The introductions in this anthology are meant to be just that: a basic overview of what students need to know before they begin reading, with topics that students can research further. An open access literature textbook cannot be a history book at the same time, but history is the great companion of literature: The more history students know, the easier it is for them to interpret literature.

This course comprises a broad survey of texts, literary and philosophical, which trace the development of the modern world from the seventeenth to the early twentieth century. Intrinsic to this development is the growth of individualism in a world no longer understood to be at the center of the universe. The texts chosen for study exemplify the emergence of a new humanism, at once troubled and dynamic in comparison to the old. The leading theme of this course is thus the question of the difference between the ancient and the modern world. Students who have taken Foundations of Western Culture I will obviously have an advantage in dealing with this question. Classroom discussion approaches this question mainly through consideration of action and characters, voice and form.

This course aims to introduce students to the rich diversity of human culture from antiquity to the early 17th century. In this course, we will explore human culture in its myriad expressions, focusing on the study of literary, religious and philosophical texts as ways of narrating, symbolizing, and commenting on all aspects of human social and material life. We will work comparatively, reading texts from various cultures: Mesopotamian, Greek, Judeo-Christian, Chinese, Indian, and Muslim. Throughout the semester, we will be asking questions like: How have different cultures imagined themselves? What are the rules that they draw up for human behavior? How do they represent the role of the individual in society? How do they imagine 'universal' concepts like love, family, duty? How have their writers and artists dealt with encounters with other cultures and other civilizations?

The texts contained in this anthology each perform a particular purpose and represent an aspect of the rich cultures that populate our world. By attending to the cultural significance of literary texts from around the world and connecting them via a unifying theme, we can begin to identify cultural similarities that make the world a more dynamic and interesting place to live. This anthology seeks to show the unity of world literature through a form of radical familiarity, while at the same time preserving and admiring the different cultures from which the literature was produced.

Table of Contents:

Medea, Euripides
Lysistrata, Aristophanes
Bhagavad Gita
The Thousand and One Nights
From The Poem of the Cid
From The Divine Comedy Inferno, Dante Alighieri
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight
The Heptameron, Marguerite de Navarre
Gargantua and Pantagruel, François Rabelais
From Don Quixote de la Manacha, Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra
The Tempest, William Shakespeare

A collection of free and open primary texts in digital formats for the study of early world literature in English translation. Multiple English translations are provided for comparison and study, as well as open secondary and supplemental resources.

Ruth Finnegan’s Oral Literature in Africa was first published in 1970, and since then has been widely praised as one of the most important books in its field. Based on years of fieldwork, the study traces the history of storytelling across the continent of Africa.

This revised edition makes Finnegan’s ground-breaking research available to the next generation of scholars. It includes a new introduction, additional images and an updated bibliography, as well as its original chapters on poetry, prose, "drum language" and drama, and an overview of the social, linguistic and historical background of oral literature in Africa. Oral Literature in Africa has been accessed by hundreds of readers in over 60 different countries, including Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda and numerous other African countries.

Other formats available here: https://www.openbookpublishers.com/product/97

Table of Contents:

I • INTRODUCTION
1. The 'oral' nature of African unwritten literature
The significance of performance in actualization, transmission, and composition. Audience and occasion. Implications for the study of oral literature. Oral art as literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.01

2. The perception of African oral literature
Nineteenth-century approaches and collections. Speculations and neglect in the twentieth century. Recent trends in African studies and the revival of interest in oral literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.02

3. The social, linguistic, and literary background
Social and literary background. The linguistic basis — the example of Bantu. Some literary tools. Presentation of the material. The literary complexity of African cultures.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.03

II • POETRY
4. Poetry and patronage
Variations in the poet's position. Court poets. Religious patronage. Free-lance and wandering poets. Part-time poets. A note on 'epic'.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.04

5. Panegyric
Introductory: nature and distribution; composers and reciters; occasions. Southern Bantu praise poetry: form and style; occa­sions and delivery; traditional and contemporary significance.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.05

6. Elegiac poetry
General and introductory. Akan funeral dirges: content and themes; structure, style, and delivery; occasions and functions; the dirge as literature.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.06

7. Religious poetry
Introductory. Didactic and narrative religious poetry and the Islamic tradition; the Swahili tenzi. Hymns, prayers, and incanta­tions: general survey; the Fante Methodist lyric. Mantic poetry: Sotho divining praises; odu Ifa (Yoruba).
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.07

8. Special purpose poetry — war, hunting, and work
Military poetry: Nguni; Akan. Hunting poetry: Yoruba ijala; Ambo hunters' songs. Work songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.08

9. Lyric
Occasions. Subject-matter. Form. Composition.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.09

10. Topical and political songs
Topical and local poetry. Songs of political parties and movements: Mau Mau hymns; Guinea R.D.A. songs; Northern Rhodesian party songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.10

11. Children's songs and rhymes
Lullabies and nursery rhymes. Children's games and verses; Southern Sudanese action songs.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.11

III • PROSE
12. Prose narratives I. Problems and theories
Introductory. Evolutionist interpretations. Historical-geographi­cal school. Classification and typologies. Structural-functional approach. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.12

13. Prose narratives II. Content and form.
What is known to date: content and plot; main characters. Types of tales: animal stories; stories about people; 'myths'; ‘legends' and historical narratives. What demands further study: occasions; role of narrators; purpose and function; literary conventions; per­formance; originality and authorship. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.13

14. Proverbs
The significance and concept of the proverb. Form and style. Content. Occasions and functions. Specific examples: Jabo; Zulu; Azande. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.14

15. Riddles
Riddles and related forms. Style and content. Occasions and uses. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.15

16. Oratory, formal speaking, and other stylized forms
Oratory and rhetoric: Burundi; Limba. Prayers, curses, etc. Word play and verbal formulas. Names.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.16

IV • SOME SPECIAL FORMS
17. Drum language and literature
Introductory — the principle of drum language. Examples of drum literature: announcements and calls; names; proverbs; poetry. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.17

18. Drama
Introductory. Some minor examples: Bushman 'plays'; West African puppet shows. Mande comedies. West African masquerades: South-Eastern Nigeria; Kalabari. Conclusion.
DOI: 10.11647/OBP.0025.18

This peer-reviewed World Literature I anthology includes introductory text and images before each series of readings. Sections of the text are divided by time period in three parts: the Ancient World, Middle Ages, and Renaissance, and then divided into chapters by location.