LITERARY THEORIES

TUJUAN
• Mengembangkan kemampuan
mahasiswa untuk memahami
teori-teori sastra
• Mengasah kemampuan mhs
dalam memilih teori yang tepat
dalam mengalisis topik
 KOMPETENSI
• Mampu memahami dan menjelaskan
berbagai teori sastra
• Mampu mengalisis karya sastra dari berbagai
aspek dengan memanfaatkan teori yang
sudah dipelajari.
• Mampu mengalisis karya sastra secara
obyektif.
• Menggunakan kemampuan untuk
menerapkan teori yang tepat dalam
pemecahan masalah yang mungkin dihadapi
dalam proses pembelajaran mereka.
 KOMPETENSI

MENGGUNAKAN DAYA ANALISIS

YANG TAJAM DAN OBYEKTIF DALAM
BERKOMUNIKASI SECARA LISAN
MAUPUN TERTULIS BAIK DALAM
RANAH NASIONAL MAUPUN
INTERNASIONAL
 MATERI
• Pengertian teori sastra
• Kaitan teori sastra dengan Sifat dasar Sastra
• Kaitan antara teori dengan fungsi sastra
• Kaitan teori sastra dengan Sejarah Sastra
• Teori Sastra:
– Rene Wellek and Austin: Intrinsic & Extrinsic
– Abrams: Orientation ofCritical Theories
– Some Schools of Theories
What is Literary
Theory?
Literary theory is the set of concepts and intellectual
assumptions on which rests the work of explaining or
interpreting literary texts.
Literary theory refers to any principles derived from
internal analysis of literary texts or from knowledge
external to the text that can be applied in multiple
interpretive situations.
Literary theory is a description of the underlying
principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to
understand literature
Literary theory can be thought of as the general theory of
interpretation
(http://www.iep.utm.edu/literary)
Literary theory develops in such a way that
impresses the un-linear , backward and
forward development. It experiences
accommodation and resistance ranging from
one designing literature as a text of its own
stand out from social context to literature as
socio-cultural and political phenomena.
• Literary theory should do two things. It ought to
provide us with a range of criteria for identifying
literature in the first place and an awareness of
these criteria should inform our critical practice….
It should also make us aware of the method and
procedures which we employ in the practice of
literary criticism, so that we not only interrogate
the text but also the way in which we read and
interpret the text… literary theory is primarily
concerned with what “literature” and the “literary”
are… (Webster, 1990, 8-9)
I. Literary theory in a strict sense is
the systematic study of the
nature of literature and of the
methods for analyzing literature.
II. Literary theory is closely tied to
the function of literature
III. The theory and criticism of
literature are closely tied to the
history of literature
.
 WHAT IS LITERATURE?

(Definitions of literature have

varied over time).
 (1) Definition of Literature
• Literature is everything in print.
– In Western Europe prior to the eighteenth
century, literature as a term indicated all
books and writing.
– it is writing that possesses literary merit,
and language that foregrounds
literariness, as opposed to ordinary
language.
• WHAT ABOUT ORAL LITERATURE?
 Oral literature
• The term oral literature refers not to written,
but to oral traditions, which includes different
types of epic, poetry and drama, folktales and
ballads.
• It forms a generally more fundamental
component of culture, but operates in many
ways as one might expect literature to do.
• It uses words in speech in a highly stylized
artistic way.
• It is usually used to express their ideas,
beliefs, values, and negotiate through their
net of social relationship.
 (2).Definition of Literature

• During the Romantic Period, literature is

limited to the imaginative literature with
language as the main material.
• FICTION AND NON FICTION
.
Primarily the language of literature differs from
ordinary language in three ways:
(1) language is concentrated and meaningful,
(2) its purpose is not simply to explain, argue, or
make a point but rather to give a sense of
pleasure in the discovery of a new experience,
and
(3) it demands intense concentration from the
readers. It indicates that the language of
literature has originality, quality, creativity, and
pleasure.
 imaginative and non-imaginative
• Literary text consists of textual meaning and
referential meaning
• Non-literary text only consists of referential
meaning.
• The textual meaning is the meaning that is
produced by the relationship of text itself.
• Referential meaning is meaning that is produced
by the relationship between internal text and
external text (world beyond the text).
 FICTION
• It is a very loose term .
• It usually refers to works of literature created from
the imagination, not presented as fact, though it
may be based on a true story or situation.
• It is not universally applied to all fictitious literature.
• It is typically restricted to the use for novel, short
story, and novella, but not fables, and is also
usually a prose text.
• It also refers to Mystery, Science Fiction, Western,
Romance, Fantasy, Action/Adventure, Children's,
Classics, Poetry
 Non-Fiction Literature
• is a type of prose literature dealing with real
people and real life situations.
• This is not to say, however, that non-fiction
literature is necessarily "fact" or "truth."
• Among the varieties of non-fiction literature are
biographies, autobiographies, speeches,
histories, essays, diaries, journals, newspapers,
and even cookbooks or car repair manuals.
• An author's purpose may be to entertain,
inform, persuade, or explain.
• It seems best to consider as literature
only works in which the aesthetic
function is dominant, while we can
recognize that there are aesthetic
elements, such as style and
composition in works which have a
completely different, non aesthetic
purpose such as political pamphlets
and scientific treatises (Wellek and
Austin , 1977 ).
 (3).Definition of Literature
• Literature is a term used to describe
written or spoken material.
• Broadly speaking, "literature" is used to
describe anything from creative writing to
more technical or scientific works, but the
term is most commonly used to refer to
works of the creative imagination,
including works of poetry, drama, fiction,
and nonfiction.
Natural Characteristics of Literature

