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L A N G U A G E
L I T E R A T U R E & SOCIETY
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INTRODUCTION FROM THE EDITORS ___________________________________________________________________
With the elaboration of this small magazine, we want to put English under the Eyes of literature. No only classical authors as Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe or Edmund Spencer are presented with their own work with English language, but some other contemporary authors as Ray Bradbury and George Orwell as well. In this magazine, each of the six authors present an article in which they talk about a particular author with a particular work, and the influence these literary productions had not only in English language but in culture.
We hope that through these lines and written productions the reader enjoys knowing a little bit more about some interesting authors that made an influence on the transformation of the English language and the way people conceived it in their times. This fact will allow the reader understand some visions that other authors gave to their lives through the language and the expression of their ideas and thoughts, and how these ideas influenced the culture of that times.
Starting from the tales of King Arthur and finishing with Ray Bradbury, we attempt to analyze some important aspects these authors highlighted, as well as tell some interesting topics in which this literature works. Welcome to our magazine, we hope you enjoy a lot our content and ideas. The articles have references so if you want to take a look to a specific topic you will find information that will guide you through the study of that topic. Regards, Jonnathan Grandas Contreras Julián Hernández Solano David Mejía Ballesteros María Paula Ríos Arias Angie Carolina Rojas Londoño Geny Sirley Zuluaga Serna The editors
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INDEX
Effects of Arthurian Legends on British Society ………………………………………. 3 By: David Mejía Ballesteros The Role of Edmund Spenser in English Renaissance ………………………………….12 By: Julián Hernández Frankenstein; or the Modern Prometheus: a romantic door to think modernity through english language …………………………………………………………………………...16 By: Angie Rojas Linguistic Contributions That The Romanticism Brought ……………………………..22 By: Geny Zuluaga Linguistic Contribution Brought by Orwell in “1984” ………………………………….25 By: Jonnathan Grandas A Dystopia Come True …………………………………………………………………….28 By: Paula Ríos
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EFFECTS OF ARTHURIAN LEGENDS ON BRITISH SOCIETY __________________________________________________________________________ By: David Mejía Ballesteros The Legendary King King Arthur is one of the most legendary icons of medieval Britain. His popularity has lasted centuries, mostly thanks to the numerous incarnations of his story that pop up time and time again. But few know that Arthur's ancestry goes back to the Brittonic inhabitants of early medieval Wales before the arrival of the Saxons, and not just the kingly figure that appears in later romances. In fact, the original Arthur of legends was neither a king nor the owner of a round table, at least not in the way we use these terms today. Records about Arthur’s life are few and far between. He emerges in the sixth century in the work of the Welsh monk Gildas, where his victory at Mount Badon is celebrated, but he is not named. It is only in the ninth century Historia Brittonum, composed by another monk, Nennius, that Arthur is named as a “dux bellorum”, a military commander, and his 12 battles are listed.
Arthurian romance Much time passed between these early records and the 12th century full-blown accounts of Arthur’s reign in the work of Geoffrey of Monmouth and the French Chretien de Troyes, the writers who truly made Arthur the legendary king we now know. The European fame of King Arthur and his court came through Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia Regum Britanniae (1135–38), celebrating a glorious and triumphant king who
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defeated a Roman army in eastern France but was mortally wounded in battle during a rebellion at home led by his son Mordred, whose picture is .
Some
features
of
Geoffrey’s
story
were
marvelous fabrications, and certain features of the Celtic stories were adapted to suit feudal times, and Later writers, notably Wace of Jersey and Lawamon, filled out certain details, specially in connection with Arthur’s knightly fellowship (the Knights of the Round Table). Using Celtic sources, Chrétien de Troyes in the late 12th century made Arthur the ruler of a realm of marvels in five romances of adventure. He also introduced the themes of the Grail and the love of Lancelot and Guinevere into Arthurian legend. Prose romances of the 13th century explored these major themes further. An early prose romance centering on Lancelot seems to have become the core of a cyclic work known as the Prose Lancelot, or Vulgate cycle (c. 1225)
The Lancelot theme was connected with the Grail story through Lancelot’s son, the pure knight Sir Galahad, who achieved the vision of God through the Grail as fully as is possible in this life, whereas Sir Lancelot was impeded in his progress along the mystic way because of his adultery with Guinevere. (Sir Lancelot and Queen Guinevere)
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(Sir Galahad)
Another branch of the Vulgate cycle was based on a very early 13th-century romance, the Merlin, by Robert de Boron, that had told of Arthur’s birth and childhood and his winning of the
crown by
drawing
(Excalibur) from a stone.
