英国文学史及作品选读课件Introduction(09级).pptVIP

Literature helps us to better understand the nature of the real. Literature also makes us readers take delight in the way that the work has been constructed, take delight in the performance in words. Literature offers both pleasure and illumination. It enriches our lives and increases our capacities for understanding and comprehension. The most primitive approach to western literature, especially novels, is to read them for emotional satisfaction, for excitement as well as for entertainment. Literature is read for its hermeneutic (didactic) function. Literature can be read as rhetoric and philology. 1.3 Methods of reading literature To understand works of literature, as in the case of appreciating a bridge, it is important to know its elements, to know how the component parts are put together to make the whole. Careful reading, thinking about one’s response, and rereading the text, looking for evidence that supports the initial responses or that will lead to richer or different ones are the ways of understanding the works of literature. To sum up, one must be inside and outside of the work. 2 Requirements of the course In class: 1) taking notes; 2) Answering questions; 3) Discussing; 4) Giving presentations After class: 1) Reading some selected readings and discussing some questions; 2) Reading at least two novels; 3) Writing a book report; 4) Writing a paper with no less than 1000 words; 5) Doing some homework, including the exercises on the internet; 5) Previewing The book report will be handed in in the 8th week and the paper will be handed in in the 14th week. 3. Evaluation of the achievement in the  course Grade of this course includes the grade of daily performance (50%) and the grade of final examination (50%). The grade of daily performance will be given according to the following items: in-class behavior (20%), including previewing, taking notes, question-answering and presentation; h