Critical
Content and
Literature
Victor Rey Fumar
Grade 10 National Training of
Trainers for the Luzon Cluster
Teachers’ Camp, Baguio City
April 25, 2015
Critical Content and Literature
HOW AND TO WHAT EXTENT
 literary
pieces are used to teach
English
 the lessons develop communicative
competence
 the reading selections help the
learners achieve literary
competence
Literary Competence
Jonathan Culler defines literary
competence as the ability to
internalize the ‘grammar’ of
literature which would permit a
reader to convert linguistic
sequences into literary structures
and meaning.
The Teaching of Literature
 The

writers and their milieu
The genre
 The
cultural implications
 Intertextuality
Daedalus and Icarus
Mythic history of Athens and Crete
Aegean Sea - Aegeus
The Labors of Theseus
Minoan civilization
Knossos excavations – Sir Arthur
Evans
Atlantis – “the lost continent”
Daedalus and Icarus
Forbidden themes
Abduction and rape – Zeus and
Europa
Bestiality – Pasiphae and the bull
Cruelty – the Minotaur eating
humans
Suicide – Aegeus
Envy and murder – Daedalus killing
his nephew
Daedalus and Icarus
Intertextuality
Peiter Brueghel’s painting, “The
Fall of Icarus”
W.H. Auden’s poem “Musee Des
Beaux Arts”
William Carlos William’s poem,
“Landscape with the Fall of
Icarus”
the movie, “I, for Icarus”
MUSEE DES BEAUX ARTS
by W. H. Auden
About suffering they were never wrong,
The Old Masters: how well they understood
Its human position; how it takes place
While someone else is eating or opening a
window or just walking dully along;
How, when the aged are reverently,
passionately waiting
For the miraculous birth, there always must
be
Children who did not specially want it to
happen, skating
On a pond at the edge of the wood:
They never forgot
That even the dreadful martyrdom must run
its course
Anyhow in a corner, some untidy spot
Where the dogs go on with their doggy life
and the torturer's horse
Scratches its innocent behind on a tree.
In Brueghel's Icarus, for instance: how
everything turns away
Quite leisurely from the disaster; the
plowman may
Have heard the splash, the forsaken cry,
But for him it was not an important failure;
the sun shone
As it had to on the white legs disappearing
into the green
Water; and the expensive delicate ship that
must have seen
Something amazing, a boy falling out of the
sky,
Had somewhere to get to and sailed calmly
on.
LANDSCAPE
WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS
by William Carlos Williams
According to Brueghel
when Icarus fell
it was spring
a farmer was ploughing
his field
the whole pageantry
of the year was
awake tingling
near
the edge of the sea
concerned
with itself
sweating in the sun
that melted
the wings' wax
unsignificantly
off the coast
there was
a splash quite unnoticed
it was
Icarus drowning.
The Gorgon’s Head
 The
Oracle at Delphi
Death, disaster, and destiny
 The
Rule of three
3 Gorgons: Stheno, Euryale,
Medusa
3 Gray Ones
3 magical objects
The Gorgon’s Head
 Situational
irony
-Bronze chamber prison
-Death by discuss throw
 Forbidden
themes
- Incest
- Irreverence
- Rape
The Gorgon’s Head
Intertextuality
-Percy Jackson series
-Valentina
-Perseus and Andromeda
constellations
-Pegasus
Orpheus
 The
-
Hero Myth
a man who had a god or goddess as a
parent or who lived when such people
existed
 Characteristics
1.
2.
of the heroic view of life
The hero knows that he has superior
qualities, and he uses them to win the
praise of others.
The hero makes the most of his
extraordinary talents in order to surpass
other men.
Orpheus
3. The hero seeks dangerous tasks
because by accomplishing them he shows his
superior qualities.
4. A personal sense of honor is most
important for the hero.
5. Fame and good reputation are the
rewards of honor and are avidly sought by the
hero.
6. The hero is conscious of his own
mortality; he is keenly aware that death
removes all opportunity for obtaining greater
fame.
Orpheus
 Orphism
A philosophic-religious cult whose
devotees believed in reincarnation. After
death, one’s spirit drank of the River Lethe,
forgot its previous existence, and entered
life again, until, after three successive lives
of virtue, one gained Elysium, a place of
perfect happiness. An evil life resulted in
prolonging the cycle of human existence
and in delaying entrance into Elysium.
Orpheus
Intertextuality
The
Hero with a Thousand
Faces (Joseph Campbell)
The Myth of Sisyphus (Albert
Camus)
Equus, a play
Arachne
Athena
Goddess of Wisdom – cleverness
and cunning which she admired.
Combined with courage.
She would often assist heroes in
their tasks when she found that they
possessed such qualities: Perseus,
Bellerophon, Heracles, Cadmus, and
Jason.