The writer of the Vulgate cycle turned this into prose, adding a pseudo-historical narrative dealing with Arthur’s military exploits. A final branch of the Vulgate cycle contained an account of Arthur’s Roman campaign and war with Mordred, to which was added a story of Lancelot’s renewed adultery with Guinevere and the disastrous war between Lancelot and Sir Gawain that ensued. A later prose romance,
known as the post-Vulgate Grail
romance (c. 1240), combined Arthurian legend with material from the Tristan romance.
a magic sword
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(Sir Bedivere returns Excalibur)
The legend told in the Vulgate cycle and post-Vulgate romance was transmitted to English-speaking readers in Thomas Malory’s late 15th-century prose Le Morte d'Arthur. At the same time, there was renewed interest in Geoffrey of Monmouth’s Historia, and the fictitious kings of Britain became more or less incorporated
with
official
national
mythology. The legend remained alive during the 17th century, though interest on it was by then confined to England. Of merely antiquarian interest during the 18th century, it again figured in literature during Victorian times, notably in Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King. In the 20th century an American poet, Edwin Arlington Robinson, wrote an Arthurian trilogy, and the American novelist Thomas Berger wrote Arthur Rex (1978). In England T.H. White retold the stories in a series of novels collected as The Once and Future King (1958). His work was the basis for Camelot (1960), a musical by Alan Lerner and Frederick Loewe. A film, also called Camelot (1967), was derived from the musical. Numerous other films have been based on the Arthurian legend, notably John Boorman’s Excalibur (1981) and the satirical Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975).
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(Le Morte d'Arthur)
Arthur in British society In the Welsh stories, Arthur remains a warrior, often a foil for other heroes’ path to greatness. But in the early French romances, he provided a yardstick for courtly behavior, as epic battles do not form the backbone of these later stories written on the continent. Geoffrey of Monmouth brought back the leadership and determination of an Arthur who becomes not only a king (on whom 12th-century Anglo-Norman kings could model themselves) but also a conqueror – again reflecting a desire for greatness beyond national boundaries. Thus the image of the courtly king, a leader in both war and times of peace, was born. For example, during the Hundred Years' War, the English seized on Arthur and adopted the Arthurian legends to define themselves, politically and in terms of religion. The late 14th century's "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" offered a protagonist who, as a literary character, could be traced back to pre-conquest England. "Sir Gawain and the Green Knight" is constructed with an alliteration technique consisting of repeating sounds at word beginnings, a literary device that is uniquely English and not French in development. An example is the work's opening line, which reads "Sithen the sege and the assaut was sesed at Troye." (Middle English)
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(Sir Gawain and the green knight)
By the time the Tudor king Henry VII came to the throne in 1485, chivalric tales of Arthur's knightly quests and of the Knights of the Round Table, inspired by ChrĂŠtien de Troyes, had roused British writers to pen their own versions, and Arthur was a well established British hero. Thomas Malory's work the Death of Arthur, published in 1486, was one of the first books to be printed in England. The 19th century in Britain was a time of great change, and the Industrial Revolution was transforming the nation irrevocably. But this situation produced great doubt and uncertainty in people's minds - not just in the future direction of the world but in the very nature of man's soul. As we have seen, at times of great change the legend of King Arthur, with its unfaltering moral stability, has always proved popular, and so it proved again in the reign of Queen Victoria, however, the Victorian Arthurian legends were a nostalgic commentary on a lost spirit world. The fragility of goodness, the burden of rule and the impermanence of empire (a deep psychological strain, this, in 19th-century British literary culture) were all resonant themes for the modern British imperialist knights and gentlemen.
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(King Arthur and the knights of the round table)
However, Arthur was always connected to the realities of those countries, and the times and peoples for whom he was reinvented. The Arthurian revival of the late 19th century, for example, helped put him back on the international cultural map by removing the historical aura, and emphasizing the values he stood for – a far cry from the medieval attempts to utilize him as a national figure from whom medieval kings could derive their right to rule. This paved the way to the fantasy worlds created, most famously, by T.H. White in The Once and Future King, published in 1958.