• Entertaining
• Always up-to-date
• Universal
• Evolving
• grasping the whole aspect of life
• “Literary theory is the systematic account
of the nature of literature and of the
methods for analyzing it. (Culler, 1977).”
 Entertaining

Kooistra and Schutt (1937) point out that

even if there is a purpose in the creation
of literary works, the aim of the writers is
fundamentally the same. They try to
amuse their readers by means of fictitious
story
 Literature is always up-to-date.

• Horton and Edwards (1974:1-2) state that

“literature tends to reflect the dominant
tendencies of its era and to grow out of the
moral, social, and intellectual ferment
impinging upon the sensibilities of literary
men.”
 Literature is universal
• The universality of its appeal at any given
time and the abiding character of that
appeal, at its highest, not only for
succeeding ages but for succeeding
civilization (Albee, 1909). Universal major
themes such as love, responsibility,
respect and honesty will be found in works
of literature from all over the world.
 Evolving
• Literature has evolved and is still evolving (Ward,
2006).
• “literary means not only what is written but what
is voiced, what is expressed, what is invented, in
whatever form” — in which case maps, sermons,
comic strips, cartoons, speeches, photographs,
movies, war memorials, and music all huddle
beneath the literary umbrella (Krystal, 2014)
 grasping the whole aspect of life

• Literature grasps the whole aspect of life.

It does not limit itself to certain fields.
• The material of literature may come from
the imagination of the authors, but
undoubtedly it derives from their physical
interaction with society or at least from
their observation of their physical
surrounding and social environment.
 THE FUNCTIONS OF LITERATURE

• The function of literature develops

dynamically. It does not go stright but
move upwards and backwards depending
on the era and the interests of the
creators, the users and often those in
power. (Hariyanti, 2013).
• The functions of literature vary and
develop under the influence of the
condition outside of the world of
literature. Economy, religion, science
and politics and culture have great
influence on the development of the
function of literature. The existence
and development of literary theories,
therefore will also be influenced by
them.
 LITERARY THEORY AND THE FUNCTION OF
LITERATURE

• Literary theories are closely tied to the

functions of literature. Literary theory is
needed only as long as literature
continues to exist and to have importance
for societies and for individuals in those
societies
• certain theories may be regarded to be
out-of-date or even cease to be
applied because of the shift of function
of literature in a given society or in a
given era. Miller (2006) however,
asserts that even if literature becomes
less a central social force, literary
theory is still needed more for
antiquarian purposes, that is, to help
understand literature of past centuries.
 Norm-fulfilling v. norm breaking
function
Literature supports, restates and reinforces the
dominant cultural system and its values
→readers remain passive
Literature violates and breaks the familiar social
norms and codes→ great works: the aesthetic
quality of a work consists in the
defamiliarization and the automatization of
familiar traditional norms and codes
→ forming a new literary canon
(Kuenzli, Neohelicon.Vol 14.No2:169-181, pdf)
 The Functions of Literature

• Fungsi Rekreatif
• Fungsi Didaktif
• Fungsi Moralitas
• Fungsi Religius
• Fungsi Estetis
• http://pengertiandefinisi.com/pengertian-sastra-dan-fungsi-sastra-
dalam-kehidupan-manusia/
 THE FUNCTIONS OF
LITERATURE

1. Social and political functions

2. The cultivating culture
3. Ideological functions of
literature
 1. Social and political functions

• A subject of instruction in the colonies

of British Empire and Early
American the greatness of England
and America
• it was charged with giving the natives
an appreciation of the greatness of
England and engaging them as grateful
participants in a historic civilizing
enterprise
• provide a sense of national greatness,
create fellow-feeling among the classes,
and ultimately, function as a replacement
for religion, which seemed no longer to be
able to hold society together
• The movement away from traditional
religion had positioned literature to be the
moral guardian of society
 2. The cultivating culture
• Literature has been the activity of a
cultural elite, and it has been what is
sometimes called ‘cultural capital’:
learning about literature gives you a
stake in culture that may pay off in
various ways, helping you fit in with
people of higher social status.
• It may also make seductive all
manner of crimes – offers alternative
values
 3. Ideological functions of literature

