CONCEPT NOTES

INTRODUCTION TO EUROPEAN LITERATURE

European literature refers to the literature in many languages; among the most important of the
modern written works are those in English, Spanish, French, Dutch, Polish, German, Italian, Modern Greek,
Czech, Russian, Bosnian and works by the Scandinavians and Irish. Important classical and medieval
traditions are those in Latin, Ancient Greek, Old Norse, Medieval French and the Italian Tuscan dialect of
the renaissance are also part of its collection.

The Medieval Period (500-1500) of European literature already saw masterful works like Beowulf,
The Song of Roland, The Nibelungenlied, and seminal work of Geoffrey Chaucer, The Canterbury Tales.
The mentioned works of art was followed by even more popular titles, because during the Renaissance
Period, writers like Edmun Spencer (The Faerie Queen), John Milton (Paradise Lost), and William
Shakespeare (Romeo and Juliet ;Macbeth) took the level of its literary standard into a whole new high.

Following the Medieval Period was the Age of Enlightenment (1700-1800) and at its center was a
celebration of ideas – ideas about what the human mind was capable of, and what could be achieved
through deliberate action and scientific methodology. Many of the new, enlightened ideas were political in
nature. Writers like Voltaire and Jean-Jacques Rousseau were the torchbearers of Enlightenment literature
and philosophy.

No other period in English literature displays more variety in style, theme, and content than the
Romantic Movement (1798-1870) of the 18th and 19th centuries. Romanticism is concerned with the
masses and not with the middle class, the individual more than with society. With writers like Mary Shelley
and her masterpiece, Frankenstein and Lord Byron’s Don Juan, the focus of literature shifted from the
scientific to the mysterious.

Then came the Victorian Period. The name given to the period is borrowed from the royal matriarch
of England, Queen Victoria. The Victorian writers exhibited some well- established habits from previous
eras, while at the same time pushing arts and letters in new and interesting directions. Victorian novelists
and poets like Charlotte and Emily Bronte, Lord Tennyson, Robert Browning, Gustave Flaubert, George
Eliot, Fyodor Dosteyevsky, and Thomas Hardy wrote with simplicity, truth and tempered emotion.

Realism (1820-1920), the next period in European literature, is precisely what it sounds like. It is
attention to detail, and an effort to replicate the true nature of reality in a way that novelists had never
attempted. Famous writers during this period were Franz Kafka, William Butler Yeats, T.S. Eliot, and
Vicente Biasco Ibanez, among others.

Naturalism (1870-1920) sought to go further and be more explanatory than Realism by identifying
the underlying causes for a person’s actions or beliefs. In Naturalism, the environment played a large part
in the narrative structure. Emile Zola, one of the most influential writers in this period of literature, provided
inspiration and model in writing during this period.

Crime and punishment is a profound example of how some of the principles of existentialist (1850-
today), the next literary period. Doytoyevsky’s story shows that thinking can be perverted, leading to ethical
decay and personal destruction. Another writer, Franz Kafka, has also been associated with 20th century
existentialism. But the name most related to existential literature is Albert Camus.

The Modernist Period (1910-1965) in literature presented a new way of living and seeing the world.
Writers are now free to try new concepts in writing like the use of the unreliable narrator, among others.
Modernism was set in motion, in one sense, through a series of cultural shocks where the poets took fullest
advantage of the new spirit of the times, and stretched the possibilities of their craft to lengths not
previously imagined.
 Archetypes are universal symbols that encapsulate the collectively inherited unconscious idea,
pattern of thought, image, etc., that is, universally present in people. Psychologist Carl Gustav Jung
described several archetypes that are based in the observation of differing but repeating patterns of thought
and action that re-appear time and again across people, countries and continents.
LITERARY TEXT
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone
J.K. Rowling
Mr. Dursley, a well-off Englishman, notices strange happenings on his way to work one day. That
night, Albus Dumbledore, the head of a wizardry academy called Hogwarts, meets Professor McGonagall,
who also teaches at Hogwarts, and a giant named Hagrid outside the Dursley home. Dumbledore tells
McGonagall that someone named Voldemort has killed a Mr. and Mrs. Potter and tried unsuccessfully to kill
their baby son, Harry. Dumbledore leaves Harry with an explanatory note in a basket in front of the Dursley
home.

