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POETRY RECITAL

Rita Dove is an author from Ohio. She is known for writing historical and political events. Unlike the usual, she uses the enjambment form in her poems and usually she defies the beliefs of the society, or in other words, blunt.

 An enjambment has an incomplete thought or could be a phrase in a line and continues unto the next. 

Here is one of her poem entitled Heart to Heart. 

As to our interpretation, this poem breaks our usual view unto the heart. The heart had always been related to an individual’s feelings but in this poem, it is stated that the heart is just an organ that helps us be alive. 

On the ending, it contradicts on how it started. This tells that if we love someone, we offer them our hearts and in accordance with this, they have to accept us for we who are and how we feel, despite everything. 

The next one is a poem by an American poet Billy Collins. 

Here is one of his poems entitled Silence. 

This poem tells us that silence is very much acknowledged, and it showed how the speaker feels about silence. 

(Photo credits for the authors’ pictures.)

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AFRICAN LITERATURE

The three literary pieces of Africa, Barking, Identity and The Neighborhood Phone are about finding one's self-worth and finding ourselves.

As to what we have observed in these stories and poem, Slavery and Discrimination are also evident in the African literature.

We hope that you, too, found yourselves as you reflect to these literary pieces that you have read!

#21st century lit #blog #africa

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THE NEIGHBORHOOD PHONE

The author of the story The Neighborhood Phone is Gabriella Ghermandi. This story from Africa is about finding your own true self when you lost it.

Gabriella Ghermandi is an Italo - Ethiopian writer, her literary production focuses on the themes of migration and the fears of the loss of cultural identity of migrants. She's Born in Addis Abeba in 1965 and moved to Italy in 1979. She writes and interprets narrative shows that he represents both in Italy and abroad and she conducts creative writing workshops.

Here is an infographic which contains the story's setting, main character, theme and summary:

We hope that you have learned something from this literary piece with regards to loving your motherland and find yourself!

(Photo credits for the author's picture.)

#21st lit #africa #identity #blog

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IDENTITY

The poem Identity is about Michaella Rugwizangoga's experiences being an exile in her motherland, Rwanda.

The author of Identity is Michaella Rugwizangoga. She is a young Rwandan writer. She writes and performs in French, English, German, Spanish, and Kinyarwanda.

She was born in Ivory Coast, the country that welcomed her parents when they got exiled. Her mother was welcomed to any country in the world, except in Rwanda. And on the year 2010, they officially belong to their motherland, after all the pain and hardships they have experienced from being banished.

Here is the piece:

This poem tells how Rwanda is today and how it would be better regarding its past for the future generation to experience.

There is this hope that we have, even though war and violence seperate the people, we will still be a proud race!

(Photo credits for the author's picture.)

#21st lit #africa #united #identity

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BARKING

Africa has been known with its unending exprience of slavery and discrimination under the white men. As to our interpretation, the story Barking by Patrice Nganang can symbolize this situation through its storyteller, a dog named Mboudjak, and his master, Massa Yo.

Below is an infographic for this story that contains its setting, characters, themes and summary.

Let us embrace who we are but not let anyone degrade us for being true to ourselves!

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EUROPEAN LITERATURE

The three literary text, Acrostic, Time to Pack and Spit Three times, and a film, My Family and Other Animals depict how travelling is beneficial for us as an individual and embracing the differences that each one of us possesses.

We hope that you realized these things as you have read our synthesis of the European literature!

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MY FAMILY AND OTHER ANIMALS

This film depicts Gerald Durrell's autobiography when they left their home to live in Corfu, Greece for awhile. In the film, he have a four siblings that have completely different personalities and a mother that is able to accept and understanding each of her children's uniqueness.

Here is a creative output in a form of a movie poster for this European trilogy of the Durrell's life.

We interpreted the film's theme as to "Embracing and understanding one's differences" that is placed on the lower middle of the movie poster.

(Photo credits for the movie poster's background image.)

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SPIT THREE TIMES

David Reviati from Ravenna, Italy has a double career of illustrator and cartoonist while being a screenwriter for movies. One of his cartoon novels is the Morti di sonno published in 2009.

Here is the comic illustration entitled Spit Three Times (2016) by the author David Reviati from the continent of Europe.

Spit Three Times is about the Gypsies that travels all the way from India to Europe and the other parts of the world showing the discrimination they experience as they navigate, in exception of the place Andalu, Spain as what was mentioned on the comics.

As to our interpretation, its theme could be Discrimination and Travelling.

(Photo credits for the author's picture, the 3-paged comic illustration of Spit Three Times and the Gypsies' illustration.)

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TIME TO PACK

In this poem by Boryana Neykova from Bulgaria, the author wanted to travel into another place by only getting the useful memories and leaving all the stress and problems behind.

Its theme could be Overcoming the odds.

