Literary and Linguistic Concepts: A Comprehensive Review

Literary and Linguistic Concepts

Werther: A Tragic Romantic Narrative

Werther is a character consumed by passionate love. He loves a woman who is already engaged to his friend, leading to immense unhappiness. Werther's violent love ultimately drives him to suicide. Their conflict stems from the impossibility of his love, as the woman he adores is committed to his friend, and he wishes for her happiness, not her suffering.

Understanding Text Types

Texts can be categorized based on their purpose and context:

• Everyday Social Relations Texts:

  • Rules
  • Instructions
  • Letters
  • Forms
  • Diaries
  • Forums
  • Advertisements

• Academic Life Texts:

  • Summaries
  • Schemes/Outlines
  • Projects

• Media Communication Texts (Press, Radio & TV):

  • News
  • Reports/Chronicles
  • Interviews
  • Essays
  • Columns

• Literary Texts:

  • Narrative: Legends, Myths, Fables, Epic Poems, Stories
  • Drama: Tragedies, Comedies, Tragicomedy
  • Lyrical: Poetry

Linguistic Concepts: Lexemes and Morphemes

• Lexeme:

  A moneme that provides the core meaning of words. It is common to all terms within a lexical family.

• Morpheme:

  Monemes that add nuance or modify the meaning of a lexeme.

  • Inflectional Morphemes: These indicate grammatical features such as gender, number, verb tense, mood, and person.
  • Derivational Morphemes: These are non-inflectional morphemes that can be:
    • Prefixes: Added before the lexeme.
    • Suffixes: Added after the lexeme.

General Characteristics of Romanticism

Romanticism, a significant cultural and artistic movement, is defined by several key characteristics:

• Political and Social Idealism:

  Romanticism aimed to transform society. Its central ideal was freedom, expressed in art, politics, and lifestyle.

• The Nature of Romantic Love:

  Romantic love is often portrayed as an intense, sometimes unsatisfying, emotion that transcends social and moral laws. It emphasizes individual choice, particularly in matters of marriage, where young people often decide their own partners.

• Heroic Symbolism and Imagination:

  Romantic heroes symbolize freedom, often appearing as outlaws (e.g., Robin Hood, José María "El Tempranillo"), pirates, or figures suffering injustice. Romantic literature highly values imagination, dreams, intense feelings, and the supernatural.

Rosalía de Castro (1837-1885): A Galician Literary Icon

Born in Santiago de Compostela, Rosalía de Castro was the natural daughter of a priest. Her marriage to Manuel Murguía, a writer and critic, facilitated her entry into literary circles. Initially a novelist (with works like La Hija del Mar and La Hija del Loco), she became one of the leading figures of the Rexurdimento (Resurgence) of the Galician language and culture, playing a crucial role in its revitalization.

Grammatical Concepts: Direct and Indirect Objects

• Direct Object (CD - Complemento Directo):

  A noun phrase that indicates the thing or person that directly receives the action of the verb. It can be replaced by the unstressed personal pronouns: lo, la, los, las.

• Indirect Object (CI - Complemento Indirecto):

  A prepositional construction, typically led by the preposition "a" (to), that indicates the recipient of the action. This is the person or thing that benefits from or is affected by the verb's action. It can be replaced by the unstressed personal pronouns: le, les.

The Evolution of Romance Languages

Romance languages are those that originated from Vulgar Latin, including Castilian (Spanish), Portuguese, French, Italian, Romanian, and Occitan, among others. Latin had a profound influence on Castilian, with 65-75% of its vocabulary deriving from Vulgar Latin. The Castilian language, influenced by Arabic, developed from the 6th century to the 13th century. By the 16th century, Castilian became highly significant. The Real Academia Española (RAE) definitively normalized Castilian in the 18th century.