Through all of this there is a prominent, underlying message of hope and escape through art and writing. In a world that is often battered by crime, unrelenting natural disaster, as well as confusion, the ability to withdraw and escape through the very physical produces not only a dependence upon the arts, but a necessity in survival. While the world ebbs in and out of consciousness, for many the ability to create becomes the only consistency. Padgett Powell of the New York Times goes so far as to infer the reliance on the arts as a biblical allusion. With reference to the book of John, he writes: “if in the beginning there was only the Word... in the end it will still be.” As is customary, Auster relays this very heavy dependence and importance through his use of characterization, beginning with Ferdinand, Samuel Farr, and his protagonist Anna Blume.
[2]” A myth is a traditional tale of deep cultural significance to a people, ritual practice, or models of appropriate and inappropriate behavior. The myth often deals with gods, supernatural beings, or ancestral heroes. Archetypal literary criticism’s origins are rooted in two other academic disciplines, social anthropology (Northrop Frye) and psychoanalysis (Carl Gustav Jung); each contributed to literary criticism in separate ways, with the
This is not to say that “A Mark on the Wall” is lacking in abstract themes, indeed the self-consciousness of the piece is what forms the abstraction of the theory in “Modern Fiction”. Furthermore, the story must be digested in a manner that is different from the way that one understands conventional ideas of plot, i.e. rising conflict, climax, denouement etc. Woolf’s writing lacks such conventional structures, yet the beauty of the work lies in the ebb and flow of the consciousness itself, which taken as a whole is able to “get at life”, which Woolf says a majority of modern fiction is incapable of doing. To start with, Woolf’s main contention with modern fiction is that it is “materialistic”, that modern writers “are concerned not with the spirit but with the body that they have disappointed us” (2150).
The difference in the form of writing impacted the presentation of these literary works and how they were received. Literature from the Victorian period came in all forms and styles, however, for the purpose of this essay, the forms discussed will be limited to Robert Louis Stevenson’s novella ‘Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde’ and Elizabeth Barrett Browning’s epic narrative poem, ‘Aurora Leigh’. Both Stevenson and Browning were able to portray a number of relevant Victorian social attitudes through their chosen literary form such as the duality of humans, the repressive behaviour of Victorian society, concerns regarding scientific advancement and the impact on the old way of life as well as the role and inequality of woman in Victorian times through use of theme, narration style and characterisation. The Victorian era is commonly reflected upon as patriarchal, repressive and pious though, whilst those elements were certainly present in society, to reduce the period to such a narrow stereotype is to overlook much of what was occurring during that time. Victorians were ‘much more diverse and lively’ (Murfin & Ray 496) than they are credited with and the period was rich with change and a challenging of long held
Browning’s use of voice portrays Lippo’s point by objectively capturing a character outside of himself. From line 191 and onwards there is a change in narrative and a rising action. This shorter passage represents an interruption to the chronology of Lippi’s life story. There is a significant change in narrative as the poem shifts to a philosophical debate about the purpose and importance of art. It consists mostly of dialogue, contrasting the prior self satisfied, hypocritical speech with Lippi’s own words.
Individuality in "Harrison Bergeron In his short story "Harrison Bergeron" Kurt Vonnegut explores what a world of government controlled "equality" might be like. Vonnegut allows us to see the world through the eyes of George and Hazel Bergeron. Hazel represents the standard that everyone must achieve though the equalization process set in place, while George represents a person that is considered to be talented. Ultimately Vonnegut illustrates that it is impossible to create absolute equality. Vonnegut has introduced a world in which people have been taught to not only dislike inequality, but to fear it, "'pretty soon we'd be right back to the dark ages again, with everybody competing against everybody else.
It is aimed to gives images of given culture in such ironic way to emphasise the poor taste because of its excessiveness. The movement expand to another post-modernism literature like minimalism, modernism, dadaism, expressionism, etc. It mostly critics on the mass media, consumerism, and mainstream culture. The form of the literature also includes song, painting, poem, digital art, etc. The poem This Is Just To Say is one of Williams’ experimental poem which goes with the post-modernism art.
This is because firstly, it is not a new phenomenon, and secondly, ‘in principle of work of art has always been reproducible.’[1] He does however infer that reproduced artworks bear political significance and that human sense perception relates to history. Heightened by the requirement of large-scale production to meet supply demands of the war years in which he lived, Benjamin explores his conscience of class struggle. He does so by placing art in a social class narrative, suggesting changing art technologies create new social forms due to the ‘tremendous shattering of tradition.’[2] This is an element of Marxist substructure that, in turn, could eventually transform the superstructures of society commandeered by the bourgeois. His writings constitute the loss of the ‘aura’, a supposed emanation firmly tied to traditional works of art, which Benjamin asserts throughout his essay to be a prerequisite of authenticity and
Since we have missed the ways in which all of these people and events are tied together we have essentially missed the entirety of social relations. Wolf states “Since social relations are conceived as relations between individuals, interaction between individuals becomes the prime cause of social life.” In anthropology the goal should be holism and since pieces are missing then holism cannot be established. Wolf asserts that we do not understand the ideas of nation, society and culture because we are not looking at them as a whole. We are missing certain aspects by not knowing about all people and all of the cultures. We are only seeing what the “victors” have wanted us to see or remember.
How Far And In What Ways Does Blake Portray Uncertainty About Religion In The Poems Studied So Far? Religion is sometimes viewed as a primary theme and a motive for Blake’s work, but Blake illustrates to an extent, an uncertainty about religion in his poems. Blake’s poetry is rarely devotional, and rarely preaches, but instead, it concerns itself about the way in which religion affects life and behaviour whilst challenging it at the same time. Each of the poems depicts a different stance on religion, which may suggest the uncertainty. Blake’s attitudes can be seen through his living through the revolutionary upheavals of France and America where the old ruling ways were got rid of to be replaced with what society wanted.