• as an ideological instrument  seducing

readers into accepting the hierarchical
arrangements of society

• as a place where ideology is exposed 

revealing something that can be
questioned
THE FUNCTION OF LITERATURE
• Horatian formula :dulce and utile (sweet and
useful)
– Usefulness need not be thought to lie in the
enforcement of moral lessons but refers to “not a
waste of time,” not a form of “passing the time,”
something deserving of serious attention.
– Sweet is equivalent to “not to bore,” “not a duty,” “its
own reward.”→ great works
• Pop works : escape and amusement
• Entertainment and escapism
 Escapism and Entertainment
• Escape from real life : demonstrated in
violent thrillers, romance novels full of deceit
and betrayal, or stories of other dimensions
and magic
• The tales of ‘Narnia’ by C.S Lewis, tell the
story of children who find a route through a
wardrobe into another world and have
dramatic adventures there. It does however,
begin with the real life setting of evacuees
during the Second World War.
• Literature conveys knowledge.
• The novelists can teach you more about
human nature than the psychologists is
familiar kind of assertion.
• Literature provides catharsis for the
writers and the readers→ relief from the
pressure of emotions. To express
emotions is to get free of them
• Literature nourishes souls and enriches
lives. A society or people who give up
on literature do themselves a terrible
harm. http://www.iGuides.org
• literature is something that stands the test of time
and can entertain, inspire and educate for
eternity (Farooq, 2007).
• Literature that entertains aims to do so either
through humor or pathos. humor make us laugh
away our sorrows. Humor is sometimes based on
the comedy of manners. It rails at society’s
idiosyncrasies. Pathos gives rise to tragedy.
Tragedies give us a cathartic feeling so that we
go away from a book cleansed of emotions and
worries.
• Literature that inspires and educates aims to
make society a better place to live in.
• Aristotle the father of literary theory believed that
all good literature should do so, thus probably
starting off the eternal dialogue over ‘art for arts
sake’ vs. ‘art with a message’.
• The audience of a good work of literature should
feel uplifted in thought after completing the book.
• Literature gives a sense of fulfillment,
satisfaction and achievement.
- We recognize we are not alone in what we
feel and think, for literature is the depiction of
universal thoughts. We realize that men and
women have the same emotions and react
almost similarly cutting through time, space and
matter.
- Literature intrigues our minds with its
allusions, similes and metaphors. When we
decipher them we partake of the creative
process. This gives us a sense of
accomplishment.
Literary theory- literary criticism

• Literary theory explores and

attempts to evaluate the bases of
criticism.
• Literary criticism itself is a
practical activity carried out in a
community of interests.
 Literary Criticism
• Involves the reading, interpretation of and
commentary on a specific text;
• Practiced by professional critics and circulated in
published form in books and journals;
• Practiced by all student of literature in essays,
examination answers or dissertations;
• It covers various approach and attitude about
literature.(Webster, 1996:6-7)
 LITERARY THEORIES
AND
HISTORY OF LITERATURE
• Literary theory offers varying approaches
for understanding the role of historical
context in interpretation as well as the
relevance of linguistic and unconscious
elements of the text.
• Literary theorists trace the history and
evolution of the different genres—narrative,
dramatic, lyric—in addition to the more
recent emergence of the novel and the
short story, while also investigating the
importance of formal elements of literary
structure
 PERIODS OF ENGLISH
LITERATURE
• 450-1066 : Old English Period
• 1066-1500 : Middle English Period
• 1500-1660 : Renaissance
–1558-1603 : Elizabethan Age
–1603-1625 : Jacobean Age
–1625-1649 : Caroline Age
–1649-1660 : Puritan Age
 1660-1798 : Neoclassical Period
1660-1700 : The Restoration
1700-1745 : The Augustan Age /Age of
Pope
1745-1795 : The Age of Sensibility/
Age of Johnson
1798-1832 : The Romantic Period
1832- 1901 : The Victorian Period
1848-1860 : The Pre-Raphaelites
1880-1901 : Aestheticism and Decadence
1901-1914 : The Edwardian Period
1910-1936 : The Georgian Period
1914- : The Modern Period
1939 : Postmodernism
 PERIODS OF AMERICAN
LITERATURE
 1607-1775 Colonial Period
 1765-1790 Revolutionary Period
 1775-1828 The Early National Period
 1828-1865 Romantic Period/ American
Renaissance
 1865-1914 Realistic Period
 1900-1914 Naturalistic Period
 1914-1939 Modern Period
○ 1920s Jazz Age
Harlem Renaissance
 1939- Contemporary Period
Theory and History of Literature
 Different historical periods have emphasized various characteristics
of literature.
 Early works often had an overt or covert religious or didactic
purpose. Moralizing or prescriptive literature stems from such
sources.
 The exotic nature of romance flourished from the Middle Ages
onwards.
 The Age of reason manufactured nationalistic epics and
philosophical tracks
 Romanticism emphasized the popular folk literature and emotive
involvement, but gave way in the 19th-century West to a phase of
realism and naturalism, investigations into what is real.
 The 20th century brought demands for symbolism or psychological
insight in the delineation and development of character.
 TIMELINE OF THEORIES
 Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-present)
 Structuralism/Semiotics (1920s-present)
 Formalism, New Criticism, Neo-Aristotelian Criticism (1930s-
present)
 Psychoanalytic Criticism, Jungian Criticism(1930s-present)
 Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)
 Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present)
 Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)
 Gender/Queer Studies (1970s-present)
 Post-Structuralism/Deconstruction (1966-present)
 New Historicism/Cultural Studies (1980s-present)
 Post-Colonial Criticism (1990s-present)
INTRINSIC AND EXTRINSIC
ELEMENTS OF LITERATURE
 Basic Intrinsic Elements
Setting
Atmosphere
Characters
Conflict
Plot
Theme
Summary of the Basic Intrinsic
Elements
 Setting is the "where" and 'when" of the story or
novel.
 Characters are the "who.
 Conflict is the "what." (What is the problem?)
 Plot is the "how." (How is the conflict developed
and resolved?)
 Theme is the "why." (The author's message
and one of the reasons why the author
wrote the story or novel.)
 LITERARY TECHNIQUES

