ARISTOPHANES Lysistrata The masterpieces of comedy produced by Aristophanes, the sharp and lewd wit of fifth-century Athens, may forever play supporting roles to their tragic counterparts. However, Lysistrata, a fantasy in which Greek women stage a sit-in/sex strike to end the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta, maintains a special place in dramatic and literary… Continue reading ARISTOPHANES Lysistrata
Month: August 2012
ANONYMOUS Beowulf
ANONYMOUS Beowulf (ca. 1000) Beowulf is the longest and most complete surviving poem in Old English. The work probably circulated orally for centuries before being written down by scribes around the year 1000. It consists of 3,182 lines of alliterative verse. The poem’s plot, is straightforward and has the quality of a folktale, following recognizable… Continue reading ANONYMOUS Beowulf
Abandonment in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Abandonment in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya Angelou’s autobiographical novel opens with three-year-old Maya and her four-year-old bother Bailey traveling alone across the United States wearing wrist tags that read “To Whom It May Concern.” The siblings are being sent away from their newly divorced parents to live with their paternal grandmother,… Continue reading Abandonment in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
ANDERSON, SHERWOOD Winesburg, Ohio (1919)
ANDERSON, SHERWOOD Winesburg, Ohio (1919) Winesburg, Ohio, is a cycle comprising 21 short stories plus one prefatory story, “The Book of the Grotesque.” That initial story introduces the concept that runs through the rest of the stories: People dominated by one idea become grotesque, even if that one idea is true. The stories, each focusing… Continue reading ANDERSON, SHERWOOD Winesburg, Ohio (1919)
The House of the Spirits
The House of the Spirits (1982) Isabel Allende’s The House of the Spirits, published in 1982, tells the history of several generations of the Trueba family against the backdrop of Chile’s socialist government and the 1973 military coup that gave rise to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. Clara, who regularly converses with the spirit world,… Continue reading The House of the Spirits
The American Dream in Little Women
The American Dream in Little Women The American dream has long symbolized a change of fortune and the hope that through hard work or luck, even the poorest person can prosper. Immigrants flooding into America in the 19th century came looking for new opportunities that would lift them out of the poverty they had experienced… Continue reading The American Dream in Little Women
Things Fall Apart (1958)
Things Fall Apart (1958) In 1958, Chinua Achebe published Things Fall Apart, which depicts the tragic downfall of a strong African clansman faced with the budding presence of colonialism. Okonkwo, Achebe’s central character, represents a man tied to his clan’s culture; moreover, Okonkwo represents the essence of male vigor within the tribe as he strives… Continue reading Things Fall Apart (1958)
Achebe Chinua
ACHEBE, CHINUA Anthills of the Savannah (1987) The Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe’s first novel, Things Fall Apart, published in 1958, is considered by many to be the prototype for modern African literature. In June 2007, his monumental standing in the world of African letters was recognized when he was awarded the prestigious Man Booker Prize… Continue reading Achebe Chinua
Literary Work
Work The concept of work is notoriously difficult to define. The payment of wages cannot be the sole criterion in determining whether an action counts as work, since men and women throughout history have often labored without compensation. The physical efforts expended by a slave in ancient Greece, for example, or by a homemaker today… Continue reading Literary Work
Literary Violence
Violence The term violence originates from the Latin violentia, meaning vehemence, which in turn implies an intense force. Etymologically, “violence” is akin to “violate” and thus is suggestive of damage and destruction that would characterize a violent storm or a traumatic experience such as rape, terrorism, or war. In its primary sense, therefore, violence denotes… Continue reading Literary Violence