APPROACHES TO LITERATURE

This paper is created to fulfill the assignment of Literature Appreciation

Lecturer: Heru Saputra, S. Pd. I., M. A.

Created by:

Lutfiatul Marjanah 23030180050

Nur Wachid 23030180065

Yi’ina Idamatussylmi 23030180097

ENGLISH EDUCATION DEPARTMENT

TEACHER TRAINING AND EDUCATION FACULTY

STATE INSTITUTE FOR ISLAMIC STUDIES (IAIN) SALATIGA

2020
 PREFACE

First, we want to give Thanks to Allah SWT for His guidance, blessing,
and mercy, so that we can complete this paper and present it to the class right in
the calculated time. The main purpose in writing this paper is to fulfill the
assignment that given by Mr. Heru Saputra as a lecturer of Literature
Appreciation class.

In arranging this paper, the writers truly get a lot of challenge and
obstructions, but with help of many individuals, those obstructions could be
passed. We realize that there are many mistakes in this paper, so that we do
apologize and thanks to all of individuals for the helps.

Last of this preface, we hope that this paper can help the class in their
study and give them a lot of benefit.

Salatiga, May 7, 2020

Writers
 CHAPTER I

INTRODUCTION

A. Background
Literary criticism is one branch of literary science to assess literary
works. Literary criticism also has a function to support and examine
literature more broadly.
Understanding critical perspectives will help us seeing and
supporting literary works as a construction of layers of meaning. Reading
literary criticism will inspire us to reread, accept, and respond to the
literature.
In this paper, we try to study the material about approaches to
literature to get information about how to do the literature itself. This
paper explains what is the approaches to literature that will help us to
understand literary works.
B. Formulation of Contents
1. The meaning of Approaches to Literature
2. Kind of Approaches to Literature
3. The function of Approaches to Literature
 CHAPTER II

CONTENTS

A. Approaches to Literature
Literature comes from Latin literature/ literature which means
drive itself from literal letter or hand writing, was use to refer to all written
accounts. Generally, literature can be defined as anybody collection of
written works. Restrictively, literature refers to writing considered to be an
art from any single writing of any era and whoever the writer is.
Therefore, to understand a literary work, an approach to that work is
needed, so that the message of a work can be understood.
So, Literature approach can be defined as a way to understand how
something affect in the contents of a literary work by looking at it from
various perspectives, such as: history, philosophy, psychology, beliefs and
gender.
B. Kind Approaches to Literature
There a many kind of Approaches to literature because it is a way
to understand something affect in the contents of a literary work, and
people has their own way. From the arguments a lot of people, the
approaches to literature can be grouped in six kinds, they are:
1. Historical/ Biographical approach
The way to see the work as the reflection of the author's life and
time by seeing the things happen when the author life. It has
similarities with to understanding the writer context in text and context
critizm to understand the work(s).
Advantages: This approach works well to the works which
obviously politic in nature. such as the work of alexander pope.
Disadvantages: this approach is believed that the value of a work
may be determined by the author's intention, thus art is reducing to the
level of biography or universal.
2. Philosophical approach
 Some works have a larger purposes from what it is seen, according
to Matthew Arnold, said that "works must have 'high seriousness'", it
means in making a works need a high intention which aim to influence
the reader.
3. Formalism/ New Critizm Approach
This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human
knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the
elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within
the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the
elements of form-style, structure, tone, imagery, etc., that are found
within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how
such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects
upon readers.
4. Psychological Approach
Psychological approach stem from the idea of psychoanalysis.
Sigmund Freud had been an Austrian neurologist, who lived from
1856-1939. He had found the theory of treat mental illness patient. The
theory focused on the three parts of physic apparatus: the aid, ego. and
superego. it can be defined with the analysis of an author's unintended
message. the analysis focuses on the biographical circumstances of an
author to analyze the unconscious massage based on the author's
background.
According to Ole Miss, Psychological Criticism analyzes three
main points:
a. An investigation of “the creative process of the artist: what is the
nature of literary genius and how does it relate to normal mental
functions?”
b. The psychological study of a particular artist, usually noting how
an author’s biographical circumstances affect or influence their
motivations and/or behavior.
 c. The analysis of fictional characters using the language and
methods of psychology.” (“Critical Approaches to Literature”)

advantages: it is a useful tool for understanding some works, like

the biographical approach, knowing the background of the author can
give insight into the work.

disadvantages: Psychological critizm can turn a work into a little

more than a psychological study, neglecting to view it as a piece of art.
critics tend to see sex in everything, exaggerating this aspect of
literature. Finally, some works do not lend themselves readily to this
approach.

5. Mythological Approach
This approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns
underlying most literary works.” Combining the insights from
anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion,
mythological criticism “explores the artist’s common humanity by
tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols
common to different cultures and epochs.” One key concept in
mythological criticism is the archetype, “a symbol, character, situation,
or image that evokes a deep universal response,” which entered literary
criticism from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, all
individuals share a “‘collective unconscious,’ a set of primal memories
common to the human race, existing below each person’s conscious
mind”—often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun,
moon, fire, night, and blood, archetypes according to Jung “trigger the
collective unconscious. myth critics identify this these archetypal
patterns and discuss how they function in the works. These archetypes
are the source of much of literature's power.
6. Feminist Approach
Feminist approach is concerned with how gender affect in
receiving and delivering message through writing and reading a works.
 There have been several prominent schools of thought in modern
feminist literary criticism:
a. First Wave Feminism: Men's Treatment of Women
This early stage of feminist criticism, critics consider male
novelists' demeaning treatment or marginalization of female
characters. First wave feminist criticism includes books like Marry
Elman's Thinking About Women (1968) Kate Millet's Sexual
Politics (1969), and Germaine Greer's The Female Eunuch (1970).
An example of first wave feminist literary analysis would be a
critique of William Shakespeare's Taming of the Shrew for
Petruchio's abuse of Katherina.
b. Second Wave Feminism: Gynocriticism
Elaine Showalter pioneered gynocriticism with her book A
Literature of Their Own (1977). Gynocriticism involves three
major aspects:
a) The first is the examination of female writers and their place in
literary history.
b) The second is the consideration of the treatment of female
characters in books by both male and female writers.
c) The third and most important aspect of gynocriticism is the
discovery and exploration of a canon of literature written by
women.
C. Function of Approaches to Literature
From the discussion above, there are some functions in
understanding Approaches to Literature:
1. Developing self-literary science, both theory and history of a works
2. Developing nations literary with its judgements
3. Provide input to general public in appreciating and understanding a
literary works.
 CHAPTER III

CONCLUSION

From the explanation above, we can understand that Literature approach

can be defined as a way to understand how something affect in the contents of a
literary work by looking at it from various perspectives, such as: history,
philosophy, psychology, beliefs and gender.

There are six kind of Literature approach that having their own way in
understanding a literature. They are Historical/ Biographical approach,
Philosophical approach, Formalism/ New Critizm Approach, Psychological
Approach, Mythological Approach, and Feminist Approach.

After we learn about this materials, we can get some advantages such as
Developing self-literary science, both theory and history of a works, Developing
nations literary with its judgements, and Provide input to general public in
appreciating and understanding a literary works.
 BIBLIOGHRAPS

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“Critical Approaches to Literature.” N.p., n.d. Web. Date accessed: 28 April 2017.
http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html.

Fard,Saeed Farzaneh (2016). " A short Introduction to Literary Critism",

International Journal of Humanities and Cultural studies ISSN 2356-5926. Islamic
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Meyer, Jim (1997)." what is literature? A Definition Based on Prototype" works

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