Group items tagged

The tradition of oral poetry is shared amongst many ancient cultures, traditions and language families. While there are many similarities, both in the mechanics and the subject matter of these ancient texts, some of the more subtle differences can be extremely enlightening given their significance in understanding the uniqueness of each individual culture and tradition they evolved out of. The Kalevala is a perfect example of how subtle differences in ancient textscan enlighten our understanding of the uniqueness of an ancient culture. This article examines the specific and unique understanding The Kalevala imparts to our Western Tradition.

An examination of the first appropriation in Wester Literature and how it set the tone for the way the rest of us would appropriate. Focuses on Virgl, Homer, and the relationship between the Aeneid and Homer's Epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey. This relationship between these texts is important because it laid the groundwork for how and why other writers in the Western Literary Tradition would also appropriate previous works.

This is part one in a new series of articles all of which are designed to inform and guide anyone who might want to know a little bit more about the rich tradition of art, letters and philosophy we have inherited from those who came before us. As human beings, our connection to the past is one of the greatest resources we have which imparts perpetual significance to the works discussed in this article, no matter how old they are.

Given the status of the Bible in the western literary tradition as one of the most appropriated and alluded to of all ancient and religious texts, it is not unusual that William Blake writes so extensively about it. While a great body of Blake's mature works, including the longer works "Milton" and "Jerusalem," deal with biblical themes, his early central work, 'The Marriage of Heaven and Hell," gives insight not only into themes that would later occupy Blake's longer works, but also into the unique status of the Bible in western literature

This is part two in a continuing series of articles all of which are designed to inform and guide anyone who might want to know a little bit more about the rich tradition of art, letters and philosophy we have inherited from those who came before us. This article looks specifically at some of the best and most important works of 20th Century American Postmodernism. It discusses authors such as Joseph Heller, John Barth, Kurt Vonnegut, Don DeLilo, and David Foster Wallace.

Kurt Vonnegut, one of the most prolific if not best American writers of the second half of the twentieth century, first earned a reputation for himself as a science-fictionist with his early works, The Sirens of Titan and Cat's Cradle. This reputation, however much it vastly underestimates and misunderstands Vonnegut's work and its significance to the modern era, has been difficult for Vonnegut to escape. It does, however, provide insight into the aspects of the modern situation that Vonnegut sees as central and meaningful. Bluebeard, which trades a more traditionally Vonnegut mad scientist for a retired, eccentric expressionist painter, the same painter from Breakfast of Champions, tackles the issues which have traditionally blurred Vonnegut's role in the literary and popular fiction traditions. This article explores these issues within Vonnegut's version of the fairytale, Bluebeard.

This article discusses the similarities between Gilgamesh and the Biblical Flood account found in the Book of Genesis. Rather than taking one of the traditional positions on the relationship between the two texts, this article attempts to change our attitude about how we react when discussing the Bible in connection with other works in order to foster a healthier and more open environment for discussion of ancient texts and criticism.

This article examines the American literary tradition, specifically early American writing, to understand the roots of the concept of Manifest Destiny. It examines literature in America as well as literature and nature during colonialism in the Americas and on into the United States as it expanded westward. The article also has links, books, ebooks, and ebook readers as well as other academic resources available.