Introduction to Literary Criticism

1
Introduction to Literary Criticism
2
Literary Criticism and Theory

• Any piece of text can be read with a number of
  different sets of glasses, meaning you are
  looking for different things within the text.
• Literary Criticism helps readers understand a
  text in relation to the author, culture, and
  other texts.

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The Basic Idea

• The point of criticism is to argue your point of
  view on a work of literature.
• You dont have to criticize a text (but you
  can)
• You do have to analyze a text and support your
  assertions with specific evidence from experts
  and the text.

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Basic idea

• A critical analysis is an in-depth examination of
  some aspect of the literary work
• you may examine any element of the text
  character development, conflicts, narrative point
  of view, etc.
• Even though its an examination of a literary
  work, its still a persuasive essay

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Basic Idea

• The goal is to prove something about the work
• There must be a point to the discussion.
• You must answer the questions Why?, or So what?
• For example, why is a recurring symbol important?
  Or, why is the development of the female
  characters significant?

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Basic Idea

• There are many different approaches we can take
  to critical analysis
• Literary theories provide a framework for our
  discussion of a text
• We dont have to identify the theory were using,
  though.
• We use it as a starting point for our own ideas
  and opinions

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The Most Common Critical Stances for Literature

• Formalistic
• Biographical
• Historical/Cultural
• Psychological
• Mythological
• Philosophical
• Gender
• Deconstructionist
• Marxist

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Formalist Criticism (p.2095)

• A formalist (aka New Criticism) reading of a text
  focuses on symbol, metaphor, imagery, and so on.
• Formalism ignores the authors biography and
  focuses only on the interaction of literary
  elements within the text.
• Its what you do
• most often in
• English literature.

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Formalist Criticism

• no need to bring in outside information about the
  history, politics, or society of the time, or
  about the author's life
• does not view works through the lens of feminism,
  psychology, mythology, or any other such
  standpoint
• not interested in the work's affect on the
  reader.

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Terms to know for this type of criticism

• intentional fallacy - the false belief that the
  meaning or value of a work may be determined by
  the author's intention
• affective fallacy - the false belief that the
  meaning or value of a work may be determined by
  its affect on the reader
• external form - rhyme scheme, meter, stanza form,
  etc.

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Application

• What are some formal elements we might examine in
  a discussion of Red Riding Hood?

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A Formalist Reading of The Three Little Pigs

• What does the wolf symbolize?
• Notice the consonance of Ill huff and Ill
  puff
• How does the story foreshadow the final fate of
  the pigs?
• What does the wolfs dialogue tell us about his
  character?

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Pros and Cons

• Advantages
• can be performed without much research
• emphasizes the value of literature apart from its
  context
• virtually all critical approaches must begin here
• Disadvantages
• text is seen in isolation
• ignores the context of the work
• cannot account for allusions

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Biographical Criticism (p. 2097)

• As the name suggests, this type of criticism
  reads the text looking for the authors
  influence.
• By examining the authors life, we can have a
  deeper understanding of his writing.

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Application

• What are some biographical elements we might
  examine in a discussion of And Then There Were
  None?

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A Biographical Reading of The Importance of Being
Earnest

• Wilde had an intimate knowledge of Bunburying
  because he led a double-life too in his
  homosexual relationship with a young Oxford
  student.
• The characters flippant attitude about marriage
  mirrors Wildes own casual devotion to his wife.

17
Historical/Cultural Criticism (p.2101)

• Of course, this critical viewpoint examines a
  text in relation to its historical or cultural
  backdrop.
• You may examine a texts effect on history or
  culture.
• A historical/cultural analysis is often very
  similar to a biographical analysis, and its
  possible to view history, culture, and biography
  in a single essay.

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Pros and Cons of Historical Criticism

• Advantages
• works well for some which are obviously political
  or biographical in nature.
• places allusions in their proper classical,
  political, or biblical background.
• Disadvantages
• "the intentional fallacy" 
• tends to reduce art to the level of biography and
  make it relative (to the times) rather than
  universal.

