21st Century Literature WEEK 5-6
21st Century Literature WEEK 5-6
talks about a Filipino-Italian who was born in the United States. Because
her features are more Italian than Filipina, she had encountered problems
with people treating her as “extra special” in the Philippines, but she finds
it more isolating than welcoming
To understand her essays better, the reader must know her background
first so that they may know the reasons behind her dilemmas
CONTEXTUAL READING
APPROACHES
2. Literary Reading through a
Sociocultural Context
• note the year or period it was written • Reading using the sociocultural context
helps you understand the social,
economic, political, and cultural forces
• identify the historical events that affecting the work that you are reading.
took place in that year
• Analyzing the sociocultural context of
• find out the roots of an event’s cause the text makes you examine the role of
and the reasons behind the the audience (readers) in shaping
character’s motives and interests literature.
Guide questions in reading literature
through the Sociocultural Context:
• What is the relationship between the characters or the speakers in the text
and their society?
• Does the text explicitly address issues of gender, race, or class?
• How does the text resolve these issues?
• Who has the power? Who does not?
• How does this story reflect the nation?
• What does this say about the country and its inhabitants?
• Is there oppression or class struggle? How do the characters overcome this?
• Does money or finances play a large role in the narrative?
• What is the prevailing social order?
CONTEXTUAL READING
APPROACHES
3. Literary Reading through a
Linguistic Context
• can be read through the context of
the language used to write the text as • Reading the text on its own, regardless of the
author’s biography and sociocultural context,
well as the way language is used in may help you understand the literary text
the text through analyzing the words, sentences,
• “The author is dead.” Reading patterns, imagery, etc. of the text.
through a linguistic context focuses • Analyzing the literary text’s grammar, syntax, or
phonemic pattern may help you find the
on the language used in the literary meaning of the text within its form and help you
work and how it is used to convey interpret it by simply analyzing the content of
meaning. the literary work.
Guide questions in reading literature
through the LinguisticContext:
• What were the striking words in the text?
• What words were unfamiliar to you? Which words attracted your attention?
• What words were dramatic?
• What nouns are the most prominent? Are these concrete or abstract nouns? What about
verbs?
• Does the author use common words or lofty diction? Are the words short or long?
• Is there a rhythm in the sentence structure in relation to the length of the sentences or lines?
• What literary devices are used? Are there images? Do those images stand for anything aside
from their literal meaning? What is the tone? Is the speaker happy about the subject? Is the
tone negative or positive?
• What is the structure of the text?
• What is the point of view of the text? Is it a poem?
• Does the language help in delivering and understanding its content? Is there a theme?
CONTEXTUAL READING
APPROACHES
4. Critical Reading Strategies in
Literature
In the fifth and final stanza, the narrator convinces herself that
where we come from, they gave their sorrow a name Atlantis is just a metaphor, used to give emotions a name and a
and drowned it. reason-not an actual city.
WORLD
LITERATURE
Latin American Literature