#21st lit #europe #blog #time to pack #usuallydeepllama #21st century literature

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ACROSTIC

The author of this comic illustration Acrostic is Patrice Killoffer. He is a French writer and comic artist. He was co-founder of the independent comics publisher L'Association in 1990, and has been a part of Oubapo since its creation in 1992. 

Here is the comic illustration:

The story acrostic is about a guy who suffers from depression. The man has a friend who is trying to help him get on with this life despite his situation. His friend have accompanied him until the end, but he is still drowned with his feelings even if his friend’s already gone.

Or it could be interpreted with different meanings.This story depends on how the reader interpret the story. The author did a great job playing on the readers mind.

(Photo credits for the author’s picture.)

#21st century literature #acrostic #blog #european culure #europe #21st century #patrice killofer

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SOUTH AMERICAN LITERATURE

The two literary text from South America, The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World and Dos Palabras both used magic realism.

Magic realism is defined as the literary genre or style that incorporates fantastic or mythical elements into otherwise realistic fiction. 

How both story goes may considered as a little weird, but this helped me realize that we must always look on the brighter side of every situation (as shown in The Most Handsome Drowned Man in the World) and that our words are powerful (as evident in the story, Dos Palabras.)

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DOS PALABRAS

The story Dos Palabras by Isabel Allende from Latin America is somehow considered weird. Why? The protagonist, Belisa Crepusculario, sells words to the people and in return, she would give two words that must be kept to themselves only. Who sells words in real life, right? 

See and analyze the story Dos Palabras through this infographic which showcases the setting, its theme and characterization of the two main characters- Belisa Crepusculario and the Colonel.

The story ended by the Colonel's change of attitude with the help of the two words said by Belisa Crepusculario to him. In this image contains what the two possible words that were said by the protagonist. What could it possibly be?

With this story, we hope that you keep in mind that the words that come out of your mouth are powerful, so be careful with using it!

#south american lit #21st century literature #dos palabras #isabel allende

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THE MOST HANDSOME DROWNED MAN

This story is written by Gabriel García Márquez. It is about a man who was washed in the shore and was found by some villagers.

Gabriel García Márquez is a Colombian novelist, known as Gabo or Gabito throughout Latin America. He wrote many non-fiction and short stories, but he is known for his novels.

Now let's the story:

This story is about a man who was washed up man in the shores and was found by villagers. The drowned man changed the way people live in the village. With this, even with simple things, a small cause can deal great effect some things.

(Photo credits for the author’s picture.)

#21st century literature #the handsome drowned man #blog #story

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NORTH AMERICAN LITERATURE

These two literatures from North America depicts the life of the 21st Century People. The Valley of Amazement is about knowing who you truly are, and the poem Slow Dance is about taking life in the right pace in order for us to not miss the special and good things in life.

As a citizen of the 21st Century People, I was inspired to do the same, as these two literatures express. Because knowing who you really are would take a long process, and in order for you to do that, you should take time to appreciate the small things in life in order to achieve big things in the future. 

#North America #North America Literature #poem #short story #21st century literature #Slow Dance #The Valley of Amazement #amy tan #David L. Weatherford #appreciation #self acceptance #self love

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THE VALLEY OF AMAZEMENT

By: Amy Tan

(A poster made for the short story, The Valley of Amazement)

SUMMARY:

When she was eight, she was determined to be true to herself. It started when she discovered that she possessed an extra finger in each hand. Her grandmother recommended that the little girl's parents should amputate her extra fingers to consider her a "normal person". Her parents were freethinkers and they make decisions based on logic and their own opinion.

Then came a family friend of her father who also happened to be her piano teacher named Mr. Maubert. And the fact that he also suggest that the extra fingers should be removed made her feel insecure. This made her fearful that the people around her could change parts of her, without her proper consent.

Upon realizing something, she knew what has to be done. "I need to protect 'My Pure Self Being'.". So, she would start to collect secrets of herself especially those that wounded her heart. This opened her mind to many things that scared her.

(photo credits for the picture above)

#North America #north american literature #21st century literature #the valley of amazement #amy tan #short story

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SLOW DANCE

It is a meaningful poem from North America, that tells us to take our time at just the right pace in order for us to appreciate the things around us while simultaneously doing work.

The line: "Life isn't a race, so take it slower, hear the music before your song is over." is a big slap on the face because I was able to see and realize what's wrong with this generation. We always prefer to work in a fast-paced environment which may be bad and sad because instead of appreciating the days and the good things in life, we tend to be too consumed by the time of work.

Here’s a playlist of 21st Century Songs that applies with the poem Slow Dance.

#North America #David L. Weatherford #Slow Dance #poem #21st century literature #21st century music #Playlist #North America Literature

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ASIAN LITERATURE

After reading the three stories and reflecting on them, I was able to indentify the differences and similarities of each country (whether in culture or as an individual) in Asia through the help of these three 21st century Literatures.

Therefore to conclude, I made a simple Venn diagram to conclude my realizations while reading the literatures.

#Japanese literature #Pakistan Literature #Singapore Literature #21st century literature #asian literature