is the most ingenious torture ever devised for sins committed in previous lives. The English reading public explains the reason why,” by James Joyce; points out that any novelist, historian, or author writing about our previous failures as humans in history affects any reader in a way that brings up painful memories and leaves the reader with past knowledge. To be honest, I had to grab a chair and think for what seemed like hours before I could actually comprehend what the quote was saying. I thought to myself, “How can writing about the past bring pain to the reader? I understood how writing can bring knowledge to a person, but how can it affect anything in the present?” As Vladimir Nabokov said, “In reading, one should notice and fondle details.” So, I opened up my mind and started to analyze the quote. Then, suddenly it clicked! In The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, Machiavelli has a similar style to this quote in which he explains that any prince should not select anything else for study but the art of war. He declares through studying the histories of the art of war, “A prince will learn of many illustrious men’s causes for victory or defeat; therefore, avoiding the latter and imitating the former.”(Machiavell...
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...s about certain things. Vladimir Nabokov writes about making connections to his reader and creating something new of what already is. Niccolò Machiavelli wrote about leadership, how to act like a leader, and to learn from the mistakes of the past. My final thought about the quote and the two books was that history can affect people, but choosing what to do with the prior knowledge is our choice. Whether we feel angered from an article about the holocaust or feel encouraged by a speech that reminds us of mistakes from the past; to better the world we must continue writing about the sins and mistakes generations have made. All of this in hope that future generations will resolve our problems and redeem us; to leave a better example through history and to correct what was done wrong in the past. The quote by James Joyce has opened my eyes to the way I look at writing.
People write without even realizing. Every step a person takes is another step towards securing a future. When the pen meets the paper a writer is making history, it just depends on how they want to tell the world. By analyzing author's style and purpose, the reader can make a deeper connection with the author. George Orwell, James Baldwin, and Joan Didion are perfect examples of writers that can move a country with just a word, their use of imagery and personal examples are truly masterpieces. But when compared to each other… A whole new world is imaginable.
It could be said that tragedies serve as Humanity’s catalysts of thought. When we line up literary eras with wars, the shifts in eras are always marked by some war- especially in America. The Romantic period was broken by the dawn of the civil war, and took a little magic from the world of writing. Writing shifted to realism, which was the polar opposite of romantic thought. When the First World War broke out, the modernist movement overshadowed realism. Similarly, the Second World War produced postmodernism. Should there be another horrible tragedy, the view will shift similarly. Whatever the implications may be, tragedies seem to change how us humans think and act. In William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, he tells the story of a group of schoolboys
Writing 150 has been a truly enjoyable course for me. While I have always loved language and literature, this class gave me a fresh, new perspective on what it means to be a writer. From the very first class, I was redefining what writing means to me and how I could use it in my life, even if my career path isn’t centered around writing. As the semester comes to a close, I want to share with you which paper was my favorite from this course, how my identity as a writer has changed, and how I will approach future writing tasks with a new and improved writing process.
“One is astonished in the study of history at the recurrence of the idea that evil must be forgotten, distorted, skimmed over. The difficulty, of course, with this philosophy is that history loses its value as an incentive and example; it paints perfect men and noble nations, but it does not tell the truth.”
Literature has played a large role in the way we perceive the world and it can affect the way in which we think about things. Edgar Allan Poe along with Mark Twain are two of the most influential authors that our world has ever seen. Their descriptiveness and diction has had a huge impact on their readers for centuries. Poe’s gothic style of writing was very enthralling and suspenseful; it left you wanting to know what was going to happen next. Whereas, Mark Twain was a very humorous author that intended to amuse all that read. The descriptiveness that was incorporated by these world-renown authors is tremendous.
Zero awoke to find himself standing, it was not something he was familiar with and he searched his memory for any recollection of it happening before. Quickly he discovered that large parts of his memory were missing, gone were the seemingly endless data bases of information. Quickly he sent out feelers trying for a connection of some sort but he drew a blank. It seemed that where ever he was now, had limited connection capacity. Instead he used his visual feed to survey his surrounding, it appeared he was in some kind of desert of discarded parts.
