This was probably the most difficult and confusing section for me. The text seemed older, and I had trouble making out exactly what the author was trying to say. I thought the main argument the author was trying to make was that all the great writers of the sixteenth century were all reflections of their own particular culture, and their writings represented the middle class. I believe the author also argued that one cannot separate art from the artist which really intrigued me. This topic is perhaps even more relevant today as many artists are being exposed for their abusive history and consumers and fans need to decide if they will still appreciate their art. Is consuming the artists art directly supporting the artists and their questionable history?
One of my favorite quotes from this chapter is, “There is no such thing as a human nature independent of culture”. This made a lot of sense to be because I understand how much power a culture holds and how it can be central to one’s identity. Specifically, I often wonder what I would be like if I went to a different school besides Galloway my whole life. After being apart of such a strong community and culture for almost my whole life, I’ve really grown to appreciate the way my culture has impacted me. I truly believe I represent the culture that I have been surrounded by my whole life. I also really connected with the point the author made about how our culture governs our individual behavior and tells us what is right from wrong. I think this point is talking about cultural norms and traditions, and I’m super interested in this, and I hope it is something we can discuss throughout this year. Recently, I saw the movie Midsommar, and like this section of the reading, it really got me thinking about why certain things are appropriate in some cultures and inappropriate in others. Specifically, the way our american culture views death is really interesting to me. Death is usually looked upon as a negative, bad experience while in other cultures (like the culture in Midsommar), death is a celebration of life, and it is viewed in a positive manner. Throughout this year, I hope we can discuss how literature and art reflect particular cultures. One last thing that stood out to me was how the author classified literature. In their analysis, the author states that it is, “a manifestation of the concrete behavior of its particular author”, and I interpreted this to mean how the author’s personality plays a role in the writing. The author also states that literature is “the expression of the codes by which behavior is shaped”, and I think this means that the author’s culture will seep into their writing and stories. I have a big question with the two of these points. For the first one, if culture “governs our behavior”, then is literature simply a “manifestation of the author’s culture? Or does the authors individuality actually play a role into their story telling?
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