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Application

• What are some historical elements we might
  examine in a discussion of Hamlet?

20
Historical/Cultural Reading of The Crucible

• How accurate is Arthur Millers account of the
  Salem Witch Trials?
• What can The Crucible reveal about colonial New
  England and Puritan society?

21
Psychological Criticism (p. 2099)

• Psychological critical theory applies the
  theories of psychology to a text to better
  understand its characters
• Based largely on Freud, this theory hinges on the
  belief that an examination of peoples
  (characters) unconscious desires.

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Psychological Criticism

• Drives governing human behavior
• Id the animal nature that says, Do what feels
  good.
• Ego the reality-based part of your personality
  that makes decisions to satisfy the Id and
  Superego
• Superego the socialized conscience that tells
  you whats right or fair

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Psychological Criticism

• Oedipus Complex Every boy has the unconscious
  desire to have sex with their mother
  consequently, sons are deeply afraid of their
  fathers, and fathers are deeply threatened by
  their sons.
• Elektra Complex Every daughter has the
  unconscious desire to have sex with their father
  consequently, daughters are deeply afraid of
  their mothers, and mothers are deeply threatened
  by their daughters.

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Psychological Criticism

• Of course, these complexes have their origins in
  literature and mythology.
• Psychological criticism is a way to understand
  characters, not diagnose them.

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A Psychological Reading of Macbeth

• Macbeth kills King Duncan because he
  unconsciously recognizes the king as a
  father-figure. Hence, Duncan is a rival for power
  and the affections of the people.
• In the latter acts of the play, Macbeth has
  indulged his id so often that his ego has lost
  the ability to restrain it.

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Mythological Criticism (p. 2107)

• This stance is not about mythology.
• It is about the universal elements of human life
  common in all cultures.
• Like ancient mythology, all literature is a
  window to creating meaning for human life.
• In other words, stories make us feel like our
  lives are more significant.

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Mythological Criticism

• Central to the Mythological theory is the concept
  of archetypes.
• Simply put, archetypes those universal elements
  present in the literature of all cultures.

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Mythological Criticism

• Common Archetypes
• The Hero Beowulf, Spiderman, Luke Skywalker,
  Braveheart
• The Outcast Macbeths clown, Grendel, Cain
• The Quest LOTR, Star Wars, Beowulf
• Sacrificial King Jesus, The Lion the Witch and
  the Wardrobe, LOTR
• Evil Personified Wicked Witch of the West, the
  Devil, the Emperor in SW, the Borg

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Mythological Criticism

• The goal of Mythological Criticism seeks to
  understand how the story constructs meaning in
  the human existence through archetypes.
• For example, note the ways texts have examined
  betrayal.

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A Mythological Reading of Beowulf

• Beowulf is the archetypal hero because his
  bravery and righteous behavior embodies the
  ideals and hopes of Anglo-Saxon society.
• Grendel, the outsider, represents both the alien
  invaders of neighboring, warring tribes and the
  threat of supernatural monsters, which, as
  pagans, the Anglo-Saxons truly believed existed.

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Philosophical or Moral Criticism

• asserts that the larger purpose of literature is
  to teach morality and to probe philosophical
  issues
• authors intend to instruct the audience in some
  way

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Pros of Philosophical Criticism

• Advantages
• useful for works which do present an
  obvious moral philosophy
• useful when considering the themes of works
• does not view literature merely as "art" isolated
  from all moral implications
• recognizes that literature can affect readers and
  that the message of a work is important.

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Cons of Philosophical Criticism

• Disadvantages
• such an approach can be too "judgmental" 
• Some believe literature should be judged
  primarily (if not solely) on its artistic merits,
  not its moral or philosophical content.

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Application

• What are some moral or philosophical elements we
  might examine in a discussion of To Kill a
  Mockingbird?

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Gender Criticism (p.2105)

• Gender criticism analyzes literature through the
  lens of socially-constructed gender roles.
• The largest part of gender criticism is feminism,
  which critiques and seeks to correct womens
  subordination to men in society.
• In its purist form, feminism is about equality.