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(Monty Python and the Holy Grail) The story of King Arthur has been around for a very long time. The Arthurian Legend is still widely popular in modern day because the story contains elements humans can personally associate with such as love, loyalty, temptation, and bravery. Audiences can relate to all of these, whether they can relate to personal experiences or the story is feeding one’s imagination. Although it may seem like the Arthurian Legend has disappeared, modern-day books and movies all contain the same elements this Legend has. Those things are all things an audience looks for, and what will keep the story popular. Even with twists and turns and differences to each story told, the Arthurian Legend will always remain popular. All of these stories - these legends, were about more than just revealing the secrets of one of the most intriguing men of all time. In this world, society seeks reassurance in the models of the past. They want a standard of moral integrity and visionary leadership that is inspirational and transformational in equal measure. One that they cannot find in the world around them, but will discover in the stories of King Arthur.
References ● Gaj, E, (2017): The Legendary King: How the Figure of King Arthur Shaped a National Identity and the Field of Archaeology in Britain ● Barczewski, S.L, (2000): Myth and national identity in nineteenth-century Britain: the legends of King Arthur and Robin Hood ● Higham, N. J, (2005): KING ARTHUR MYTH-MAKING AND HISTORY.
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● Bryden, I, (2005): Reinventing King Arthur The Arthurian Legends in Victorian Culture ● Podo, (s.f): The legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Recovered from https://www.arthurian-legend.com/ ●
Podo,
(s.f):
The
Importance
of
King
http://www.chivalrynow.net/articles3/arthur.htm#top
Arthur.
Recovered
from
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THE ROLE OF EDMUND SPENSER IN ENGLISH RENAISSANCE ________________________________________________________________________ By: Julián Hernández Solano During the time, the English language has been subject of constant transformation due to different situations that happen in their context: War, conquers, invasions, migrations, etc. Moreover, all this has been reflected in the way many writers catch the historic moment in which they live thanks to the use of the language of the era, adding to this the way of think and conceiving the language.
For that reason, throughout history, literature has been cataloged from a certain set of aesthetic variations of thought which are attached to the situations of the context giving rise to the schools of universal literature, like Classicism, Middle Age, Renaissance, etc. This essay will focus on talking about Renaissance schools in England, its most relevant aspects and one of its main references, and how this movement served as a support for the transformation of the English language.
Renaissance
When we start talking about Renaissance it is necessary to define what it consisted of, this movement emerged in Italy and then spread through England and the rest of Europe. While the Renaissance was originated in Italy in the 14th century, in England it would begin at the end of the 15th century. Renaissance writers are characterized by developing new ways of expressing the aesthetic, the beautiful, and they do so through prose, essay, sonnet, and lyric poetry.
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In addition, Renaissance sought to innovate in art with themes of predominance such as love, nature, mythology, and sexuality. This was mainly due to the progressivism evident in the science and philosophy of that moment. During this same period, people began to feel interested in research, for this reason, at the same time the telescope, the printing press, the Compass, and Protestantism were discovered as resistance to the Catholic Church.
With the increase in research, and the arrival of the printing press, this gave rise to the fact that literature was not an exclusive privilege of the upper class, this means that the demand for literary production would increase significantly, and for this moment the English writers were the ones they dominated the Renaissance scene thanks to their poetry and drama. The Renaissance is reduced to the end of theocentrism, (in which the church, head of any power structure, dictated what it was correct and that Justice was not taught based on the word of God) and giving rise to anthropocentrism / humanism, in where the human being is the divine nature, the center of the whole Universe, dethroning the power of the church, allowing society to think freely.
Edmund Spenser
One of the emblematic writers of the English Renaissance was Edmund Spenser (London, 1552 Ibidem, 1599) Poet who was at the service of the Earl of Leicester, recognized as one of the favorites of Queen Elizabeth. For the year 1579 he elaborated one of his first important poems, which was The Pastor's Calendar, and a year later, he moved to Ireland, and lived there for an important time of his life, however, Edmund, traveled to London occasionally.
By the year 1589, Spenser was working on a poem called: "the queen of the fairies", at the end he published it and presented it to the queen, this was very well received by the court,
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which is why he had the chance to publish the three first books of the queen of the fairies for 1590.
This work, mixed social and religious symbology and also seeks to glorify Queen Elizabeth, who is credited with the role of Gloriana, the protagonist of the poem. In honor of this character, resort a series of twelve knights (in tribute to the twelve knightly virtues) as a company of a series of adventures. Features such as metric perfection and elegance, coupled with a disproportionate imagination allowed this work to assume a key position in English literature, and become influenced the poetry of authors such as John Milton and the romantic Keats and Shelley.
