LITERARY CRITICISM

DEFINITION …

Literary criticism is the study,

discussion, evaluation, and
interpretation of literature.
 Let's try again …

"Literary criticism is the evaluation

of literary works. This includes the
classification by genre, analysis of
structure, and judgement of
value."

Beckson & Ganz

 And again …

"Literary criticism asks what

literature is, what it does, and
what it is worth."

Encyclopedia Britannica
 Why do we have to
analyze everything?
 Talking about experiences enhances our
enjoyment of them
 Talking about experiences involves the
search for meaning which increases our
understanding of them
 Because Socrates said so: "The life
which is unexamined is not worth
living."
 To further explain …

Literary criticism helps us to

understand what is important
about the text
– its structure
– its context: social, economic,
historical
– what is written
– how the text manipulates the reader
 Literary criticism helps us to
understand the relationship
between authors, readers, and
texts

 The act of literary criticism

ultimately enhances the enjoyment
of our reading of the literary work
 DOMINANT PARADIGMS …

1. Formalism
2. Marxism
3. Feminism
4. Psychoanalytic
5. Structuralism
6. Archetypal
Formalism
 The work itself is the focus
 No need for context
 Aesthetics
 Language, interactions of words,
figures of speech, & symbols
 MARXISM

 Meaning resides in text, history, & ideology: messages of

oppression & class conflict
 Texts are commodities, not timeless works of art
 Truths are socially constructed.

Look for evidence of oppressive ideologies of the dominant

social group; look for uses & abuses of power

What workers look like to a capitalist

 Marxist Criticism
 Relationships between the
socio-economic classes
 Economic & cultural
theories of Karl Marx &
Friedrich Engels
 Focus: power & money in lit
Feminist Criticism
 Impact of gender on writing
& reading
 Critique of patriarchal
society: cultural & economic
“disabilities”
 FEMINIST CRITICISM
Meaning is socially constructed.
Texts have more than one
interpretation
Texts are commodities (products of
society)
Truth is relative, highly dependent
on arbitrary categories of
difference, esp. those based on
“sex” and “gender”
 Feminism

Look for systems of containment;

for evidence of repression,
oppression, suppression,
subversion, & rebellion in texts by
women; study women’s unique
ways of understanding and writing
about the human condition.
Psychological &
Psychoanalytic Criticism
 Psychological motivations
of the characters [or of the
author]
 Freud, Jung
 Psychoanalytical or Freudian Theory

 There are strong Oedipal connotations

in Freudian theory:
 the son’s desire for his mother
 the father’s envy of the son and rivalry
for the mother’s attention
 the daughter’s desire for her father
 the mother’s envy of the daughter and
rivalry for the father’s attention.

Of course, these all operate on a

subconscious level to avoid violating
serious social norms.
Examining “Cinderella” from a
Psychoanalytic Perspective
 Consider Cinderella as a representative of
the id —expressing desire.
 Consider the stepmother and stepsisters
as representatives of the superego—
preventing the id from fulfilling its desire.
Consider the fairy godmother and the
prince as representatives of the ego—
negotiating between the id and the
superego and allowing the desires of the id
to be fulfilled in a socially acceptable
manner.
STRUCTURALISM
 Meaning resides in the structure of language, not in
art nor in the reader’s mind
 Scientific approach to literary analysis:
structure of language as a logical sign system
determines meaning
 Two levels of language: langue (“the King’s
English”) & parole (everyday speech)
 Interpret a text or part of a text by taking its language
apart (study word derivations, sentence syntax, etc.)
Archetypal Criticism
 Symbols, motifs, myths,
characters, situations
 SOME TRADITIONAL
APPROACHES

 Historical—author’s historical moment

is key to understanding a literary text
 Biographical—author’s personal
experiences are central to
understanding the text
 Social realism (?)—social transparency
is key to understanding the text…
 Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893)

Applying the scientific method to art—assumes

language is factual, reality is absolute, the “truth” can
be verified.
Taine’s three major factors for interpreting a text:
Race—i.e., national characteristics of the artist’s
historical place and time
Milieu—i.e., sum total of artist’s experience
Moment—intellectual & philosophical currents of artist’s
historical place and time
 Wellek and Warren
Theory of Literature (1949)

Key issues to understanding a text:

The writer’s heredity & environment
(Taine’s “milieu”)
The fictional world of the text vis-à-vis
the world outside the text (Taine’s
“race” & “moment”
The audience for which the text was
intended
 But there are many
more …
 Author intention
 Reader Response
 Biological
 Cognitive scientific
 Moralist
 Queer
 Socio-political
 Sociological
 And so many more …
 READER RESPONSE
Text has many interpretations—text & reader interact to
create meaning

