Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

LITCHI

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V16, Page 785 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

LITCHI , or See also:

LEE-CHEF, the See also:fruit of Nephelium Litchi, a small See also:tree, native of See also:southern See also:China and one of the most important indigenous fruits. It is also cultivated in See also:India. The tree bears large See also:compound leaves with two to four pairs of leathery lanceolate pointed leaflets about 3 in. See also:long, and panicles of small See also:flowers without petals. The fruits are commonly roundish, about 12 in. in See also:diameter, with a thin, brittle, red See also:shell which bears rough protuberances. In the fresh See also:state they are filled with a sweet See also:white pulp which envelops a large See also:brown See also:seed, but in the dried See also:condition the pulp forms a blackish fleshy substance. The pulp is of the nature of an aril, that is, an additional seed-coat. Nephelium Longana, the longan tree, also a native of southern China, is cultivated in that See also:country, in the See also:Malay See also:Peninsula, India and See also:Ceylon for its fruit, which is smaller than that of the litchi, being See also:half an See also:inch to an inch in diameter with a nearly smooth yellowish-brown brittle skin, and containing a pulpy aril resembling that of the litchi in flavour. Another See also:species, .N. lappaceum, a tall tree native of the Malay Peninsula, where it is known under the names Rambutan or Rambosteen, is also cultivated for its pleasantly See also:acid pulpy aril. The fruit is See also:oval, See also:bright red in See also:colour, about 2 in. long and covered with long fleshy hairs. Nephelium belongs to the natural See also:order Sapindaceae, and contains about twenty-two species. latent sense of See also:literary See also:criticism; and, at a later See also:stage, the See also:critical spirit was still further stimulated by the performance of dramatic pieces written by competing poets. The epical See also:record of the past was supplemented by the lyrical record of contemporary events, and as the Homeric poets had immortalized the See also:siege of See also:Troy, so See also:Pindar commemorated See also:Salamis.

See also:

Prose of any permanent value would first show itself in the See also:form of See also:oratory, and the insertion of speeches by See also:early historians indicates a connexion with See also:rhetoric. The development of abstract reasoning would tend to deprive prose of its superfluous See also:ornament and to provide a simpler and more accurate See also:instrument. No new genre has been invented since the days of See also:Plato. The See also:evolution of literature is completed in See also:Greece, and there its subdivisions may best be studied. Epic See also:poetry is represented by the Homeric See also:cycle, lyrical poetry by See also:Tyrtaeus, dramatic poetry by See also:Aeschylus, See also:history by See also:Herodotus, oratory by See also:Pericles, See also:philosophy by Plato, and criticism by Zoilus, the earliest of slashing reviewers; and in each See also:department there is a long See also:succession of illustrious names. Roughly speaking, all subsequent literature is imitative. See also:Ennius transplanted See also:Greek methods to See also:Rome; his contemporary L. See also:Fabius Pictor, the earliest See also:Roman historian, wrote in Greek; and the later Roman poets from See also:Lucretius to See also:Horace abound in imitations of Greek originals. The See also:official See also:adoption of See also:Christianity as the state See also:religion changed the spirit of literature, which became more and more provincial after the downfall of the See also:empire. Literature did not perish during the " dark ages " which extend from the See also:sixth See also:century to the beginning of the 1 rth, but it was subordinate to scholarship. The See also:dissolution of Latin was not See also:complete till about the See also:middle of the 9th century, and the new varieties of See also:Romance did not become ripe for literary purposes till a See also:hundred years later. Meanwhile, not a single literary masterpiece was produced in western See also:Europe for five centuries; by comparison only do Boethius and Venantius See also:Fortunatus seem to be luminous points in the prolonged See also:night; the promise of a literary See also:renaissance at the See also:court of See also:Charlemagne was unfulfilled, and the task of creating a new literature devolved upon the descendants of the barbarians who had destroyed the old.

The See also:

Celtic and See also:Teutonic races elaborated literary methods of their own; but the fact that the most popular form of Irish See also:verse is adopted from Latin See also:prosody is conclusive See also:evidence that the See also:influence of Roman—and therefore of Greek—See also:models persisted in the literature of the outlying provinces which had attained See also:political See also:independence. The real service rendered to literature by the provincials See also:lay in the introduction and See also:diffusion of legends freighted with a See also:burden of See also:mystery which had disappeared with See also:Pan, and these new valuable materials went to form the substance of the new poetry. The See also:home of See also:modern See also:European literature must be sought in See also:France, which assimilated the best elements in Celtic and Teutonic literature. From the r 1th to the 14th century, France was the centre of intellectual See also:life in Europe, as Greece and Rome had been before, and as See also:Italy was to be afterwards. The chansons de geste, inspired by the sense of patriotism and the yearning for religious unity, inculcate feudal and See also:Catholic See also:doctrine, and as society in the western See also:world was universally committed to See also:feudalism and Catholicism, these literary expressions of both theories were widely accepted and copied. The Germanic origin of the See also:French epic is lost sight of, and imitators are attracted by the French See also:execution, and by the creative See also:power of the chansons de geste. Again, France takes the stories of the Arthurian court from Welsh texts or from the lips of Welsh settlers, re-handles the romantic See also:element, and, through See also:Marie de France and Chretien de See also:Troyes, imparts to the whole a See also:touch of See also:personal artistry which is absent from the chansons de geste. The matiere de Bretagne goes forth to Italy, See also:Germany and See also:England—later to See also:Portugal and See also:Spain—bearing the imprint of the French See also:genius. Thus France internationalizes See also:local subjects, and first assumes a literary See also:function which, with few interruptions, she has since discharged. She further gives to Europe models of See also:allegory in the Roman de la See also:rose, founds the school of modern history through See also:Villehardouin, inaugurates the religious See also:drama and thesecular See also:theatre. She never again dominated the literatures of Europe so absolutely. The literary See also:sceptre passed from France to Italy during the 14th century.

