ST.

MICHAEL‟S COLLEGE
Basic Education Department
Iligan City

MODULE IN 21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD

Description of the Module: LITERARY CRITICISM: CRITICAL READING OF LITERARY

PIECES

LESSON 4: Contextual Reading Approaches

- Literary Reading through a Biographical Context
- Literary Reading through a Sociocultural Context
- Literary Reading through a Linguistic Context
- Critical Reading Strategies in Literature

LESSON 5: Literary Criticism: Critical Literary Theories in Literature

- Introduction to Literary Criticism
- Critical Lenses

General Objectives:

In this module, you should be able to:

 identify the different ways one may evaluate a literary text, specifically by examining its
biographical context, sociocultural context, and linguistic context;

 distinguish various critical reading strategies;

 analyze different literary texts through different contexts using different critical reading
strategies; and

 critique literary pieces using specific critical literary theories.

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Table of Contents:

LESSON TOPIC PAGE

1. Literary Reading through a Biographical 3
Context

2. Literary Reading through a Sociocultural 5

Context
Contextual Reading
Approaches
3. Literary Reading through a Linguistic 7
Context

9
4. Critical Reading Strategies in Literature

1. Introduction to Literary Criticism 14

Literary Criticism: Critical
Literary Theories in Literature 2. Critical Lenses
18
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LESSON 4
Contextual Reading Approaches

TOPIC 1: Literary Reading through a Biographical Context

While it is important to know the characters in a literary text, it is also essential for
readers to understand the author‘s background.
Through studying the author,

 they may be able to connect the characters and their morals to the author‘s life,
 and analyze the patterns of behavior shown between and among the characters, the
author, and the reader himself; and
 after all, it is through getting to know others that we also get to know ourselves better.

SIGNIFICANCE: REASONS TO USE BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT

There are reasons to read literature through the biographical context (Gioia and
Kennedy 2007):
 Understanding the author‘s life can help you understand his or her work thoroughly.
 Reading the author‘s biography or autobiography helps you see how much his
experiences shape his or her work directly and indirectly.

STRATEGIES TO BE UTILIZED
Here are biographical strategies that you may use:
 Research on what the author believes in and also what he or she does not.
 Analyze how the author‘s belief system is reflected in his or her work.
 Look at the author‘s other works and analyze if there is a pattern with regard to the
theme that is indicative of his or her life and beliefs.

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
When you are reading literature through a biographical context:
 In what year was the text written and published?
 Is there anything significant that happened in the author‘s life during this time? What
were the circumstances that happened to the author before the writing of the text?
 Were there several drafts of the text? What can you say about the changes that the
author made? What aspects do you think the author struggled with during the revision?
 What is the effect of the revisions to the published text?
 Are there characters and situations in the text that could be representative of or are
similar to the ones in the author‘s life?
 How will knowing about the author amplify your appreciation of the work?
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Learning Activity

Direction: Answer the following questions (use a sheet of paper – may it be a

bond paper or yellow paper):

1. Who is your favorite author? Why?

2. What are the details that a reader should look for in reading an author‘s biography?
3. Why is it important to know the character and the author‘s life as well?
4. How can an author‘s belief system be reflected in an excerpt?
5. How can we gain more understanding by learning about the year a work was written
and published?
6. If you were an author, how would you describe your main character?

Assessment Activity
Direction: Read the short story ―Wedding Dance‖ by Amador Daguio. Read and follow
the following guidelines given below.

1. In a short bond paper, write a brief summary of the short story.

2. Next page (or back portion of the paper), answer the following questions:
 Describe the author of the story
 What are some personal experiences of the author that affect his viewpoint in life?
 How are viewpoints reflected in one‘s writings?

Story‘s link:
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short%20Stories/Wedding%20Dance.htm
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TOPIC 2: Literary Reading through a Sociocultural Context

Aside from understanding a literary text through a biographical perspective, it is also
important to note the year or period it was written.

 Readers would be able to identify the historical events that took place in that year.
 We would also find out the roots of an event‘s cause and the reasons behind the
character‘s motives and interests.

According to the critic Wilbur Scott, ―Art is not created in a vacuum; it is the work not
simply of a person, but of an author fixed in time and space, answering a community of
which he is an important, articulate part.” In reading using the sociocultural context, you will
examine the factors that affect the writing of the literary text and how the work was received by
the readers during the time it was written.

SIGNIFICANCE: REASONS TO USE SOCIOCULTURAL CONTEXT

The following are reasons to read literature through sociocultural context (Gioia and
Kennedy 2007):
 Reading using the sociocultural context helps you understand the social, economic,
political, and cultural forces affecting the work that you are reading.
 Analyzing the sociocultural context of the text makes you examine the role of the
audience (readers) in shaping literature.

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
How can we analyze a text through a sociocultural context? Here are guide questions
that you may answer when you are reading literature through the sociocultural context:
 What is the relationship between the characters or the speakers in the text and their
society?
 Does the text explicitly address issues of gender, race, or class? How does the text
resolve these issues?
 Who has the power? Who does not? What is the reason for this setup?
 How does this story reflect the nation? What does this say about the country and its
inhabitants?
 Who has the economic or social power? Is there oppression or class struggle? How do
the characters overcome this? Does money or finances play a large role in the
narrative?
 What is the prevailing social order? Does the story or poem accept or challenge it?