Meaning ultimately resides in the reader’s mind

or the consensual “mind” of a community of readers
(this class, for example)

A text’s truth is relative

Readers may reach the same conclusions about a

work--but approach the task quite differently
Texts—composed of language, an unstable sign system that
always “defers” meaning.
Truth is constructed, not “given,” so there’s no such thing as A
correct interpretation
 Look for an apparent meaning of some aspect of the text ; show
how the text undermines (deconstructs) it; look again & show
how the text undermines the latest interpretation, etc.
Look for oppositions: good vs. evil, e.g. Show how the text
undermines first one, then the other so that good and evil are
exposed as “empty” concepts
 POSTCOLONIALISM
 Meaning resides in text, history, and ideology
 Literature is a political tool—those in power
decide what is “art”
 Truth is relative.

Study the author’s (and reader’s) life & times;

locate tensions between conflicting cultures;
explore the “double consciousness” of
colonized & postcolonized writers; observe
how colonizers “refashion” the colonized;
 Territorialism
 Possessions (objects of desire) are metaphors for who we
are or how we wish to be perceived—aspects of the “self.”
 Possessions may be tangible or intangible (my car or my
idea, e.g.)
 They occupy mental space: cognitive, affective, and
conative.
 These spaces strongly resemble territories—with rights of
ownership, markers, boundaries, rules of “in” and “out,”
defensive strategies, etc.

 Look for territorial behaviors; determine the “object(s) of

desire”; what aspect of self is in play? Who owns the
object? Who wants it? Why? Identify the territorial act:
acquisition, management, or defense? How does this
information improve our understanding of the text?
Mimetic
 Real world reality?
 Morality, norms, values
Intertextual
 Comparing the work with
other literature
 Breadth
 Historical & Biographical
Criticism
• To strive to understand a literary text
as a product of the social, cultural, and
intellectual context in which it was
created.

• To examine how the text was initially

received by readers as well as how its
reception has changed over time.

• To examine how the author’s own

experiences may be reflected in the text.
 Literary Criticism Map

Where do the theories fall?

 Understanding the Map
 The work itself is placed in the center because all
approaches must deal, to some extent or another, with
the text itself.
 Formalism and deconstruction are placed here also
because they deal primarily with the text and not with
any of the outside considerations such as author, the
real world, audience, or other literature. Meaning,
formalists argue, is inherent in the text. Because
meaning is determinant, all other considerations are
irrelevant.
 Deconstructionists also subject texts to careful,
formal analysis; however, they reach an opposite
conclusion: there is no meaning in language.
 A historical approach relies heavily on the author and
his world. In the historical view, it is important to
understand the author and his world in order to
understand his intent and to make sense of his work. In
this view, the work is informed by the author's beliefs,
prejudices, time, and history, and to fully understand
the work, we must understand the author and his age.

 An intertextual approach is concerned with comparing

the work in question to other literature, to get a broader
picture.

 Reader-Response is concerned with how the work is

viewed by the audience. In this approach, the reader
creates meaning, not the author or the work.
 Mimetic criticism seeks to see how well a
work accords with the real world (is it
accurate? correct? moral? ).

 Then, beyond the real world are approaches

dealing with the spiritual and the symbolic--
the images connecting people throughout time
and cultures (archetypes). This is mimetic in
a sense too, but the congruency looked for is
not so much with the real world as with
something beyond the real world--something
tying in all the worlds/times/cultures inhabited
by humans.
 Cont'd …
 The Psychological approach is placed outside
these poles because it can fit in many places,
depending how it is applied:
(1) Historical if diagnosing the author himself
(2) Mimetic if considering if characters are
acting by "real world" standards and with
recognizable psychological motivations
(3) Archetypal when the idea of the Jungian
collective unconscious is included
(4) Reader-Response when the psychology of
the reader--why he sees what he sees in the
text--is examined.
 Cont'd …
 Likewise, Feminist, Minority, Marxist, and
other such approaches may fit in:
(1) Historical if the author's attitudes are
being examined in relation to his times (i.e.
was Shakespeare a feminist for his times,
though he might not be considered so today?)
(2) Mimetic--when asking how well characters
accord with the real world. Does a black
character act like a black person would, or is
he a stereotype? Are women being portrayed
accurately? Does the work show a realistic
economic picture of the world?
 There are so many
possible answers …
What does this literary work mean?
 Different approaches or lenses help us
to discover rich and deeper meaning
 Each lense has its strengths and
weaknesses
 Each lense is valuable
 Try to become a pluralist rather than an
inflexible supporter of one