In addition, Edmund Spenser wrote such works as the satirical poem about the court called The Tale of Mama Hubbart. In 1594 he married Elizabeth Boyle, and for that reason, wrote for her Amoretti & Epithalamion, a nuptial song that has been considered as the most beautiful example of the genre in English literature.
Based on the above, it can be concluded that English literature, specifically speaking of English Renaissance, fulfills a function of being a compiler of Technolects and dialects of the time, and not a driver of change in the use of language, this can be evidenced in the use of referents of writing, as Shelley did when founded in Spenser to elaborate his works. Here there is no clear evidence of language transformation, but a sociolinguistic study of language at the time.
References:
● Yanez, D. Literatura del Renacimiento: Autores, Obras y Características. lifeder.com Taken from: https://www.lifeder.com/literatura-renacimiento/ ●
Edmund
Spenser.
Biografías
y
Vidas.
https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/spenser.htm
Taken
from:
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Images were taken from:
â—? https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Venus_and_Ma rs_National_Gallery.jpg/1920px-Venus_and_Mars_National_Gallery.jpg
â—? https://www.biografiasyvidas.com/biografia/s/fotos/spenser.jpg
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FRANKENSTEIN; OR THE MODERN PROMETHEUS: A ROMANTIC DOOR TO THINK MODERNITY THROUGH ENGLISH LANGUAGE By: Angie Carolina Rojas Londoño “Frankenstein is simultaneously the first science-fiction novel, a Gothic horror, a tragic romance and a parable all sewn into one towering body. Its two central tragedies – one of overreaching and the dangers of ‘playing God’, the other of parental abandonment and societal rejection – are as relevant today as ever.” Rebecca Laurence to BBC
The idea of Frankenstein emerged from 18-aged Mary Godwin Wollstonecraft’s brain on a “strangely cool and wet summer of 1816” (Laurence, 2018) in a meeting with friends such as Percy Shelley (her future husband), John Polidori and Lord Byron, all of them great characters of the romantic movement. In an early moment, this story was short and related to a dream Godwin wanted to share that night as Byron requested, but the latter influence of her husband made her write a novel with that story (Basiya, 2018), which gives, even today, a lot of points of reference to analyze and criticize the human dimensions, where language, of course, is included. Although there are so many theories about the novel and the author herself, such as “crediting the novel to Mary (with Percy) Shelley” or thinking about how an 18-aged woman could write a novel of such huge characteristics (that marvelous story, those characters and their problems, the tragic tone in which the novel is written, etc.), or even taking into account the huge efforts Percy Shelley did to publish the story and to write its preface (Grande, 2008), it is not deniable the quantity of aspects Frankenstein (and Wollstonecraft) brought to the table when talking about relationships among humans and language, culture, and their own moral
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principles; adding to all of that the fact that this was the first known science-fiction work (Laurence, 2018). The proposal of this argumentative essay is to bring the reader a new way to look at Frankenstein’s story, first, from the implicit importance the author gives to the language itself. Second, the bridge language represents between the nature of human species and their build-up culture. Third, an early investigation in “language therapy” Mary Shelley is presumed to include in her work (Brewer, 1994), and fourth, the forms in which the story always takes a look at the past and classic eras of the human race. In terms of linguistic changes, literacy contributions are minimum if they are looked from a micro point of view, but the way literacies make people look at language and culture are the start line of transforming language. Some authors analyze the way Shelley emphasized implicitly in the importance of language to people. “In arguing that Frankenstein
must
create a
female
monster to be companion to the male, the Monster
asserts
that
only
in
communication with a similar being can he «become linked to the chain of existence and events, from which I am now excluded» (p.149)” (Brooks, 1978, p.593). Considering the way the Creature relates to language (his effort to learn how to communicate his ideas and understand the others) would highlight the importance of a system of signs for a single person to communicate with others: The Monster’s misfortune was not being able to express his feelings or thoughts neither to humans nor to an equal. Brooks also theorizes that the Monster was hardly affected by the linguistic sign characteristic of arbitrariness, because he was not able to recognize the things humans were talking about, due to his lack of culture, even though he was able to feel curiosity and interest about the things that happened to humans. As a romantic work, Shelley gave the Monster characteristics of a noble soul, with reason sense and lots of feelings, allowing him to ask about his life purpose too, and that is just unimaginable without language. The problem with the Creature was that he was stacked in between nature (his strange nature) and culture (the human culture) in which language plays as a bridge. That’s why he calls language as a
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“godlike science”. After he succeeds to dominate language, he puts up with his life a little bit. The second dimension this essay attempts to analyze is the early discoveries Shelley did in Language Therapy. Nowadays it is a common knowledge that expressing feelings and emotions helps the body to assimilate
and
accept
them.