Arachne
Word
God
Etymology
versus mortals
Woman
versus woman
How Odin Lost His Eye
A
Way of Seeing the World
- Sense and sense impressions
The
Power of the Gaze
- Stargazers, seers
- Perspectives and predictions
- Media
How Odin Lost His Eye
Intertextuality
- Thor, movie sequels
- The Bluest Eye (Toni Morisson)
- The Cyclops
- Oedipus Rex
The Koran
 The
Islamic holy book, the Koran,
contains the revelations that came
to Mohammed during his life as a
prophet. Islam emerged as a world
religion in 622 known as the Hegira.
The chapters in the Koran are short
lyric defining the power of Allah
and demanding the obedience of
mortals. The Koran gradually
widened in scope and included the
duty of the faithful.
The Koran
Holy
epithets
- Similar to stock epithets: “the
Compassionate, the Merciful”
Poetic
devices
- Anaphora
- Refrains
The Analects
The
Analects are bits of
wisdom, epigrams, and talks by
Confucius.
The
Analects instructs on
moderation in all things through
moral education.
The Analects
Intertextuality
- Tao Te Ching
- The Dhamaphada
- Urbana at Feliza
Inferno – Canto II
 The
graphic representations of
-Purgatory, Hell, Heaven
 The
elaborate symbols and
meanings
- Birth, death, and resurrection
- Sin, penance, salvation
- Mortals, spirits, divine
The Song of Roland
Feudalism
Period
and the Medieval
-The Rise of the Moors
-The Crusades
-The Age of Chivalry
The Song of Roland
Intertextuality
- El Cid
- The metrical tales
- Arthurian legends
- First Knight, the movie
Francesco Petrarcha
 Humanism
 Petrarchan
and the Renaissance Period
Sonnet
- rhyme scheme
- meter
- structure
 Formal Verses
- English sonnets
- Villanelle
Francesco Petrarcha
Intertextuality
- Sonnets
from the Portuguese
(Elizabeth Barrett Browning)
- Florante at Laura
- Holy Sonnets (John Donne)
The Decameron
 The
Bubonic Plaque or Black Death
 Falconry
 Literary
and the Aristocracy
devices
- Irony of situation
- Dramatic irony
- The frame story
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Cruelty and torture through the
ages
Discrimination of PWDs
Injustice and the death penalty
Class antagonisms
Love against all odds
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
Intertextuality
-The Universal Declaration of
Human Rights
-Human rights violations in
the Philippines
-The Flor Contemplacion
case
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers
Intertextuality
Fraternities and sororities
Gangs and syndicates
The military establishment
The Three Musketeers
Adaptations
The Young Blades television series is a
sequel to the novels, centered on the son
of d'Artagnan; similarly, Albert the Fifth
Musketeer is an animated sequel. Three
Musketeers is an anime series adaption,
while The Three Musketeers was an
animated adaption that aired as part of
Hanna-Barbera's The Banana
Splits Comedy-Adventure Hour & The
Banana Splits & Friends show.
The Three Musketeers
The Three Musketeers was adapted as a
serial by the BBC in 1954 and 1966. The
Musketeers, a 2014 series by Adrian
Hodges, is another BBC adaptation.
Publisher Albert Lewis Kanter (1897–1973),
created Classic Comics for Elliot Publishing
Company in 1941 with its debut issues
being The Three Musketeers. The Three
Mouseketeers was the title of two separate
series produced by DC Comics; the first
series was a loose parody of The Three
Musketeers.
The Three Musketeers
In 1939, American author Tiffany
Thayer published a book entitled Three
Musketeers(Thayer, 1939). This is a re-telling
of the story in Thayer's words, true to the
original plot but told in a different order and
with different points of view and emphasis
from the original. The Khaavren
Romances by Steven Brust are fantasy (or
science-fiction) novels heavily influenced
by The Three Musketeers and its sequels; the
characters and social background are
closer to Dumas's than the plots.
The Three Musketeers
In 2010, Anuman Interactive launched The
Three Musketeers, a hidden object
game on PC and MAC. Players follow
d'Artagnan in his quest to become a king's
musketeer.
The Plague
 Symbols
and their meanings
 The
absurdity and meaninglessness
of human existence
 Hope
over despair
 Existentialism
The Plague
Intertextuality
- Tragedies and disasters
- Natural calamities
- Yolanda aftermath
A Day in the Country
by Anton Chechov
H He received a medical degree at the University of Moscow
in 1884,
but he soon
neglected
His
numerous
stories
andhis medical practice in order
to write. His numerous stories and plays gave him a
commanding
positionhim
in literaryaRussia. He gave a poignant
plays
gave
illumination to such human experiences as loneliness, grief,
hunger, and misery. e received a medical degree at the
commanding
position
University of Moscow
in 1884, in
but he soon neglected his
medical practice in order to write. His numerous stories and
plays gave
him a commanding
position in literary Russia.
literary
Russia.