 Point of View
 Style
 Figurative Language
 Parody
 satire
 stream of consciousness
 Basic Elements of Poetry
 Imagery
 Figurative languages
 Tone and musical devices
 Rhythm and Meter

(Reuben, Paul P, Elements of poetry

/axf.html/2010)
 Image and Imagery
 Image is a concrete representation of
a sense impression, feeling and idea.
 Images may be visual (seen), aural
(heard), tactile (felt), olfactory
(smelled), or gustatory (tasted)
 Imagery is a pattern of related
detailed in a poem
Metaphorical or symbolic image
• When images form patterns of related
details that convey an idea or feeling
beyond what images literally describe,
we call them metaphorical or
symbolic.
• Such imagistic details suggest a
meaning, attitude, or idea –( e.g.,
images of light may be indicative of life
or knowledge; images of darkness are
suggestive of ignorance or death.
 Meeting at Night
(Robert Browning, 1812-1889)
The grey sea and the long black land;
And the yellow half-moon large and low; imagery of a
And the startled little waves that leap lover travelling
In fiery ringlets from their sleep; to meet his
beloved.
As I gain the cove with pushing prow;
Identify each
And quench its speed i’ the slushy sand. image, the
specific sense
Then a mile of warm sea-scented beach; it stimulates,
Three fields to cross till a farm appears, and the
feelings the
A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch
images evoke.
And blue spurt of a lighted match;
And a voice less loud, through its joys and fears;
Than the two hearts beating each to each!
 Tone

• Tone may be defined as the writer's or

speaker's attitude toward the subject,
the audience, or toward herself/himself.
• Almost all the elements of poetry go into
indicating its tone.
• Tones in poems are various and
complex as of voices and attitudes in
everyday experience ( e.g., playful,
serious and ironic)
 War Is Kind
Stephen Crane (1871-1900)
Do not weep, maiden, for war is kind,
Because your lover threw wild hands toward the sky,
And the affrighted steed ran on alone,
Do not weep,
War is kind.
Hoarse, booming drums of the regiment,
Little souls who thirst for fight,
These men were born to drill and die,
The unexplained glory flies above them,
Great is the battle god, great, and his kingdom,
A field where a thousand corpses lie
 Basic Elements of Drama
 Narrator: a character in some plays who speaks directly to
the audience, introducing the action and providing
commentary between scenes; may or may not be a character
in the action
 Dramatic Convention: any dramatic device which is
accepted by the author and audience as a means of
representing reality
 Monologue: a long speech by a character; allows characters
to express complicated thoughts or develop extensive
arguments; in fiction, one person speaks in a monologue
 Chorus: a group of actors speaking or chanting in unison,
often while going through steps of elaborate, formalized
dance; usually used to express views and emotions of the
public; sometimes pose questions to characters or audience;
sometimes used as a narrator; a characteristic device of
Greek drama for conveying communal or group emotion
 They stress the need to focus on the
intrinsic elements of a work as the best
way to truly understand it. In doing so they
adapt the phenomenology used by Roman
Ingarden.
 Intrinsic elements of the work, and indeed
the "realization of certain aesthetic
values", can reflect contemporary society
and its attitudes.[52]
The Extrinsic Approach to the
Study of Literature
 one group considers literature
mainly the product of an individual
creator and concludes hence that
literature should be investigated
mainly through biography and the
psychology of the author.
 A second group looks for the
main determining factors of
literary creation in the institutional
life of man — in economic, social,
and political conditions.
 another related group seeks for
the causal explanation of
literature largely in such other
collective creations of the human
mind as the history of ideas, of
theology, and the other arts.
Finally, there is a group of students
who seek to explain literature in
terms of the Zeitgeist, some
quintessential spirit of the time,
some intellectual atmosphere or
"climate" of opinion, some unitary
force abstracted largely from the
characteristics of the other arts.
Extrinsic Elements of literature