Brewer
thinks
Wollstonecraft was a pioneer in communicating and working with this discovery, because her monster is constantly making catharsis of his feelings through language and expressions: “(…) Mary Shelley recognizes the human need to communicate and is aware of the psychological ramifications of words, whether spoken or unspoken” (p.390). A great example of the latter quote is the special effort the Creature invests on learning the language, and the calm he experiments when he finally confesses his crimes: not knowing how to speak keeps him unsatisfied, until he manages to dominate it. Brewer also considers the fact that, in the novel, Shelley establishes a doubt about the effectiveness of words to help the character’s soul. Despite this position she takes, the Monster is always looking for the way he could best express his feelings and emotions, attempting “to enter the symbolic order or the cultural system in which individual subjects are inserted (…) to be recognized by others, or to achieve membership in the linguistic community(…)” (pp. 389-90). Linguistic isolation represents for the monster almost being dead to everything in the world: that is the actual importance Shelley gives (either on purpose or not) to language, and, specifically, to oral communication. This essay has so far reviewed some things Frankenstein brought to the conversation about language: the importance it has to the actual human race and all its purposes, the urge to communicate feelings, ideas and emotions everyone has, and the crucial role language plays in therapy. Due to all the time the novel has been alive (being analyzed, edited, translated, etc.), it has had the fortune to adapt its ideas, thoughts and situations to current ones: the language itself Shelley used to write the novel suffered some transformations during all these 200+ years, as well as English has been developing and changing. Therefore, the way humans conceived the world and its rules changed not only with this work but with literary
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movements in a macro way: humans from the renaissance thought different things about life in contrast with romantical ones, for example. Here, the essay reaches to its last part: besides the fact that language is always evolving and changing, it is constantly taking a quick view of the past. Shelley is not the exception; though Frankenstein is a work from Romanticism, it is written in a way that makes the reader remember the classical way humans lived: its narrative form is epistolary, with references to the relationship between humans and God. In the opinion of the author of this essay, Frankenstein could be a hypertext of a lot of human myths that talk about the gods’ fury when humans threatened to equal their power. The title itself: “Frankenstein, or the modern Prometheus” leads the reader to look at the past, at the classic myth of Prometheus, who challenged deities stealing their power, and regretted about it after. This allows the analysis to theorize that language is always relating its old models; it is constantly evolving from its primary forms, as well as humans: the novel creates an environment in which human morality is challenged. Even until today humans are still asking themselves if they have the power to do something or not, because there is always some fear to face what Frankenstein did with his Creature: “you are my creator, but I am your master; obey! (…)” (Frankenstein, cited in Basiya, p.176) Thus, in Frankenstein, the modernity is seen with classical eyes, classical feelings, horror, and passion. To conclude the article, it is not possible to establish the actual changes Frankenstein made in the linguistic form of English. Due to the time, it is prudent to say that, in that epoch, Modern English was the current stage the language was suffering. Nevertheless, it is not possible to assure exactly what were the words or expressions Mary Shelley gave to English. But something is crucially evident: this novel presented to its readers a new form to see through language and to experience a story. Shelley introduced the science-fiction works, which allowed the population to know some other ways to reincarnate stories and to express feelings and ideas; she also evidenced the importance of language to make catharsis of humans’ own
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life, and the link language establishes between humans and culture. This is especially important: language is always evolving, but humans’ needs will always be the same: expressing their emotions and communicating with others. Words can emulate a new world, and link one individual world with another one’s.
REFERENCES ●
Basiya, R. V. (2018). The Monster Is Alive: 200 Years of Mary Shelley’s Language
Frankenstein.
in
India,
18(7),
174–178.
Retrieved
from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ufh&AN=131021309&lang= es&site=ehost-live ●
Brewer, W. D. (1994). Mary Shelley on the therapeutic value of language. Papers on Language
&
Literature,
30(4),
387.
