C LIT 30B Lecture Notes - Lecture 2: Greek Mythology, Old-Growth Forest
Document Summary
Critical text: explicit what the argument is, what the text is saying isn"t ambiguous. Literary text: author intends something to be known, a motif or theme, but there are many different ways to analyze. Theory text will give you a framework with which to read a literary text. A past time modeled like a paradise i. e. garden of eden, arcadia (greek mythology), forest of. The idea of untouched nature, living as one, everything was simple. Nostalgia for a golden age (whatever that might be in the past) is always a reaction to change. He is talking about the golden age of the feudal period and immediately post-feudal values. Nostalgia is meant to critique the advanced and current form of capitalism. Saying that in the past, it was much less exploitative. Williams says this is bullshit because it"s forgetting about the exploitation that did take place in the feudal period.