Biography
Psychology
Society
Ideas
( Wellek and Austin, 1955)
 Literature and Biography
 three views of a biographical approach:
 Biography can be judged in relation to actual
production of the work.
 as a study of the man of genius, of his moral,
intellectual, and emotional development,
which has its own intrinsic interest ;
 biography as affording materials for a
systematic study of the psychology of the poet
and of the poetic process.
 the first thesis, that biography explains and
illuminates the actual product of poetry, is
directly relevant.
 The second point of view, which
advocates the intrinsic interest of
biography, shifts the center of attention to
human personality.
 The third considers biography as material
for a science or future science, the
psychology of artistic creation.
Wellek and Warren describe
three views of a biographical
approach, of which only one –
the biographical aspects relating
to the production of a work – can
be of use; this use, however, is
limited
They reject the views that works
accurately reflect the author's
life or that the author's life must
be understood in order to
understand a particular
work.(P.69)
The relation between the private
life and the work is not a simple
relation of cause and effect.
The whole view that art is self-
expression pure and simple, the
transcript of personal feelings
and experiences, is
demonstrably false. Even when
there is a close relationship
between the work of art and the
life of an author, this must never
be construed as meaning that
the work of art is a mere copy of
life.
The biographical approach
forgets that a work of art is not
simply the embodiment of
experience but always the latest
work of art in a series of such
works; it is drama, a novel, a
poem "determined," so far as it
is determined at all, by literary
tradition and convention.
A work of art may rather embody the
"dream" of an author than his actual life,
or it may be the "mask," the "anti-self"
behind which his real person is hiding, or
it may be a picture of the life from which
the author wants to escape. Furthermore,
we must not forget that the artist may
"experience" life differently in terms of his
art: actual experiences are seen with a
view to their use in literature and come to
him already partially shaped by artistic
traditions and preconceptions. 9
The biographical approach actually
obscures a proper comprehension of
the literary process, since it breaks
up the order of literary tradition to
substitute the life cycle of an
individual.
The biographical approach ignores
also quite simple psychological facts.
 According to Wellek and
Warren, works may indeed
reflect the author's experiences,
but they may also reflect an
author's hopes and dreams, or
literary tradition and convention,
and as such are "not a document
for biography“(P.70-72).
They conclude that "it seems
dangerous to ascribe to [biography]
any real critical importance", and
that such approaches, if undertaken
at all, should be done with a "sense"
of the distinctions outlined above
(P.73-4).
an understanding of personal style
does not rely on knowledge of the
author's life.
 Pendekatan Biografis
 merupakan studi yang sistematis mengenai
proses kreativitas pengarang yang dianggap
sebagai asal-usul karya sastra. Sebuah karya
sastra dianggap relatif sama dengan maksud,
niat, pesan, dan bahkan tujuan-tujuan tertentu
pengarang:
 → riwayat hidup pengarang menjadi pusat
kajian dengan mengaitkannya dengan karya
sastra yang dihasilkan.
 → Pengalaman dan perjalanan hidup
pengarang dari masa kecil hingga dewasa
menjadi bagian yang takterpisahkan dari proses
kreativitas untuk memproduksi karya sastra
 Pendekatan ini juga bs digunakan untuk
mengupas perjalanan hidup para tokoh dalam
cerita
Central biographical questions
What biographical facts has the
author used in the text?
What biogrphical facts has the author
changed? Why?
What insights do we acquire about
the author’s life by reading the text?
How do these facts and insights
increase or reduce our understanding
of the text?
 Literature and Psychology
we may mean the psychological study of
the writer, as type and as individual,
or the study of the creative process,
or the study of the psychological types
and laws present within works of
literature,
or, finally, the effects of literature upon
its readers (audience psychology). The
fourth we shall consider under "Literature
and Society";
 Psychological Approach
Wellek and Warren consider analysis of
characters the only legitimate application
of psychological analysis in literary study.
Such an analysis, however, they find
lacking on its own merits: individual
characters do not fit psychological theories
of the time they are written.
Works which are true to certain
psychological theories, meanwhile, are not
necessarily better.
 Pendekatan Psikologis
lebih memperhatikan aspek psikologis
pengarang.
Karya sastra dianggap sebagai hasil aktivitas
penulis, yang sering dikaitkan dengan gejala-
gejala kejiwaan, seperti: obsesi, kontemplasi,
kompensasi, sublimasi, bahkan sebagai
neurosis.
Sigmund Freud (1856—1939): semua gejala
mental bersifat tak sadar yang tertutup oleh
alam kesadaran. Dengan adanya
ketakseimbangan, ketaksadaran
menimbulkan dorongan-dorongan yang
memerlukan kenikmatan, yang disebut libido.
Karena proses kreatif dianggap sebuah
kenikmatan yang memerlukan pemuasan,
maka proses tersebut dianggap sejajar
dengan libido.
Central psychological questions
Are there any specific psychological
theories mentioned in the text?
What theories of human behavior
does the writer seems to believe?
How can you tell?
What theories of human behavior
does the writer seem to reject?
How do people’s minds work in the
text? How do people think? How are
their thoughts shown?
 Literature and Society
Literature is a social institution, using
as its medium language, a social
creation.
literature "imitates" "life“ and "life"
is, in large measure, a social reality,
even though the natural world and
the inner or subjective world of the
individual have also been objects of
literary "imitation."
 Literature and Society/Universe
Literature represents a social reality
It has usually arisen in close
connection with particular social
institutions →(Economic, social and
political system)
Attempts are made to describe and define
the influence of society on literature and
to judge the position of literature on
society
They reject a more specific
understanding of social realities in
literature (P.89-90)