He gave a
He gave a poignant illumination to such human experiences
as loneliness, grief, hunger, and misery. Among Hrecei a
poignant
illumination
to of Moscow in 1884, but he
medical degree
at the University
soon neglected his medical practice in order to write. His
such
human
numerous
storiesexperiences
and plays gave him a commanding
position in literary Russia. He gave a poignant illumination
such human experiences
as loneliness, grief, hunger, and
astoloneliness,
grief, hunger,
misery. Among
and misery.
Song of Autumn
Sound
devices
-alliteration
-onomatopoeia
-assonance
Imagery
-sense impressions
15 Songs about Autumn
1. Wake Me Up When September
Ends Green Day
2. Gone Till November Wyclef Jean
3. Girl from the North Country Bob
Dylan & Johnny Cash
4. October Broken Bells
5. California Dreamin' The Mamas &
The Papas
6. Harvest Moon Neil Young
7. Autumn In New York Bille Holiday
8. Dead Leaves and the Dirty
Ground The White Stripes
15 Songs about Autumn
9. Autumn Bombay Bicycle Club
10. Country Song Jake Bugg
11. Autumn Almanac The Kinks
12. Grand Theft Autumn/Where Is
Your Boy Fall Out Boy
13. Autumn Leaves (ft. Kendrick
Lamar) Chris Brown
14. Blood On The Leaves Kanye West
15. November Rain Guns N' Roses
A Grain as Big as a Hen’s Egg
Regarded as the greatest 19th
century Russian writer, he is
remembered most for his novels
War and Peace and Anna
Karenina and for his short
stories
that
probed
human
nature and its strengths and
weaknesses.
The Little Prince
The Little Prince
1. Do what makes you happy
because your heart knows best.
2. Never lose that childish ability to
see what’s really important in life.
3. All you need is to truly love one
thing to be filled with love for
everything.
4. The grass always seems greener
elsewhere, so remember that’s just an
illusion and be happy where you are.
The Little Prince
5. You’ll travel the most by going off the
beaten path and taking twists and turns.
6. Stay humble.
7. Before you criticize others, reflect
upon your own actions.
8. Break out of endless self-destructive
cycles.
9. While you’re building your career,
don’t forget to enjoy life.
The Little Prince
10. Don’t just be a geographer; be an
explorer.
11. Take the time out to get to know
people and then work to maintain
those relationships.
12. You’re never really alone when
you feel alone because everyone
feels the same way.
The Little Prince
13. You are always obligated to the
people who you have allowed to
love you.
14. Sometimes, a silent look or a hug
is enough.
15. There are so many wonderful
things out there in your future. You
can’t see them yet, but they’re there.
Kaffir Boy
“Education
will open doors
where none
seem to exist.”
Kaffir Boy
Kaffir Boy has been banned in a
number of schools, one of these
being Cedar Crest High School,
where the ban made headlines. The
bans are due to a controversial
scene involving child prostitution and
sodomy, which some have referred
to as “pornography,” sparking
another headline defending the
scene.
Kaffir Boy
While Mathabane wrote an article for
the Washington Post stating that he
would prefer it to be banned
completely to being revised or
censored, Mathabane has since
authorized a revised version for use in
such schools. The unrevised book is still
used as high school reading material
regardless of the controversial scenes.
Kaffir Boy
The book Kaffir Boy has won the
prestigious Christopher Award for
inspiring hope. The book reached
number one on theWashington
Post Bestseller’s List and number three on
the New York Times Bestseller’s List. It has
also been chosen by theAmerican
Library Association for inclusion on the list
of “Outstanding Books for the CollegeBound and Life-Long Learners.”
Kaffir Boy
Intertextuality
- The Long Walk to Freedom
by Nelson Mandela
- Cry the Beloved, Allan Paton
-Censorship
The United Fruit Company
 Anti-imperialist
stance
of the poet
 Latin
 His
American history
controversial death
The United Fruit Company
He drew the inspiration for some of his
best poems from objects that others
hardly notice. Much of Neruda’s later
work expresses political sentiments. In
1971 he received the Nobel Prize for
Literature.
The United Fruit Company
Intertextuality
 The
poems of Gabriela Mistral
 The House of the Spirits, Isabel
Allende
 One Hundred Years of Solitude,
Gabriel Garcia Marquez
 The end of the US embargo
against Cuba
Rethinking the Goals of
Teaching Literature
1.
2.
3.
Develop and/or extend
literary competence.
Develop and/or enhance
learners’ imagination and
creativity.
Develop students’ character
and emotional maturity.
Rethinking the Goals of
Teaching Literature
4. Develop creative thinking.
5. Develop literary
appreciation and refine
one’s reading taste.
THANK YOU
AND
HAPPY TEACHING!