“Books are the carriers of civilization” (ThinkExist, 2010, para. 1). The first part of a quote from Barbara W. Tuchman cannot be truer. It is why students study America’s classic novels to learn about the time period. Many authors intend writing for the future, while others just write for fun. They use literary techniques that are popular to the time period, making it obvious when the pieces were written. With the history, you also get the sentiment of the writer that only the novel can give you. The result of this is a great fusion between literature and history, and has its roots since the beginning of America.
The novel begins with an epigraph: "He who cannot draw on three thousand years is living from hand to mouth" (Gaarder 161). This quote in Sophie’s World is included in this chapter because you need to be able to understand how history came to be. If you can’t understand history or don’t know what is going on right now in the world, then you are as poor as can be. For example, if you don’t know how Christianity began, you don’t understand why people believe in what they do. In philosophy, belief has a lot of importance because it defines and sets the blueprint for what and who people want to be. All the things humans do are based on what we believe in. It determines our lifestyle and the culture we are involved in. Even though philosophy is more than believing, it still helps us determine our reasoning and understanding of the world around us. According to Gaarder, “Aristotle held that all our thoughts and ideas have come into our consciousness through what we have heard and seen” (Gaarder 108). He believed there is a purpose for everything, and he understood what was going on around him. Everybody has something they believe in, whether it’s reincarnation or Christianity. You need to know about your historical roots in order to be a human being. Without knowing about the people and events that have happened before us, we are just ordinary, ignorant
Writing can be a very difficult process for those who do not know how to go about constructing
FREE I-PAD!!! Now that I have your attention: Changes throughout history have always marked literary revolutions. The greater the change to the world, the more literature is affected, and there are fewer bigger changes in the course of history than World War II, the catastrophic result of a mentally sick group pursuing an equally sick dream. Hitler’s rise to and career in power resulted in major lifestyle changes that influenced literature published after World War II.
Literature has had a major impact on society, and, also our history. Literature has reformed and shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and has exposed injustices (3). Our literature has changed and developed as we have, keeping up with our society. “...literature is crucial for the advancement of society (3).” With literary works, we can convince others to view things a certain way, share our opinions, and more. Literature is greatly intertwined with our society and everyday lives, and they would not be the same without it. Literature plays an irreplaceable role in our
History is no more confined to a monolithic collection of facts and their hegemonic interpretations but has found a prominent space in narratives. The recent surge in using narrative in contemporary history has given historical fiction a space in historiography. With Hayden White’s definition of history as a “verbal structure in the form of a narrative prose discourse” literature is perceived to be closer to historiography, in the present age (ix). History has regained acceptance and popularity in the guise of fiction, as signified by the rising status of historical fiction in the post colonial literary world.
Stories are a wonderful way to convey ideas while entertaining the reader. Literary masterpieces are one of the most important devices in practice that mirrors society. The complex topics from previous generations are still relevant today. Spiritual, intellectual, and political themes make the reader identify with the characters’ trials within the literary masterpieces. When the author uses characters, the reader can explore his or her own questions of society. A masterpiece is not used to answer questions, but to inspire the reader to delve into their own problems. Masterpieces are used to make the reader think and not just accept the popularly held beliefs. According to Santayana (1980), “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it “ (p. 104). This statement holds true for literary masterpieces, as well.
Literary criticism is used as a guideline to help analyze, deconstruct, interpret, or even evaluate literary works. Each type of criticism offers its own methods that help the reader to delve deeper into the text, revealing all of its innermost features. New Criticism portrays how a work is unified, Reader-Response Criticism establishes how the reader reacts to a work, Deconstructive Criticism demonstrates how a work falls apart, Historical Criticism illustrates how the history of the author and the author’s time period influence a text, and last of all, Psychological Criticism expresses how unconscious motivations drive the author in the creation of their work as well as how the reader’s motivations influence their own interpretation of the text (Lynn 139, 191). This creates a deep level of understanding of literature that simply cannot be gained through surface level reading. If not one criticism is beneficial to the reader, then taking all criticisms or a mixture of specific criticisms into consideration might be the best way to approach literary
1. A good book is the offspring of many fathers and the father of many offspring.