Wellek and Warren write that

literature is ultimately a social
institution as several aspects of it are
created or influenced through social
conventions and norms.
An author, for example, is a social
being, raised and shaped by society
and is in a dialectic relationship with
the audience: the audience provides
recognition and an income, and the
author shapes audiences' tastes and
behavior (p.91-8)
Literature does not, however,
"correctly" reflect society or
life,(p.89-90) and may exhibit little
connection(p. 100). As such, "social
truth" should not become an artistic
value of its own right, and literature
should not be thought of as a
"substitute for sociology or
politics“(p. 106).
The writer is not only influenced by
society: he influences it. Art not
merely reproduces Life but also
shapes it. People may model their
lives upon the patterns of fictional
heroes and heroines. They have
made love, committed crimes and
suicide according to the book.
Much the most common approach to
the relations of literature and society
is the study of works of literature as
social documents, as assumed
pictures of social reality.
Used as a social document, literature
can be made to yield the outlines of
social history.
social literature is only one kind of
literature and is not central in the
theory of literature unless one holds
the view that literature is primarily
an "imitation" of life as it is and of
social life in particular. But literature
is no substitute for sociology or
politics. It has its own justification
and aim.
 Pendekatan Sosiologis
lebihmengedepankan aspek masyarakat dalam
kajian karya sastra, dengan proses pemahaman
mulai dari masyarakat ke individu di mana karya
sastra dianggap sebagai milik masyarakat.
Pendekatan sosiologis didasari oleh hubungan
hakiki antara karya sastra dan masyarakat
dengan asumsi dasar, yakni:
a) karya sastra dihasilkan oleh pengarang;
b) pengarang itu sendiri adalah anggota
masyarakat;
c) pengarang memanfaatkan kekayaan yang ada
dalam masyarakat, dan
d) hasil karya sastra itu sendiri dimanfaatkan
kembali oleh masyarakat.
 Central sociological questions
What sort of society does the author
describe? How is it set up?what rules
are there? What happens to people
who break it? Who enforces the rules?
What does the author seem to like or
dislike about this society?What
changes do you think the author would
like to make in the society?
What pressures does the society put on
its member? How do they respond?
 Political questions
What political events are significant
in the text?
What political events were occuring
at the time the text was written?
What political beliefs does the author
seem to have? How are those beliefs
shown?
What political beliefs does the author
seem to dislike? How can you tell?
 Literature and ideas
Literature is thought of as a form
of philosophy; as ideas wrapped in
form and it is analyzed to yield
“leading ideas.”
Literature can be treated as a
document in the history of ideas
and philosophy
Literature reflects the history of
philosophy
They write that "a knowledge of the history of
philosophy and of general ideas" will be valuable
for a researcher.
However, they note that philosophical ideas may
not have been consciously included in a work.
Instead, they agree with the German scholar
Rudolf Unger that "literature expresses a general
attitude toward life, that poets usually answer,
unsystematically, questions which are also themes
of philosophy", in a manner that differs over time
(p.111-2).
Wellek and Warren argue that a work does not
necessarily become better with more philosophical
content.
 Philosophical questions
Are any ethical beliefs or
philosophies mentioned specifically in
the texts?
What ethical beliefs or philosophies
does the author seem to favor or
disfavor?
What behavior do the character
display that the author wants us to
think are “right” or wrong”?
Literature and other forms of
arts
the relationship between literature
and other forms of art, such as
architecture, sculpture, music, or
visual art, is "highly various and
complex". For example, literature
may inspire the other art forms, or
vice versa.
A work of literature may also
attempt to have the same effect as
another art, through visualization,
musicality, or other techniques.
However, literature remains a
separate art form, and effects found
within are conveyed imperfectly.
The emotions triggered by a work, or
the intentions or theories behind it,
will likewise not completely parallel
those of another art form; individual
forms of art have also "evolved"
differently.
Instead, Wellek and Warren suggest
that works of art, like literature, can
only be truly understood by looking
at the works of art themselves and
not their extrinsic aspects (p.129-
131)
 M.H ABRAMS
The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic
Theory and the Critical Tradition
(1953)
`describes the shift to romanticism as a
shift from the view on poetry as a ‘mirror’
to the view on poetry as a ‘lamp’: that is,
as a shift from the chiefly classical view on
poetry as reflecting reality to the idea of
poetry as a projector, as a source emitting
light and bringing reality to the fore.
Analytical Diagram –Abrams
(1979)
UNIVERSE

