Literature overtakes history, for literature gives you more than one life. It expands experience and opens new opportunities to readers.
Alienation
Countless literary characters feel painfully alienated from the social institutions that surround them. Some, like Jake Barnes in Ernest Hemingway’s The Sun Also Rises, feel alienated from their own communities. Others, like Caddy Compson in William Faulkner’s The Sound and the Fury, feel alienated from their closer connections, including family members and loved ones. Still others, like Stephen Dedalus in James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a … Read the rest
Abandonment
The origins of the word abandon, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, demonstrate that it has not always had the wholly negative connotations it does today. In the Middle French, for instance, metre à bandon could have meant both “to proscribe” and “to release from proscription.” Thus, the term might apply equally to an outcast shunned from society and to the former outcast being welcomed back. Both are being … Read the rest
The contemplation of the nineteenth century in the history of economic thought is
primarily focused upon the canons of political economy, i.e. for the period under
examination here, works by Adam Smith, Thomas Malthus, David Ricardo and John
Stuart Mill. Whilst there may be debate about the precise nature and significance of
the canons, writing on the canons dominates the field and efforts to re-work the
major writers in terms … Read the rest
The religion of one age is the literary entertainment of the next.
Ralph Waldo Emerson, “Character” (1866)
If there is anything in art that can take the place of religion, we should
like to see it.
Josiah Gilbert Holland, Every-Day Topics, 2nd series (1882)
That American thought before 1865 was markedly religiocentric is a
scholarly commonplace. Such was especially true of New England, owing
to the Puritan imprint, which Enlightenment … Read the rest
Certain literary works, because they offer intriguing difficulties, have attracted professional
critics hy the score. On library shelves, great phalanxes of critical books now
stand at the side of James Joyce’s Ulysses and T. S. Eliot’s allusive poem The Waste
Land. The student who undertakes to study such works seriously is well advised to
profit from the critics’ labors. Chances are, too, that even in discussing a relatively
uncomplicated work, … Read the rest
» Whenever possible, get feedback from a trusted reader- In every project,*
there comes a time when the writer has gotten so close to the work that he or
she can’t see it clearly. A talented roommate or a tutor in the campus writing
center can tell you what isn’t yet clear on the page, what questions still need
answering, or what line of argument isn’t yet as persuasive as … Read the rest
A writer rarely—if ever—achieves perfection on the first try. For most of us, good
writing is largely a matter of revision. Once your first draft is done, you can—and
should—turn on your analytical mind. Painstaking revision is more than just tidying
up grammar and spelling. It might mean expanding your ideas or sharpening the focus
by cutting out any unnecessary thoughts. To achieve effective writing, you must
have the courage … Read the rest
Seated at last, you prepare to write, only to find yourself besieged with petty distractions.
All of a sudden you remember a friend you had promised to call, some double-
A batteries you were supposed to pick up, a neglected Coke (in another room)
growing warmer and flatter by the minute. If your paper is to be written, you have
only one course of action: collar these thoughts and for … Read the rest
Once you have finished a rough outline of your ideas, you need to refine it into a
clear and logical shape. You need to state your thesis (or basic idea) clearly and then
support it with logical and accurate evidence. Here is a practical approach to this
crucial stage of the writing process:
Consider your purpose- As you develop your argument, be sure to refer back
to the specific assignment; … Read the rest
Topic in hand, you can begin to get your ideas on the page. To generate new ideas
and clarify the thoughts you already have, try one or more of the following useful
prewriting strategies:
m Brainstorming- Writing quickly, list everything that comes into your mind
about your subject. Set a time limit—ten or fifteen minutes—and force yourself
to keep adding items to the list, even when you think you have … Read the rest