Brunetto See also:

Latini, who wrote in French as well as in See also:Italian, is the connecting See also:link between the literatures of the two countries; but Italy owes its See also:eminence not so much to a See also:general diffusion of literary accomplishment as to the emergence of three See also:great personalities. See also:Dante, Boccacio and See also:Petrarch created a new See also:art of poetry and of prose. England yielded to the See also:fascination in the See also:person of See also:Chaucer, Spain in the person of her See also:chancellor See also:Lopez de See also:Ayala, and France in the person of See also:Charles d'See also:Orleans, the son of an Italian See also:mother. Petrarch, once See also:ambassador in France, alleged that there were no poets out of Italy, and indeed there were no living poets to compare with him elsewhere. But in all countries he raised up rivals—Chaucer, See also:Marot, Garcilaso de la See also:Vega—as See also:Sannazaro did a century and a half later. Sannazaro's See also:Arcadia captured the Portuguese Montemor, whose See also:pastoral novel the See also:Diana, written in See also:Spanish, inspired d'See also:Urfe no less than See also:Sidney, and, as d'Urfe's Astree is considered the starting-point of the modern French novel, the See also:historical importance of the Italian See also:original cannot be exaggerated. Spain never obtained any intellectual predominance corresponding to that exercised by France and Italy, or to her political authority during the 16th and 17th centuries. This may be attributed partly to her See also:geographical position which lies off the See also:main roads of Europe, and partly to the fact that her literature is essentially local. Cervantes, indeed, may be said to have influenced all subsequent writers of fiction, and the influence of Spanish literature is visible in the See also:body of European See also:picaresque tales; but, apart from See also:Corneille and a few other dramatists who preceded See also:Moliere in France, and apart from the Restoration drama in England, the influence of the Spanish drama was relatively small. In some respects it was too original to be imitated with success. Much the same may be said of England as of Spain. Like Spain, she lies outside the See also:sphere of See also:continental influence; like Spain, she has innumerable great names in every See also:province of literature, and, in both cases, to Europe at large these long remained names and nothing more; like Spain, she is prone to reproduce borrowed materials in shapes so transformed and rigid as to be unrecognizable and unadaptable.

Moreover, the See also:

Reformation isolated England from literary See also:commerce with the Latin races, and till the 18th century Germany was little more than a geographical expression. Even when Germany recovered her literary independence, See also:Lessing first heard of See also:Shakespeare through See also:Voltaire. Neither Shakespeare nor See also:Milton was read in France before the 18th century—the first translated by See also:Ducis, the second by See also:Dupre de See also:Saint-Maur—and they were read with curiosity rather than with rapture. On the other See also:hand, Boileau, See also:Rapin and Le See also:Bossu were regarded as oracles in England, and through them French literature produced the " correctness " of See also:Queen See also:Anne's reign. Horace See also:Walpole is half a Frenchman, See also:Hume imitates See also:Montesquieu's See also:cold lucidity, See also:Gibbon adapts See also:Bossuet's majestic periods to other purposes. On the other hand Voltaire takes ideas from See also:Locke, but his form is always intensely personal and inimitably French. After the 16th century See also:English literature, as a whole, is refractory to See also:external influence. Waves of See also:enthusiasm pass over England—for See also:Rousseau, for See also:Goethe—but leave no abiding trace on English literature. During the latter half of the 18th century France resumed something of her old literary supremacy; the literatures of Italy and Spain at this See also:period are purely derivative, and French influence was extended still further on the See also:continent as the result of the Romantic See also:movement. Since that impulse was exhausted, literature everywhere has been in a state of See also:flux: it is less See also:national, and yet fails to be See also:cosmopolitan. All writers of importance, and many of no importance, are translated into other European See also:languages; the See also:quick succession of diverse and violent impressions has confused the See also:scheme of literature. Literature suffers likewise from the competition of the newspaper See also:press, and as the press has multiplied it has grown less literary.

The diversities of modern interests, the want of leisure for concentrated thought, suggest that literature may become once more the See also:

pleasure of a small See also:caste. But the See also:desire for the one just form which always inspires the literary artist visits most men sometimes, and it cannot be doubted that literature will continue to accommodate itself to new conditions. (J.

End of Article: LITCHI

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
LITCHFIELD 		[next]
LITE RATU RE

Site © 2006 - Net Industries