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CRITICAL PRACTICE BY CATHERINE BELSEY

Discuss the methods of extracting meanings out of a creative text as described

by Belsey in her “Critical Practice”.

Or

How would you proceed in critical study, analysis or evaluation of a piece of

literature?

Answer:

History of creative art shows the fact that art and criticism run side by side. Sometime
art take place of criticism and sometimes criticism takes place of art. History of criticism
is as deep as arts of itself. Criticism has been a branch of literature in the most
developing periods of human history. Like other arts of the world, it also involves so
many theories and sometimes so many origins. Therefore, history of criticism has
become itself a subject. So many critics have developed a variety of theories regarding
he evaluation of a piece of literature.

Katherine Belsey in her work “Critical Practice” has put forward following two methods
for extracting meanings and evaluation of a given piece of text.

Analytical Criticism:

This is the most common category of criticism. It may be further divided into other
branches but the main object of all these modes is to analysis a given piece of
literature.The basic concept of analytical criticism is the image or concept of reader in
the mind of writer. The writer, while writing a text, always keeps in his mind the
personality of the person who is supposed to read this text in future.

Therefore, the first critic is the writer himself. He leaves some points unexplained or
some others over-explained because he is bearing the image of the reader in his mind
before hand. Now when that type of text goes in the hand of that supposed reader, the
criticism takes its birth ultimately or without conscious efforts.

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Here, we must also be sure of some of other images in the mind of a writer while
creating the text. For example, the image of society, the facts he is going to present and
the idea or theme of change he supposed to bring in the social behaviour of the
reader.All these images together give a kind of realism to that text of a writer. In this
way, to analyze the text means to see it in the context of the psychology of reader and
writer, and in the perspective of social norms.

In this type of criticism the information about writers’ personal life, his activities and the
theme presented in his other books help a common reader to develop some analytical
approach about that given piece of text. We do not feel any need to pay any attention
to the material orfacts provided in the words or structure of the text.Our understanding
of the text is something like preexisting the creation of text. The ideas presented in the
text are mostly the ideas we have come across in the practical life in some practical
social surroundings. Common sense plays an important role in this type of criticism as in
it based on facts given in the text and experiences undergone in the social
circumstances.In this type of criticism two types of forces govern; the force of human
nature which we can find in nearly all human beings and the forces of social
circumstances given particularly to the individual of that text. The bases and the reasons
of an analytical approach therefore, is the function of classical realism and common
sense in the reading of a literary text. It needs to be explained that if the common sense
helps creating the classic realism or the classic rea lism help developing the common
sense.

Evaluating Criticism:

On the other hand, evaluating criticism is totally base on the material and facts provided
in the text. Followers of this method do not pay any attention to the concept or image
of reader of personal life or social circumstances of the writer. They try to find whatever
there is of any importance out of the study of the text only.In their view text itself
carries all the essential material of understanding or intelligibility. In their view, role of
common sense and realism is of no importance. For example, in Belsey’s views common
sense itself is a development or generated function of the outer world. It has no
particular and specified roots.

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So the way of modern critics is based on the structure and language of the text. They do
not care about the psychology of the writer or his social surroundings. According to
them, possibility of the meanings greatly lies in the given text.

In this way, the problem of critic is not to find the meanings or the intelligibility in the
text.He aims at discovering the contribution of unconscious in the process of creation. In
his views, the text is written in the process of creation and that there lie some gaps and
silences in the words and sentences. In this way, the function of a critic is to find out
those gaps and lapses. This is termed as “construction” of a text, a construction that
results in the deconstruction of already written intelligible text.This is the mode of
evaluating criticism. Evaluation, there, is not the evaluation of the psychology of writer
but the evaluation of the evaluation of the given facts of the text. Therefore, for the
followers of this type of criticism meanings do not lie out of the text in any form.
Whatever intelligible points are that lie in the text. There is no possibility of inter-
intelligibility in the writer and the reader or the critic and the prevailing social
circumstances. Perhaps, that is why they say this type of criticism is a kind of expressive
realism, a realism that is in fact not realism but that seems realism.In this way,
expressive realist text is the text that is not realistic by that is expressed in realistic way.
In other words, the followers of this type of critical practice do not find any relation in
the text and the existing facts in the society. In their view, both these things are quite
different from each other.To conclude, we may say that both these critical approaches
have their own positive and negative points. But, followers of both methods have strong
views about their approaches.

Q No2:

In what category would you place Belsey’s views, theoretical or practical criticism?

Or

What are the major drawbacks in Catherine Belesy’s Critical Practice? Elaborate

your answer with respect to the views discussed in the book.

