Readers, Writers, Texts
A word after a word after a word is power. Margaret Atwood
This area introduces students to the nature of language and literature and its study. The investigation undertaken involves close attention to the details of texts in a variety of types and literary forms so that students learn about the choices made by creators and the ways in which meaning is communicated through words, image, and sound. At the same time, study will focus on the role receivers play in generating meaning as students move from personal response to understanding and interpretation influenced by the classroom community. Students will learn to understand the creativity of language, the relationship between language and thought and the aesthetic nature of literature. Students will see that texts are powerful means to express individual thoughts and feelings, and that their own perspectives as experienced users of language are integral to the effect and success of a communicative act.
As a reader. you will become more confident in their ability to recognize key textual and rhetorical features and how they create or affect meaning. Close reading and annotating will enable you to see stylistic, rhetorical and literary elements across a variety of text types and literary forms.
Readers, writers and texts aims to introduce students to the skills and approaches required to closely examine texts as well as to introduce metacognitive awareness of the nature of the discipline by considering the following guiding conceptual questions:
Why and how do we study language and literature?
How are we affected by texts in various ways?
In what ways is meaning constructed, negotiated, expressed and interpreted?
How does language use vary amongst text types and amongst literary forms?
How does the structure or style of a text affect meaning?
How do texts offer insights and challenges
Texts and Contexts
Before you begin reading your chosen novel, you will research the life and times of its author. You will create a short Google Slide presentation or keynote presentation (4-6 slides) to present to the rest of the class and teach them about your novel’s context. Look into when and where your novel was written and/or published, and research that time period in that location. Your 4-6 slides will be organized as follows:
1) The author’s biographical information (where he/she was born, what their upbringing was like, what issues/challenges he/she faced, and major influencing factors of his/her works)
2) Political issues (who was in power? what were the prevailing political views? any wars? protests? social unrest?)
3) Culture & Science (what was going on at the time in the arts? scientific/technological advancements?)
4) Society (what were average people’s lives like? economics of the country? divide between the rich and poor? women’s and men’s roles? Social unrest? minority group issues?) * How might these biographical features and socio-historical aspects have influenced the novel?
Literary Criticism
Literary criticism
It is crucial to understand that literary works do not contain a fixed meaning but are open to interpretation.
In order to interpret a text and understand it, we can look at its context and analyze it through different lenses - referred to as modes or schools of literary criticism. Analyzing texts through various critical approaches gives us multiple ways in which to look at a single text; this multilateral approach forms layers of meaning and a deeper understanding of texts for readers.
The main modes of literary criticism which we will be addressing are:
Formalist
Biographical
Historical/Cultural
Psychological
Mythological/Archetypal
Gender
Marxist
Deconstructuralist