Retrieved
from
http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=vth&AN=9501243471&lang =es&site=ehost-live ●
Brooks, P. (1978) Godlike Science/Unhallowed Arts: Language and Monstrosity in Frankenstein. New Literary History, 9(3) , 591-605. Doi: 10.2307/468457. Retrieved from: https://www.jstor.org/stable/468457
●
Laurence, R. (2018) Why Frankenstein is the story that defines our fears. BBC Culture/Literature/Stories that shaped the world. June 13, 2018. Retrieved from: http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180611-why-frankenstein-is-the-story-that-defin ed-our-fears
●
Grande, J. (2008) The original Frankenstein, By Mary Shelley with Percy Shelley ed Charles E Robinson. INDEPENDENT. November 16, 2008. Retrieved from: https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-original-franken stein-by-mary-shelley-with-percy-shelley-ed-charles-e-robinson-1017483.html
OTHER RESOURCES CONSULTED ●
Shelley, P. (1832) ON “FRANKENSTEIN”. The Athenaeum Journal of Literature, Science
and
the
Fine
Arts.
London.
Retrieved
from:
https://www.bl.uk/collection-items/review-of-frankenstein-from-the-athenaeum ●
Phillipson, R. (2008) FORUM: Lingua franca or lingua frankensteinia? English in European integration and globalization. World Englishes. 2 7(2), 250-267. Retrieved
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from: http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.470.8305&rep=rep1&type= pdf ●
Alvarado, D. (2017) The Monstrosity of Language: Frankenstein and The Descent Into Cultural Misrepresentation. The Oswald Review: An International Journal of Undergraduate Research and Criticism in the Discipline of English. 1 9(1) , 76-86. Retrieved
from:
https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1177&context=tor ● https://frankenreads.org/event/power-of-language-and-power-of-science-celebrating-t he-200th-anniversary-of-frankenstein/ : Frankenreads, an international celebration of the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for Halloween 2018 organized by the Keats-Shelley Association of America. ●
Botting, F. (1991) Frankenstein and the Language of Monstrosity. Retrieved from: http://knarf.english.upenn.edu/Articles/botting1.html
IMAGES (IN ORDER OF APPEARANCE)
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LINGUISTIC CONTRIBUTIONS THAT THE ROMANTICISM BROUGHT ________________________________________________________________________ By:​ Geny Sirley Zuluaga Serna
If someone asked us to describe Romanticism in two words, without a doubt, they would be "nature" and "I", since they are the central elements of this literary movement and can be evidenced through literature itself. What this literary movement intended was to avoid the ideals of the Illustration , in which everything was seen with a look of objectivism, and the reason was the only thing that mattered. The Romantics, on the other hand, gave great importance to feelings, and therefore they were on the side of subjectivism, because for them each individual was unique, which is really visible through literature.
The literary movement of Romanticism, not only brought changes in the way of thinking and conceiving the world, but also was a promoter of various linguistic changes. Due to their desire to return to the ideals of the past, the Romantic authors made the first research on the relations that the Sanskrit had with European languages and also deciphered some Egyptian hieroglyphs (Guio, 1998), which allowed to establish relationships between languages, and to infer what was the origin of each one, this was represented through genealogical trees that showed the linguistic heritage. All theses studies made possible what we know today as comparative linguistic.
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Characteristics of this artistic, literary and cultural movement:
- Cult of the Self (Individualism). - Rebellion against reason. - Desire for freedom. - Rupture of conventional rules. (Surrealism) - Individualism and subjectivism. - Imagination and feelings. - The nostalgia of lost paradises (childhood)
EDGAR ALLAN POE, A WRITER OF ROMANTICISM
Without a doubt, many of these characteristics can be evidenced in the tales and poems of Edgar Allan Poe. For example, imagination and feeling are presented in all Poe's works. Also, his works transcended what was socially acceptable for his time. And that's what the romantic writer did: get away from conventional norms and write about the improbable and incredible things, through his own style and idiosyncrasy.
CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM
POE’S
WORKS
TO
LITERATURE: THE HORROR GENRE AND THE CRIME NOVEL
Poe dedicated his life to write about the deepest feelings of the human being, but he focused on capturing those that were unacceptable to society. Through the transgression of conventional norms, this great poet and writer showed the most terrible images that the subconscious of one person could have. In this wa​y, he
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created genres that still have great importance not only in literature, but also in cinema, as are the horror genre and the crime novel.
