Literature and Community

Term Paper # 100560

Anthropology > Cultural
Canadian Studies > History, Culture
Literature

An analysis of the interactions between literature and community within the context of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," as well as within the context of modern Canadian literature and culture.

1,287 words () | 4 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses how a community generates literature that reflects its own attitudes and values and how literature simultaneously moulds community, and reflects it. It consider these interacting influences within the context of Sophocles' "Oedipus the King," as well as within the context of modern Canadian literature and culture. The paper also discusses this in the context of the writer's own experience of cultural community.

From the Paper:

"One of these distinctly Canadian discourses may be said to be the discourse of sport, and particularly of hockey. As one theorist put it, "The rituals of sport engage more people in a shared experience than any other institution or cultural activity today." (Varda Burstyn, The Rites of Men, quoted in Coakley and Donnelly, 1) Watching hockey together has become a symbolic action that unites Canadians. Interestingly, sport as a component of ideology and community building is highlighted in John B. Lee's poetry collection, The Hockey Player Sonnets: Overtime Edition. Lee succeeds in making clear a significant aspect of Canadian hockey-related mythology, albeit one that is primarily white and male."

Sample of Sources Used:

Coakley, Jay and Peter Donnelly. Sports in society: Issues and controversies. Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2004.
Coe, Richard M. "Anglo-Canadian Rhetoric and Identity: A Preface." In College English, 50.8 (Dec. 1988).
Pelletier, Rejean. "Lucien Bouchard and the Politics of Quebec Independence." In David Taras and Beverly Rasporich (Eds). A Passion for Identity: Canadian Studies for the 21st Century. Ontario: Nelson Thomson Learning, 2001.
Roche, Paul, (transl). Sophocles: The Complete Plays. New York: Penguin, 2001.