Life is a Dream, Silence, Slaughterhouse-Five, The Poisonwood Bible
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Students will investigate ways in which literary texts may represent and be understood from a variety of cultural and historical perspectives. Through their exploration, students will be able to recognize the role of relationships among text, self and other, and the ways in which the local and the global connect. These relationships are complex and dynamic. The background of an author and the make-up of an audience are not necessarily clear or easily described.
Students will investigate ways in which literary texts may represent and be understood from a variety of cultural and historical perspectives. Through their exploration, students will be able to recognize the role of relationships among text, self and other, and the ways in which the local and the global connect. These relationships are complex and dynamic. The background of an author and the make-up of an audience are not necessarily clear or easily described.
Literary texts are situated in specific contexts and deal with or represent social, political, and cultural concerns particular to a given time and place. For example, a work written to address the concerns of an author in contemporary society can be set in ancient times. Cultures that are geographically separated can share morals or ideas, while people living in proximity can embrace disparate traditions. Students will consider the intricacies of communication within such a complex societal framework and the implications that language and text take on when produced and read in shifting contexts.
Literary texts are situated in specific contexts and deal with or represent social, political, and cultural concerns particular to a given time and place. For example, a work written to address the concerns of an author in contemporary society can be set in ancient times. Cultures that are geographically separated can share morals or ideas, while people living in proximity can embrace disparate traditions. Students will consider the intricacies of communication within such a complex societal framework and the implications that language and text take on when produced and read in shifting contexts.
In this area of exploration, students examine the ways in which a literary text may illuminate some aspect of the political or social environment, or the ways in which a more nuanced understanding of events may affect their understanding or interpretation of a literary text. The study of contexts does not imply a static, one-to-one relationship between a literary text and the world, but sees the former as a powerful “non-human actor” across time and space.
In this area of exploration, students examine the ways in which a literary text may illuminate some aspect of the political or social environment, or the ways in which a more nuanced understanding of events may affect their understanding or interpretation of a literary text. The study of contexts does not imply a static, one-to-one relationship between a literary text and the world, but sees the former as a powerful “non-human actor” across time and space.
Time and space aims to broaden student understanding of the open, plural, or cosmopolitan nature of literary texts by considering the following guiding conceptual questions.
Time and space aims to broaden student understanding of the open, plural, or cosmopolitan nature of literary texts by considering the following guiding conceptual questions.
• How important is cultural or historical context to the production and reception of a literary text?
• How important is cultural or historical context to the production and reception of a literary text?
• How do we approach literary texts from different times and cultures to our own?
• How do we approach literary texts from different times and cultures to our own?
• To what extent do literary texts offer insight into another culture?
• To what extent do literary texts offer insight into another culture?
• How does the meaning and impact of a literary text change over time?
• How does the meaning and impact of a literary text change over time?
• How do literary texts reflect, represent or form a part of cultural practices?
• How do literary texts reflect, represent or form a part of cultural practices?
• How does language represent social distinctions and identities?
• How does language represent social distinctions and identities?
Links to TOK in this area are related to the questions of how far the context of production of a literary text influences or informs its meaning and the extent to which the knowledge a reader can obtain from a literary text is determined by the context of reception. Here are examples of links to TOK arising from this area of exploration:
• How far can a reader understand a literary text that was written in a context different from his or her own?
• To what extent is it necessary to share a writer’s outlook to be able to understand his or her work?
• What is lost in translation from one language to another?
• How might the approaches to a given time and place of a poet, a playwright or a novelist and a historian differ?
• Is the notion of a canon helpful in the study and understanding of literature? How does a canon get established? What factors influence its expansion or change over time?
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