LITERATURE CREATES CULTURES AND WAYS OF THINKING
Through literature we understand cultural and ideological aspects of different kind of eras in which books were written, through literature we also enter into stories that in one way or another, influence the way we see the world. When we read Poe’s works, we experience all kinds of sensations, from peace and tranquility to anguish and terror. In the same way, when we watch a horror movie or when we read one of Poe’s stories, we feel that some paranormal presences coexist with us. Because of the influence of horror literature and movies we believe that there are other beings that try to communicate with us, as with the desire to live longer.
Thus, literature creates ways of thinking about society and ways of understanding what we are and what we could become. Literature allows self-reflection and leads us to create new worlds that may be imaginary for us, but very real for those who read it.
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_________________________________________________________________________
LINGUISTIC CONTRIBUTION BROUGHT BY ORWELL IN “1984” _________________________________________________________________________
By: Jonnathan Alexander Grandas Contreras
1.
Language is more than a few words: it is expression itself "It's a beautiful thing, the destruction of words. Of course, the great wastage is in the verbs and adjectives, but there are hundreds of nouns that can be got rid of as well. It is not only the synonyms; there are also the antonyms. After all, what justification is there for a word which is simply the opposite of some other word? A word contains its opposite in itself. Take "good", for instance. If you have a word like "good", what need is there for a word like "bad"? "Ungood" will do just as well."
George Orwell, 1984 This first gesture, this first thought, these first fortuitous words were the main, the most powerful and terrifying possibility that George Orwell could make up in his work, he wrote about another reality in which every form of personal expression is banned and punished. In fact, those expressions are being monitored and regulate every moment in their daily lives in order to restrain the individual and turn him into a part of the crowd, forbidden them to be themselves. The years, the decades have passed and nowadays this possibility started to become a reality. After the war and new behavior philosophy, political speech is free to modify words with the purpose of being more gentle and attractive to people. But the truth is that it is a lie, take, for example, the scenario of “No Paz” (no peace) instead of the “Guerra” (war) that is in the Acuerdos de Paz, making use of this change Santos can interpret the ELN actions as a kids pout and literally do nothing but scolding them and set them free with that and no citizen can say a word in disagreeing of that terrible
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actions of the ELN because they are not in war, they are in no peace so there is no need for condemning or retribution. The importance of addressing the problems as they need to be addressed is vital, the importance to have the possibility to call anything as you want setting up your voice and point of view. 2. Literacy is communication, communication is human nature George Orwell knew that the necessity of the human being to express themselves, misery of their nature itself, is not artificial nor poetic: it is the amazing way of being of the human is in the word, the gesture, the communication and at the same time it restrain them as a limit and as a possibility. This means that words, the communication itself is the only way that we have to let other people know what are we thinking and what are we feeling about anything. If anyone deletes a word or force to use other, it is immediate destruction of language and destruction of personal expression. 3.
A contemporaneous writer: George Orwell “Language not only expresses identities but also constructs them.” David Evans, 2014 As a writer, Orwell dedicated his books to communicate what he lives, what he saw, what
he felt and more important how he interpreted it. In an interview with Carlos Langa, he said that the reason to write 1984 was his experience in the Spanish civil war and the Second World War, he said that he wanted to write a story where everyone was being watched every moment of every day because he desires to show how it will be in reality and how unbearable would be to have suffered that life, so everyone can objectively take a look in the empty words in the political speech of a dictator. Orwell wrote about a world that never exists but he did it so real and vivid that any reader can feel themselves into the story even they can extrapolate to our world. Orwell
prioritizes
experience
and
personal opinion in a reasonable way where everyone can understand, accept them letting aside the irrational thoughts and feelings that can interfere with the reality. So, through empathy and a sense
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of civil rights, this great writer showed horrible views of a reality that could become ours if we cede even a centimeter. The rise of the genre of reality
4.
In this way, Orwell created genres in our contemporaneous world that claim for each voice to scream, that claim for every emotion to be felt, that claim for every action to be performed, this genre claims for the right to know each one truth. Also, his literacy influenced the creation of new arts that express and interpret all realities such as comics, Japanese manga, photography and newspaper, everything for the sake of each voice in the seek of the truth.
