Western literature/week16

A. Bible 

The Book of Genesis is the first book of the Hebrew Bible  (the Tanakh) and the Christian Old Testament. The basic narrative expresses the central theme: God creates the world (along with creating the first man and woman) and appoints man as his regent, but man proves disobedient and God destroys his world through the Flood. The new post-Flood world is equally corrupt, but God does not destroy it, instead calling one man, Abraham, to be the seed of its salvation. At God's command Abraham descends from his home into the land of Canaan, given to him by God, where he dwells as a sojourner, as does his son Isaac and his grandson Jacob.

Jacob, later given the name Israel, is regarded as a Patriarch of the Israelites. According to the Book of Genesis, Jacob was the third Hebrew progenitor with whom God made a covenant. He is the son of Isaac and Rebecca, the grandson of Abraham, Sarah and of Bethuel, the nephew of Ishmael, and the younger twin brother of Esau. Jacob had twelve sons and at least one daughter, by his two wives, Leah and Rachel, and by their handmaidens Bilhah and Zilpah.

Cain and Abel

In Abrahamic religions, Cain and Abel were two of the sons of Adam and Eve. They worked as food producers for their family; Cain was a crop farmer, and Abel was a shepherd. When they sacrificed to God, he favored Abel's sacrifice over Cain's. Later, Cain killed Abel, committing the first murder. God expelled Cain, but lightened his punishment after Cain complained that his original punishment was too difficult to bear. Cain was the first person born, and Abel was the first to die.

According to the Hebrew Bible:
​Adam knew his wife Eve intimately, and she conceived and bore Cain. She said, "I have had a male child with the Lord's help."

Then she also gave birth to his brother Abel. Now Abel became a shepherd of a flock, but Cain cultivated the land.

In the course of time Cain presented some of the land's produce as an offering to the Lord.

And Abel also presented – some of the firstborn of his flock and their fat portions. The Lord had regard for Abel and his offering,

​but He did not have regard for Cain and his offering. 

Cain was furious, and he was downcast.

Then the Lord said to Cain, "Why are you furious? And why are you downcast?

If you do right, won't you be accepted? But if you do not do right, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is for you, but you must master it."

Cain said to his brother Abel, "Let's go out to the field."
And while they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
​
                                   — Genesis 4:1–8 (Holman Christian Standard Bible)

B. Introduction

Genre

Genre is any category of literature, music, or other forms of art or entertainment, whether written or spoken, audio or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres form by conventions that change over time as new genres are invented and the use of old ones is discontinued. Often, works fit into multiple genres by way of borrowing and recombining these conventions.

It began as an absolute classification system for ancient Greek literature. Poetry, prose, and performance each had a specific and calculated style that related to the theme of the story. Speech patterns for comedy would not be appropriate for tragedy, and even actors were restricted to their genre under the assumption that a type of person could tell one type of story best.

Western canon

The Western canon is the body of books, music, and art that scholars generally accept as the most important and influential in shaping Western culture. It includes works of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, music, art, sculpture, and architecture generally perceived as being of major artistic merit and representing the high culture of Europe and North America. Philosopher John Searle suggests that the Western canon can be roughly defined as "a certain Western intellectual tradition that goes from, say, Socrates to Wittgenstein in philosophy, and from Homer to James Joyce in literature".

C. Vocabularies to know

man-: prefix

manipulate	maneuver	manuscript	manicure
to skillfully operate by hand	to handily or skillfully go around doing something	something written or typed by hand	a treatment for the hands and nails

D. Others

situation comedy

A situation comedy, or sitcom, is a genre of comedy centered on a fixed set of characters who carry over from episode to episode. Sitcoms can be contrasted with sketch comedy where a troupe may use new characters in each sketch, and stand-up comedy where a comedian tells jokes and stories to an audience. Sitcoms originated in radio, but today are found mostly on television as one of its dominant narrative forms. This form can also include mockumentaries.

A situation comedy television program may be recorded in front of a studio audience, depending on the program's production format. The effect of a live studio audience can be imitated or enhanced by the use of a laugh track.

                                                                                                               

dove olive branch

The olive branch is a symbol of peace or victory and was historically worn by brides and virgins.

This symbol, deriving from the customs of ancient Greece, is most well-known in Western culture.

However, it can be found in almost every culture and religion in the Mediterranean basin.