Other
Milwaukee Public Museum: Indian Country: Oral Tradition
The Milwaukee Public Museum provides this introduction to the Native American oral tradition and oral literature of the Great Lakes region. Describes common themes and characters, including trickster characters and windingo (ice...
Other
Applit: Resources for Appalachia Literature
Resources for readers and teachers of Appalachian literature for children and young adults that includes lesson plans, texts, bibliographies, and so on.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: Jazz and the African American Literary Tradition
Article explores the influence of jazz on African American literature from the early history of jazz, noted jazz artists, the black-white tensions within jazz, to its literary influence after World War II.
Nobel Media AB
The Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1958: Boris Leonidovich Pasternak
Read about the 1958 recipient of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Boris Leonidovich Pasternak (1890-1960 CE), a writer who was honored for "his important achievement both in contemporary lyrical poetry and in the field of the great Russian...
Nobel Media AB
The Nobel Prize: The Nobel Prize in Literature 1970
Read about the 1970 winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alexander Solzhenitsyn, who was honored "for the ethical force with which he has pursued the indispensable traditions of Russian literature."
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Teacher Serve: The Trickster in African American Literature
Trudier Harris, Professor of English at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, explains the role of tricksters in African American literature.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: American Colonial Literature: Native American Myths
This lesson focuses on Native American myths including the creation myth "The Earth on Turtle's Back." It includes links to the above myth, a self-assessment quiz, and an assignment for a mini-report over a Native American tribe.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Women in Africa: Tradition and Change
For this lesson plan, students will consider Women in Africa: Tradition and Change. Worksheets and other supporting materials can be found under the Resources tab. Students first examine a selection of traditional African artworks that...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Experiencing Medieval Literature
This article explains how 'illiterate' individuals encountered literary texts and traditions through textiles, wall paintings, sculptures, and listening to works read aloud in the Middle Ages.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Allusions to Mythological, Classical, and Traditional Texts
You will be able to identify and understand allusions in myths, the classics, and other traditional texts and their influence on modern literature.
NPR: National Public Radio
Npr: Bob Dylan, Titan of American Music, Wins 2016 Nobel Prize in Literature
On October 13, 2016, Bob Dylan was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature for poetic impression in American Music. He is the first American in 23 years to be recognized for this prize.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: The Rover: An Introduction
Aphra Behn's The Rover engages with the social, political, and sexual conditions of the 17th century, as well as with theatrical traditions of carnival and misrule. The article introduces Behn's play and explores how it was first...
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: A Close Reading of Chaucer's 'The Merchant's Prologue and Tale'
This article introduces 'The Merchant's Prologue and Tale', exploring the way in which it combines literary genres and traditions, and refuses to give the reader a clear moral or message.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Allusions to Mythological, Classical, and Traditional Texts
[Accessible by TX Educators. Free Registration/Login Required] The individual sections of this lesson will focus on understanding what allusion is, its importance and use as a literary device, and how to recognize it in reading. The main...
Washington State University
Washington State University: Literary Movements: Puritan Meditation Tradition
This site defines the meditation tradition and analyzes its history and use in Puritan literature and theology. Contains a bibliography of works as well as images of selected writers.
Other
Central Oregon Community College: African Storytelling
This essay provides an excellent explanation of the importance of storytelling and what the author refers to as "orature," oral tradition as opposed to "literature" or written tradition. Clear examples are provided, including several...
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: 10th Grade Literature and Composition: Traditions
This is a unit on the traditional wisdom of various cultures handed down through fables, fairy tales, folklore, and proverbs. It includes readings from Aesop's Fables, African and African-American Folktales, Hans Christian Andersen's...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Early American and Colonial Period to 1776
Background information about the literary traditions of the pre-Colonial and Colonial period. Includes information about Native American oral traditions and Native American cultures. Follow the links to the Early American era and to...
American Indian Heritage Foundation
Indians.org: Navajo (Dine) Literature
Brief narrative of Navajo history and culture accompanied with links to many traditional Navajo legends. Contains the full text of the Navajo "Wind Prayer" and traditional Indian art.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Gender and Sexuality
Discover how 20th-century literature explored, questioned, and exploded traditional ideas of gender roles and sexuality.
British Library
British Library: 20th Century: Fantasy and Fairy Tale
Find out how 20th-century writers used fantasy and traditional tales to analyze and question the real world around them.
University of Massachusetts
Aesop's Fables
Very unique site that presents Aesop's Fables with traditional and modern pictures. Pictures are created by art students at University of Massachusetts Amherst. There is an index to search by individual stories.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: List of Chinese Authors
A chronological list of Chinese writers from antiquity to today -- or you can browse alphabetically. Some writers have only a scant 1-2 sentences of biographical background; others are covered extensively. Excellent jumping off point for...
University of Florida
Baldwin Library: Little Red Riding Hood by R. Andre
This is an online photocopy of the original text of the illustrated children's book Little Red Riding Hood by R. Andre (1888). This is the tradition "Little Red Riding Hood" folk tale.