"Who controls the past,' ran the Party slogan, 'controls the future: who controls the present controls the past." George Orwell, 1948
References Orwell, G. (1948). 1984. Harvill Secker https://blog.smaldone.com.ar/pdf/1984-bilingue.pdf Langa, C. (2018) Entrevista a George Orwell: "'1984' era un mundo terrible, pero al menos nadie subía fotos a Instagram con un 'aquí sufriendo'". Antena 3. Retrieved from https://www.antena3.com/liopardo/carlos-langa/entrevista-george-orwell-1984-era-mundo-ter rible-pero-menos-nadie-subia-fotos-instagram-aqui-sufriendo_201809285badecdf0cf2a0de52 56b3c9.html Padilla, G. (2018) A 115 AÑOS DE SU NACIMIENTO: 2+2=5, GEORGE ORWELL Y EL LENGUAJE POLÍTICO. Sopitas. Retrieved from https://www.sopitas.com/entretenimiento/george-orwell-lenguaje-politico/ Evans, D. (2014) Language and Identity: Discourse in the World. Bloomsbury. Retrieved from https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/language-and-identity-9780567566140/
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A DYSTOPIA COME TRUE __________________________________________________________________________ By: ​MarĂa Paula RĂos Arias Ray Bradbury is considered one of the most representative writers of the genre of dystopia and science fiction thanks to his work "Fahrenheit 451" written in 1953 in the Cold War, a subject that is also broached in the book. This work, besides being a great contribution to American literature, shows a reality that we are already experiencing: consumerism and the negative impact of technological advances. To understand this, it is necessary to talk about the society of this story: It is a world where books are forbidden and firefighters are responsible to burn them and leave no trace of them, since having access to them makes people think and be unhappy. In addition, the characters live immersed in a technological world, connected all the time to their televisions and radios (which were the most technological devices existing at that time) that make them be entertained and somehow, without thinking.
According to the above, the written language is made to last over time, so that thousands of future generations have the opportunity to access it, so that they know how we lived, how we talked. Then, the action of burning the books leads me to consider that not only they are being destroyed, but thousands of years of history, cultures, languages and human life. This is
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a sign of ignorance, of total detachment from what we are and have been. Regarding oral language, the book also makes a call, because the society of this story is so immersed in technology that it does not have moments to communicate with each other, to enter into conversations, to have real contact. This is exemplified in the relationship between the main character and his wife, who is so focused on television and she does not pay attention to him. Technology also makes us create a false life, it is incredible how this can be true, I know people who are better talking on social networks than in person, or others who have more friends on the web than in real life.
Under the same line, the little contact that is seen in the work, ends up showing individualistic characters, an aspect that has been criticized lately by authors such as Lipovetsky, Bauman, among others. The way we live fragments us, no matter what the other thinks or feels, everything revolves around yourself and only your own well-being matters. The lack of communication is not the only thing that is criticized, but also the passivity with which people take the speeches that are found in advertisements, television programs, commercials, messages that come to us from all sides and we do not finish processing.
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On the other hand, currently in Colombia it is estimated that young people do not read, but I consider they read: tweets, Facebook states, the messages they exchange through social networks. In an article written by Ramin Bahrani, the director of the recent film based on this book, said that Bradbury was concerned that people only started reading headlines, also he claimed that half the words online have been replaced with emojis. Besides, Bahrani said “The more we erode language, the more we erode complex thought and the easier we are to control. Bradbury feared memory loss. Today we have designated Google and our social-media accounts as the guardians of our memories, emotions, dreams and facts.� it is clear that in this literary work, books have no value but writing has been a means to express with words, with language, what we feel and think. As I said before, books allow us to endure over time and contain the history of our lives, but I want to say that everything changes and the place to keep our memories are social networks instead of books, and there is no problem with that, but it is true that social networks have led us to write badly, without rules, without making good use of the language, we have definitely deteriorated it. ​To conclude, this book has not only contributed to American literature, but also to a digital era that needs to think and reflect on its role in
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society, the importance of having communication, of writing, of reading, to be open-minded and free.
References ● Bahrani, R, (2018). Why ‘Fahrenheit 451’ Is the Book for Our Social Media Age. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2018/05/10/books/review/fahrenheit-451-ray-bradbury.htm l?ref=nyt-es&mcid=nyt-es&subid=article ● Infante, L, (2011). Las distopías: Fahrenheit 451. Retrieved from https://www.academia.edu/37992809/LAS_DISTOP%C3%8DAS_FAHRENHEIT_4 51