WORK

ARTIST AUDIENCE
 Universe
a subject which directly or deviously,
is derived from the existing things-
to be about, or signify, or reflect
something….This …consist of people
and actions, ideas and feelings,
material things and events or
supersensible essences….(p.6)
 Analytical Diagram –Abrams
(1979)
UNIVERSE
mimetic

WORK
pragmatic

expressive

ARTIST AUDIENCE
`this pattern of four orientations should
reveal the historic progression of
literary criticism:
`[b]y and large, the historic progression,
from the beginning through the early
nineteenth century, has been from the
mimetic theory of Plato and (in a qualified
fashion) of Aristotle, through the pragmatic
theory, lasting from the conflation of
rhetoric with poetic in the Hellenistic and
Roman era almost through the eighteenth
century, to the expressive theory of English
(and somewhat earlier, German) romantic
criticism.40
In the last pages the quadrilateral
model has been reconfigured in such
a way that the mimetic, pragmatic
and expressive orientations are
placed on one side, and the objective
orientation on the other. ‘divide
theories of poetic value into two
broadly distinguishable classes’:
1. Poetry has intrinsic value, and as
poetry, only intrinsic value. It is to be esti-
mated by the literary critic solely as
poetry, and as an end in itself, without
reference to its possible effects on
thought, feeling, or conduct of its readers.
2. Poetry has intrinsic value, but also
extrinsic value, as a means to moral and
social effects beyond itself. The two
cannot (or at least, should not) be sepa
rated by the critic in estimating its poetic
worth.65
 Mimetic theories
Art is essensially an imitation of aspects of
the universe.
'Imitation' continued to be a prominent
item in the critical vocabulary for a long
time after Aristotle.
The systematic importance given to the
term differed greatly from critic to critic;
those objects in the universe that art
imitates, or should imitate, were variously
conceived as either actual or in some
sense ideal;
 Mimetic theories
Imitation = reflection =
representation = copy = image

The imitation is of not crude

everyday reality but of “la belle
nature” – all the perfection that is
able to receive (the French critic,
Charles Batteux)
 Mimetic theories