Answer:

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As far as reading of Critical Practice is concerned, it takes us nowhere. Nearly in all

chapters from the beginning till the end we find no concluding remarks or any type of
final judgment. This is perhaps Belsey’s major drawback in her book. She discusses the
theories and views of so many critics but nowhere gives her personal judgment
regardless of the need explanation in the views discussed under her topics.It means the
book contain theories and practices already in vogue. She may have the conclusions
already drawn in readers’ minds. However, her way of discussing the topics can both be
termed as ‘theoretical’ and ‘practical’. She does not remain particular to any mood of
expression.The topics discussed in the book range from the most ancient to the most
modern. He has not taken only way of expression but also the role of language in
conveying that way of expression.In the same way, she has not only discussed the
creative process but also the process taking place in the mind of a reader. In the process
of creation, she takes into account the social circumstance along with psychological
thinking or unconscious working of writer’s mind while writing a text.Naturally, in this
way, she must have taken some views and theories of the writers belonging psychology,
sociology, economics and ethics. Now, it is natural that whenever a person tries to
discuss something, he must possess some views of his own. Belsey, though adopts a
careful approach in her expression of views, yet she leaves some clues that indicate that
she has expressed her personal arguments in between the lines.

Theoretical Views:

Undertaking the task of critical practice, Belsey takes references out of the works of
Althusser, Barthes, Saussure and others. She discusses their views about the language
and the process of creation and gives her remarks as output of her reading of these
writers. Her remarks are very much theoretical in nature and are present nearly in all
the discussion of theories and views. We may take these remarks as practical in nature
but we cannot deny their value as theoretical remarks. In this way the theoretical
remarks in Belsey, in a sense are, also practical. She has not succeeded in differentiating
between these types of remarks.

Practical Views:

On the other hand, the way of analyzing the text keeping in mind the limits or hints
provided by the text itself, regardless of the intentions of the writer and the social

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circumstances, is called practical criticism.Though, Belsey has discussed both theoretical

and practical attitudes, yet it she has taken more help of practical attitude of criticism.
Her style of expression is more practical than theoretical. The function of practical
criticism in not only to provide the theories and views in practical form but also the
analysis of the text with reference to the facts and figures provided in the
text.Throughout the Critical Practice she has tried to maintain both these levels of
discussion or understanding. Especially, the last two chapters of the book are purely
based on these levels.

Conclusion:

In the end it can be said that despite the difficulties that lies in her expression of views,
yet Belsey has succeeded in pointing out the aptness and suitability of practical criticism
or critical practice of a modern critic. It is clear that Belsey has no inclination to any
particular mode of criticism. Her way of criticism can be taken both theoretical and
practical.

Q No3:

What according to Belsey is difference between common sense and critical theory?

Or

How does Catherine Belsey discuss the authority of common sense with respect to

de Saussure’s view of linguistic theory?

Answer:

Catherine Belsey, in her effort to explain the critical practice of modern critics, first of all
tries to explain the common sense view of literature. She tries to suggest the ultimate
function of common sense in the general understanding of some literary work.Common
sense in her view, is kind of natural attitude towards some piece of art prevailing nearly
all the souls of literary and literature loving persons. We may call it a kind of literary
behaviour, developed already through considerable amount of reading.Belsey says this
attitude or behaviour is developed in search of expressive realism. The search of realism

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is quite inherent in human beings. When they read some text, they are inclined to
accept it true. They think it about life or society in which they or the writer are living.
They take it as a real representation, seen through some personal experience. They
depend on experience as the only authenticity of some work. This is what we call a
common sense view of literature.When Belsey has explained common sense as a natural
understanding born out of text, she starts to explain nature of common sense with
respect to structuralism. The natural and obvious of some text is not given but mostly
produced out of the common experiences of public and a writer.In this case, the
authority of text is not the final authority. The real remains no more real when a writer
can express it other words. It is mere likeness of real, not real itself. The working of
common sense in this way turn astray and reader my feel some fiction a reality.The
function of common sense is then to make understandable the facts provided in the
text. This understandability of text lies in its being real and obvious. Here, keeping in
mind that the common sense varies from person to person and profession to
profession. We can say that the common sense of a literary person must be different
from the common sense of a scientist and a politician. What play an important role in
the development of common sense are the facts already given in the history of that
profession. The common sense of literary person either writer or reader developed
under the information provided in the books already written by other writers or read
byother readers. Therefore, we can say that the obvious and real presented in literature
may not seem obvious and real to a scientist or a businessman, because the
development of their common sense has never been under the facts described under
the facts described in books but the facts they have come to know through their
communication to the other people of their profession.

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