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Stages of the female identity

• Feminine the female accepts the definitions and
  roles male authorities have created for her
• Feminist rebels against male authority and
  intentionally challenges all male definitions and
  roles
• Female no longer concerned with male definitions
  or restrictions defines her own voice and values

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Mad Woman in the Attic

• Critics Gilbert and Gubar identify a pattern in
  the treatment of female characters in literature,
  even when written by women.
• based on the plot of Jane Eyre
• the practice of removing a female character who
  is no longer useful to the male characters

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Gender Criticism

• A newer segment of gender criticism is queer
  theory, which looks for the influence of
  homosexuality within texts.
• Research of this type is fairly difficult
  because, as youve learned, homosexuality was
  largely suppressed in Europe and America, and it
  hasnt been openly discussed until the last few
  decades.

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Application

• What are some gender-based elements we might
  examine in a discussion of Hamlet?

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A Feminist Reading of Goldilocks

• As a single, young woman, Goldilocks finds
  herself without means or opportunity because she
  is unattached to a father or a husband. Perhaps,
  this is why shes alone in the woods.
• An independent woman,
• then, is a threat to the
• normal nuclear family,
• represented by the
• three bears.

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Deconstructionist Criticism (p. 2111)

• Deconstructionism argues that since there is no
  single meaning of any word, there can be no
  single meaning of a text.
• EVERY text, therefore, has multiple valid
  meanings because the reader may interpret the
  words differently than the writer intended them.

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Deconstructionist Criticism

• As your book notes, most literary criticism is
  about construction of a larger meaning from a
  text.
• Deconstructionism emphasizes the breakdown of any
  meaning within a text because the variety of
  different readers.
• Example Write the author of The Tell-Tale
  Heart.

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Deconstructionism

• "It depends on what the meaning of the word 'is'
  is."
• Bill Clinton, during his 1998 grand jury
  testimony on the Monica Lewinsky affair

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Deconstructionism

• Deconstructionism is basically a verbal Sophism
  because there is no concrete meaning of anything,
  there is no single truth applicable to all human
  beings.
• Hence, everything is relative to you.

45
A Deconstructionist Reading of The Tortoise and
the Hare

• The homophone hare/hair would make this fable
  incomprehensible without pictures.
• In Native American cultures, the tortoise is a
  symbol of honor, so Indians would interpret the
  race as a contest of honor and fair play
  instead of endurance.

46
Marxist Criticism

• Marxist criticism examines the nature of power
  structures within a novel.

• It asks questions like Who has power? Who lacks
  power? Who is exploited by whom and why? How does
  power remain constant or shift throughout a work
  of literature? What makes certain characters
  powerful or powerless?

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Marxist Approach

• It also examines commodities, possessions that
  give power
• Typical commodities are things like land and
  money but can also be things like social
  position, knowledge, or even a person
• Marxist criticism can also examine what
  commodities bring power and why within a work of
  literature

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Application Hamlet

• Who is in power within the novel?
• What commodities does that character possess that
  allows him/her to have power?
• How does power shift or remain static throughout
  the novel?

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Reader Response Criticism

• analyzes the reader's role in the production of
  meaning
• lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from
  formalism
• the text itself has no meaning until it is read
  by a reader
• The reader creates the meaning.
• can take into account the strategies employed by
  the author to elicit a certain response from
  readers
• denies the possibility that works are universal
  (i.e. that they will always mean more or less the
  same thing to readers everywhere)
• makes someone's reading a function of personal
  identity.

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Pros and Cons of RR Criticism

• Advantages
• recognizes that different people view works
  differently and that people's interpretations
  change over time.
• Disadvantages
• tends to make interpretation too subjective
• does not provide adequate criteria for evaluating
  one reading in comparison to another

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Application 19 Minutes

• What are your personal responses to this novel?
• Are there certain elements you respond to
  strongly or with which you identify?

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More Literary Theory

• New ways of viewing literature (and the world)
  continue to develop, but these are the main
  theories youll come in contact with.