Ten years later, the Dursley household is dominated by the Dursleys’ son, Dudley, who torments
and bullies Harry. Dudley is spoiled, while Harry is forced to sleep in a cupboard under the stairs. At the
zoo on Dudley’s birthday, the glass in front of a boa constrictor exhibit disappears, frightening everyone.
Harry is later punished for this incident.

Mysterious letters begin arriving for Harry. They worry Mr. Dursley, who tries to keep them from
Harry, but the letters keep arriving through every crack in the house. Finally, he flees with his family to a
secluded island shack on the eve of Harry’s eleventh birthday. At midnight, they hear a large bang on the
door and Hagrid enters. Hagrid hands Harry an admissions letter to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and
Wizardry. Harry learns that the Dursleys have tried to deny Harry’s wizardry all these years.

The next day, Hagrid takes Harry to London to shop for school supplies. First they go to the wizard
bank, Gringotts, where Harry learns that his parents have left him a hefty supply of money. They shop on
the wizards’ commercial street known as Diagon Alley, where Harry is fitted for his school uniform. Harry
buys books, ingredients for potions, and, finally, a magic wand—the companion wand to the evil
Voldemort’s.

A month later, Harry goes to the train station and catches his train to Hogwarts on track nine and
three quarters. On the train, Harry befriends other first-year students like Ron Weasley and Hermione
Granger, a Muggle girl chosen to attend Hogwarts. At school, the first-years take turns putting on the
“Sorting Hat” to find out in which residential house they will live. Harry fears being assigned to the sinister
Slytherin house, but he, Ron, and Hermione end up in the noble Gryffindor house.

As the school year gets underway, Harry discovers that his Potions professor, Snape, does not like
him. Hagrid reassures Harry that Snape has no reason to dislike him. During their first flying lesson on
broomsticks, the students are told to stay grounded while the teacher takes an injured boy named Neville to
the hospital. Draco Malfoy, a Slytherin bully, snatches Neville’s prized toy and flies off with it to the top of a
tree. Harry flies after him. Malfoy throws the ball in the air, and Harry speeds downward, making a
spectacular catch. Professor McGonagall witnesses this incident. Instead of punishing Harry, she
recommends that he play Quidditch, a much-loved game that resembles soccer played on broomsticks, for
Gryffindor. Later that day, Malfoy challenges Harry to a wizard’s duel at midnight. Malfoy doesn’t show up
at the appointed place, and Harry almost gets in trouble. While trying to hide, he accidentally discovers a
fierce three-headed dog guarding a trapdoor in the forbidden third-floor corridor.

On Halloween, a troll is found in the building. The students are all escorted back to their dormitories,
but Harry and Ron sneak off to find Hermione, who is alone and unaware of the troll. Unwittingly, they lock
the troll in the girls’ bathroom along with Hermione. Together, they defeat the troll. Hermione tells a lie to
protect Harry and Ron from being punished. During Harry’s first Quidditch match, his broom jerks out of
control. Hermione notices Snape staring at Harry and muttering a curse. She concludes that he is jinxing
Harry’s broom, and she sets Snape’s clothes on fire. Harry regains control of the broom and makes a
spectacular play to win the Quidditch match.

For Christmas, Harry receives his father’s invisibility cloak, and he explores the school, unseen, late
at night. He discovers the Mirror of Erised, which displays the deepest desire of whoever looks in it. Harry
looks in it and sees his parents alive. After Christmas, Harry, Ron, and Hermione begin to unravel the
mysterious connection between a break-in at Gringotts and the three-headed guard dog. They learn that
the dog is guarding the Sorcerer’s Stone, which is capable of providing eternal life and unlimited wealth to
its owner and belongs to Nicolas Flamel, Dumbledore’s old partner.

