lit section ii

Author of "Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature"

Erich Auerbach

A Jewish-German exile living in Istanbul during WW2

Erich Auerbach

Literary representations of the external social world

"mimetic" storytelling

A story in which a journey is undertaken to complete some goal, during which the protagonist experiences a significant change.

Quest narratives

A story element that recurs across multiple generations and cultures

Archetype

A Sumerian epic written around 2000 BCE

Epic of Gilgamesh

When was "Mimesis: The Representation of Reality in Western Literature" written?

1946

An epic poem written sometime between the eighth and eleventh centuries

Beowulf

Extant story from Arthurian mythology (c. fourteenth century)

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

The chivalric knight from Sir Gawain and the Green Knight

Sir Gawain

Arrogant and powerful character in Epic of Gilgamesh

Gilgamesh

Ordinary humble character in The Lord of the Rings

Frodo Baggins

What is the plot of The Count of Monte Cristo?

Exacting revenge

When was The Count of Monte Cristo made?

1846

What does On the Road glorify?

Countercultural attitudes

Who wrote On the Road?

Jack Kerouac

When was On the Road written?

1957

What does The Reivers valorize?

Canny wisdom and street smarts of Ned McCaslin

Who wrote The Reivers?

William Faulkner

When was The Reivers written?

1962

Who wrote The Lord of the Rings?

J.R.R. Tolkien

When was The Lord of the Rings written?

1954-1955

What is the plot of The Lord of the Rings?

End goal: Mt. Doom, a volcano in Mordor, home to evil Lord Sauron

The hero travels from good into evil, and sees it

How does The Lord of the Rings illustrate good and evil? Examples

Beauty of places like the pastoral realm of the Shire and the elven forest of Lothlórien vs. industrial brutality of Isengard or land of Mordor

Who wrote Heart of Darkness?

Joseph Conrad

When was Heart of Darkness written?

1899

How does Heart of Darkness show a journey from one state of mind to another? The plot:

Marlow pursues Kurtz (ivory trader gone rogue), travels deep into Congolese interior, sees human psyche become dark

Who criticized the dark regions of the human psyche being attributed to Congolese interior?

Nigerian writer Chinua Achebe

Types of transformation

Geographical, ethical, existential

Plot of Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close

Oskar Schell journeys around NYC

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close was written by

Jonathan Safron Foer

When was Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close written

2005

Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close is an example of _____ transformation

Geographical

Annihilation plot:

Journey into disturbing location that looks normal but violates laws of nature

Who wrote Annihilation?

Jeff VanderMeer

When was Annihilation written?

2014

Annihilation is an example of _____ transformation

Geographical

"What Did You Do During the Revolution, Grandma?" plot

Journeys of a government bureaucrat in a futuristic society sent to live undercover in an exotic world resembling medieval Earth

Who wrote "What Did You Do During the Revolution, Grandma"?

Joanna Russ

When was "What Did You Do During the Revolution, Grandma" written?

1983

Plot of Adventures of Huckleberry Funn

Huck Finn's ideas of slavery and racial segregation change as he travels along the Mississippi River with Jim

First he is unreflective about the racism, but then decides its important to do right than to follow laws

Who wrote Adventures of Huckleberry Finn?

Mark Twain

When was Adventures of Huckleberry Finn written?

Acadec has 2 dates…

1884 (not to memorize but for info: it was released in UK 1884), 1885 (not to memorize: it was released in US 1885)

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is an example of _____ transformation

ethical

Plot of Shōgun

John Blackthorne travels near Japan to seek wealth and fame, dismisses Japanese culture. Then, he recognizes his limits from English upbringing, like ideas of death and honorable things

Who wrote Shōgun?

James Clavell

Who adapted Shōgun into a TV series?

Rachel Kondo and Justin Marks

Shōgun is an example of _____ transformation

Ethical

Creation Lake plot:

Protagonist hired as spy to infiltrate radical group in rural France, then becomes changed and understands how humans should relate to their environment

Who wrote the novel Creation Lake

Rachel Kushner

When was Creation Lake written

2024

Creation Lake is an example of _____ transformation

Existential

What book genres contain all 3 types of transformations?

Bildungsroman

"coming of age story about growth and maturation"

Bildungsroman

Wilheim Meister's Apprenticeship plot:

Young char. forced to grow up and rethink identity as they are sent away from home

Who wrote Wilheim Meister's Apprenticeship

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's

When was Wilheim Meister's Apprenticeship written?

1995-96

The Underground Railroad plot:

Cora travels to different parts of the US as part of finding freedom, and understanding core principals of US and her lack of being as an African America

Who wrote The Underground Railroad?

Colson Whitehead

When was The Underground Railroad written?

2016

The Underground Railroad is an example of _______ transformation

Geographical and existential

Wilheim Meister's Apprenticeship is an example of _____ transformation

Geographical, ethical, and existential

The Remains of the Day is an example of _____ transformation

Geographical, ethical, and existential transformation

Who argues that exploring nature in travel writing has worked as part of an autobiography, to explain yourself to the world, or to present details of nature and society?

Judith Hamera and Alfred Bendixen

Examples of autobiographical nature travel writing

• Walden by Henry David Thoreau (1854)

• Wild, the memoir, by Cheryl Strayed (2012)

Examples of describing nature and society in travel writing

• On the Plains of Snakes by Paul Theroux (2019)

• South by Ernest Shakleton (1919)

Informative guidebook

Travel book

What guidebook does Stevens present in the novel?

The Wonder of England written by Jane Symons

What magazines does Stevens present in the novel?

National Geographic

Who said that travel writing "is constitutive, a tool of self- and national fashioning that constructs its object even as to describe it" (basically where they're going and where they are coming from)

Judith Hamera and Alfred Bendixen

Who coined Orientalism

Edward Said

When was Orientalism coined? Where?

1978 in book called Orientalism

Who called encounters as "contact zones" or "social spaces where disparate cultures meet, clash, and grapple with each other…"

Mary Louise Pratt