Art is an imitation—but an imitation

which is only instrumental toward
producing effects upon an audience

pragmatic
 Pragmatic theories
Work of art is chiefly as a means to
an end, an instrument for getting
something done, and tends to judge
its values according to its success in
achieving the aim.
The tendency of the pragmatic critic
is to conceive a poem as something
made in order to effect requisite
responses in its readers.
 Pragmatic theories
Sir Phillip Sidney:
poetry has a purpose to achieve
certain effects in an audience. It
imitates only as a means to proximate
end of pleasing and pleasant, it turns
out, only as a means to the ultimate
end of teaching
“the right poets are those who imitate
both to delight and teach, and delight
to move men to take that goodness in
handle...”
 Pragmatic theories
In order “ to teach and delight” poets
imitate not ‘what is, hath been, or
shall be,’ but only ‘what may be, and
should be.’so that the very objects of
imitation become such as to
guarantee the moral purpose.
(Bandingkan dengan konsep dari
Horace: Utile and sweet)
 Pragmatic theories
Samuel Johnson claims, 'The end of
writing is to instruct; the end of
poetry is to instruct by pleasing.'
If a poem fails to please, whatever
its character otherwise, it is, as a
work of art, nothing.
it must please without violating the
standards of truth and virtue.
The pragmatic orientation, ordering
the aims of artist and the character
of the work to the nature, the need,
and the springs of pleasure in the
audience, characterized by far the
greatest part of criticism from the
time of Horace through the 18 th
century.
It has been the principal aesthetic
attitude of the western world.
The poet is strictly responsible for the
pleasure the audience -- he exerted his
creative ability
Gradually the stress was shifted more
and more to the poet’s natural genius,
creative imagination and emotional
spontaneity at the expense of the
opposing attributes of judgment,
learning and artful restraints
expressive theories
 Expressive theories
Abrams:
In general terms, the central tendency
of the expressive theory may be
summarized in this way: A work of art is
essentially the internal made external,
resulting from a creative process operating
under the impulse of feeling, and
embodying the combined product of
the poet's perceptions, thoughts, and
feelings.
 Expressive theories
The primary source and subject
matter of a poem, therefore, are the
attributes and actions of the poet's
own mind; or if aspects of the
external world, then these only as
they are converted from fact to
poetry by the feelings and
operations of the poet's mind.
(Abrams, 1979:22)
 Expressive theories
Poetry is the spontaneous overflow
of powerful feelings (Wordword in
Abrams,1979:21)
 Objecive theories
The work of art is isolation fron all
external points of reference,
analyzes it as a self-sufficient entity
constituted by its parts in their
internal relations, and sets out to
judge it solely by criteria intrinsic to
its own mode of being.
It started to emerge in the late 18C
and the early19 C.
 Pendekatan Strukturalisme
Pendekatan ini diilhami oleh linguistik struralisme
yang memusatkan perhatian pada hubungan
sinkrouns bahasa Dalam kajian karya sastra, aspek
sintagmatik terwujud dalam upaya pemahaman kata
berdasarkan relasinya dengan kata-kata yang
muncul sebelum dan sesudahnya:
– relasi horizontal berupaya memaknai bahasa
berdasarkan hubungan antar unsur dalam
suatu unit bahasa, seperti kalimat, klausa, dan
frasa, sehingga dapat dipahami apa makna
yang sebenarnya.
– relasi vertikal terwujud dalam pemilihan
sinonim atau antonim suatu kata. Perbedaan
makna kata bisa dipahami bila kata yang
dimaksudkan diganti dengan antonim atau
sinominya.
– Jadi, relasi vertikal ini tidak terkait secara
langsung dengan aspek kaedah yang
mendasari unit bahasa tertentu, tetapi lebih
pada relasi makna.
Pendekatan Strukturalisme
– Selain unsur-unsur bahasa,
pendekatan strukturalisme juga
memperhatikan unsur-unsur
instrinsik lainnya, seperti plot,
setting, dan apa makna yang
terkandung dalam sebuah karya
sastra.
– pendekatan strukturalisme hanya
mencoba mengkaji karya sastra dari
sudut pandang unsur intrinsiknya
saja.
 Pendekatan Strukturalisme
Dinamik
 Pendekatan strukturalisme dinamik
merupakan penyempurnaan dan
pengembangan dari strukturalisme yang
lebih menekankan pada unsur-unsur
intrinsik karya sastra.
 Pendektan strukturalisme dinamik
membuka peluang untuk mengkaji aspek-
aspek ekstrinsik karya sastra, seperti aspek
sosiologis, antropologis, atau aspek-aspek
lain sehingga
 pemahaman karya sastra menjadi lebih
komprehensif.
 Pendekatan Strukturalisme Genetik

Pendekatan ini merupakan pengembangan

dari pendekatan strukturalisme dengan
menambahkan aspek-aspek sosial dan
bahkan antropologis dalam kajian karya
sastra.
Dalam pendekatan ini karya sastra
dianggap sebagai karya pengarang dan
sekaligus sebagai kenyataan sejarah yang
mengkondisikan munculnya karya
tersebut.
• analisis karya sastra tidak hanya
terfokus pada relasi sinkronik unsur-
unsur bahasa yang digunakan, tetapi
juga mencakup beberapa aspek lain,
seperti unsur instrinsik karya sastra,
latarbelakang pengarang, dan latar
belakang sosial dan sejarah
masyarakat di mana penulis berada.
• pendekatan strukturalisme genetik
mengkaji karya sastra dari aspek
intrinsik dan ektrinsiknya, sekaligus
aspek-aspek lain yang berhubungan
dengan asal-usul bagaimana karya
sastra dihasilkan.
 Michael Zeraffe (1973):
There is an interrelationship among works of
art, society and history. The form and the
content of the novel derive more closedly
from social phenomenon, and they seem
to bound up with particular moments in
the history of the society... The novel is
directly concerned with the nature of the
situation in history; and with the direction
confronts us openly with the issue of the
meaning and value of our ineluctable
historical and social condition
 Nelson Mandred Blakes (1969:1-2):
Novelists witness to history....the
conventional documents like reports,
speeches, treaties, proclamation,
orders, messages and statues are
not enough.... To be able to get
through understanding of our history
we need to rely upon literary works.
Literature cannot be separated from the
creator. Commenting on the style of the
works of Mark Twain, Henry Nash Smith
points out that “to speak of the otonomy
of a work of art ... is ridiculous. The
otonomy of a novel was impaired by
forces that were in large part internalized
by the author long before he sat down to
write.... Many of the forces at work in the
fiction are clearly of social origin (Tate,
1973:50).”
Horton and Edwards (1974:1-2):
Literature tends to reflect the
dominant tendencies of its era and to
grow out of the moral, social, and
intellectual ferment impinging upon
the sensibilities of literary men
).” Literary source is believed to give
meaningful contribution to the historian
because the novelist’s imagination can
create the way people once thought and
acted, so ordering matters toward the
ethical veracity that the historian could
never achieve. Historian is dependent
upon written records,whereas feelings and
even the dramas of daily routine often
conveyed by gesture, look, or silence, or
words that no one saw fit to write down
(Wyatt-Brown, 1982:xi)