A few weeks later, Hagrid wins a dragon egg in a poker game. Because it is illegal to own dragons,
Harry, Ron, and Hermione contact Ron’s older brother, who studies dragons. They arrange to get rid of the
dragon but get caught. Harry, Ron, and Hermione are severely punished, and Gryffindor is docked 150
points. Furthermore, part of their punishment is to go into the enchanted forest with Hagrid to find out who
has been killing unicorns recently. In the forest, Harry comes upon a hooded man drinking unicorn blood.
The man tries to attack Harry, but Harry is rescued by a friendly centaur who tells him that his assailant was
Voldemort. Harry also learns that it is Voldemort who has been trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone.

Harry decides that he must find the stone before Voldemort does. He, Ron, and Hermione sneak off
that night to the forbidden third-floor corridor. They get past the guard dog and perform many impressive
feats as they get closer and closer to the stone. Harry ultimately finds himself face to face with Quirrell, who
announces that Harry must die. Knowing that Harry desires to find the stone, Quirrell puts Harry in front of
the Mirror of Erised and makes him state what he sees. Harry sees himself with the stone in his pocket, and
at that same moment he actually feels it in his pocket. But he tells Quirrell that he sees something else. A
voice tells Quirrell that the boy is lying and requests to speak to Harry face to face. Quirrell removes his
turban and reveals Voldemort’s face on the back of his head. Voldemort, who is inhabiting Quirrell’s body,
instructs Quirrell to kill Harry, but Quirrell is burned by contact with the boy. A struggle ensues and Harry
passes out.

When Harry regains consciousness, he is in the hospital with Dumbledore. Dumbledore explains
that he saved Harry from Quirrell just in time. He adds that he and Flamel have decided to destroy the
stone. Harry heads down to the end-of-year banquet, where Slytherin is celebrating its seventh consecutive
win of the house championship cup. Dumbledore gets up and awards many last-minute points to Gryffindor
for the feats of Harry and his friends, winning the house cup for Gryffindor. Harry returns to London to
spend the summer with the Dursleys.
 NAME: _____________________________________________ SECTION: ___________________

EUROPEAN LITERATURE
Activity Sheet
Vocabulary Activity
TASK I. Based on the given information on the different archetypes for characters, use the table below to
specify which character in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone subscribes to the given archetype.
Male Archetypes
Chief
Bad Boy
The bestfriend
Charmer
The lost soul
The professor
The swashbuckler
The warrior
Female Archetype
Boss

TASK II. Answer the following questions briefly and concisely.

1. What is the main message of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
2. What life’s lessons does Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone teach?
_________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________________
TASK III. Write the letter of the best answer.
_____1. How does Harry first learn that he is a wizard?
a. Dudley accidentally lets it slip c. The Dursleys tell him when he is eight
b. He reads about it in the Daily Prophet d. Hadgrid has to track him down to tell him
_____2. Where does Harry live in the Dursley’s home?
a. with Dudley c. in a cupboard under the stairs
b. in the guest house d. in Mr. and Mrs. Dursley’s room
_____3. Who decides where the children will be housed at Hogwarts?
a. The Sorting Broom b. Albus Dumbledore c. The Sorting Hat d. Each child decides for himself
_____4. How do the children wants to get rid of Hagrid’s dragon?
a. They poison it.
b. They bring it up to the top of the tallest tower and push it off
c. They bring it up to the top of the tallest tower and give it to Voldermort
d. They bring it up to the top of the tallest tower and give it to Ron’s older brother’s friends
_____5. Which teacher is trying to steal the Sorcerer’s Stone?
a. Quirrell b. Snape c. Dumbledore d. McGonagall
_____6. To whom does the Sorcerer’s Stone belong?
a. Harry b. Hagrid c. Voldermort d. Nicolas Flamel
_____7. Who is Fluffy?
a. Harry’s own dragon b. Hagrid’s dog c. Dumbledore’s pet snake d. Hagrid’s three-headed
dog
_____8. What does Harry see when he looks in the Mirror of Erised for the first time?
a. His parents b. A Quidditch trophy c. The Sorcerer’s Stone d. Himself as an old, wise
wizard
_____9. Who actually puts the curse on Harry during the Quidditch match?
a. Quirrell b. Snape c. Malfoy d. Nicolas Flamel
_____10. What do the first two initials in J.K. Rowling’s name stand for?
a. Jenna Kate b. Jennifer King c. Joan Kinsey d. Joanna Kathleen