The following are perspectives that belong to sociocultural context (some of them will be
tackled in the next lessons):

- MARXISM - QUEER THEORY - POSTCOLONIALISM

- FEMINISM - HISTORICISM - NEW HISTORICISM
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Learning Activity – QUICK DRAWS

Direction: Recall the timeline of Philippine history. Reflect on some events that may
have transpired during those periods of time by creating a visual image that
represents each of them. Explain your answer. You may use bullets. (Bond
paper or yellow paper will do)

Example:

Assessment Activities
A. Direction: Read the short story ―How My Brother Leon Brought Home a Wife‖ by
Manuel E. Arguilla. Write one-page analysis (on a short bond paper)
about the story using the sociocultural context approach. Point
the elements (scenarios) in the story that can be explained using the said
approach.

Story‘s link:
http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short%20Stories/How%20My%20Brother%20Le
on%20Brought%20Home%20A%20Wife.htm

B. Direction: Share the title of the movie. Watch or recall a movie or book that talks
about a certain Philippine historical event. Answer the following
questions (short bond paper):

1. What is the historical situation taking place?

2. What do you think is the prevailing social order shown?
3. What is the main idea or theme of the story?
4. How do the people during those times act? How do they differ from our generation?
5. How does the event affect the author and his perspectives about the situation?
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TOPIC 3: Literary Reading through a Linguistic Context

According to David Richter, “Practically everything we do that is specifically human

is expressed in language.” This is why literary texts can be read through the context of the
language used to write the text as well as the way language is used in the text.

This literary reading adheres to Roland Barthes‘s famous maxim, ―The author is
dead.” Reading through a linguistic context focuses on the language used in the literary work
and how it is used to convey meaning.

SIGNIICANCE: REASONS TO USE LINGUISTIC CONTEXT

Here are some reasons to read literature through the linguistic context:
 Reading the text on its own, regardless of the author‘s biography and sociocultural
context, may help you understand the literary text through analyzing the words,
sentences, patterns, imagery, etc. of the text.
 Analyzing the literary text‘s grammar, syntax, or phonemic pattern may help you find the
meaning of the text within its form and help you interpret it by simply analyzing the
content of the literary work.

STRATEGIES TO BE UTILIZED
The following are some strategies you may use to read a text through the linguistic
context:
 Analyze the diction or choice of words in the text.
 Examine the texts‘ syntax or use of sentences, clauses, phrases, line cuts, etc.
 Observe the use of figurative language.
 Analyze the mood and tone of the text.
 Observe the text‘s overall structure.
 Analyze the content of the text.

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED
Here are guide questions that may help you when you read literature through the
linguistic context:
 What were the striking words in the text? What words were unfamiliar to you? Which
words attracted your attention? What words were dramatic?
 What nouns are the most prominent? Are these concrete or abstract nouns? What
about verbs? Does the author use common words or lofty diction? Are the words short
or long? Is there any word that has two or more meanings?
 Are the sentences in the usual order of subject-predicate? What are the dependent
clauses? What are the independent clauses? If you restructure a sentence or a phrase,
would it make a difference? Is the voice active or passive? Is there a rhythm in the
sentence structure in relation to the length of the sentences or lines?
 What literary devices are used? Are there images? Do those images stand for anything
aside from their literal meaning?
 What is the tone? Is the speaker happy about the subject? Is the tone negative or
positive?
 What is the structure of the text? Is it a narrative? Is it linear or nonlinear? What is the
point of view of the text? Is it a poem? What type of poem is it?
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 Does the language help in delivering and understanding its content? Is there a theme?
What is it saying about its subject matter? How do the literary elements contribute to the
effectiveness of the text?
 What is the text saying about the world in general?

The following are perspectives that belong to linguistic context (some of them will be
tackled in the next lessons):

- STRUCTURALISM - FORMALISM (NEW RITICISM)

- POSTSTRUCTURALISM

Learning Activity – SHARE YOUR FAVORITE

Direction: Use big dry leaf (leaves) and paste the written lyric of your favorite old
(classic) song. Answer the following questions on a short bond paper:

1. What is the title of your favorite song?

2. Why is it your favorite classic song?
3. What words from that song seem to be immortalized by time? What do these words
mean to you?

Assessment Activity
Direction: Below is a poem that Jose Rizal has written. Analyze the poem through its
literary context by answering the following questions (short bond paper):

Josephine,
Who to these shores came,
Searching for a home, a nest,
Like the wandering swallows,
If your fate guides you
To Shanghai, China, or Japan,
Forget not that on these shores
A heart beats for you.

1. What are the striking words used in the poem?

2. How many meaningful statements are used in the poem?
3. How were the lines cut? Did the line cuts help in conveying the message of the poem?
4. Are there rhymes? Is there a certain rhythm? How does the presence or absence of
rhyme and rhythm help convey the message of the text?
5. What imagery was used in the poem?
6. What is the mood of the poem?
7. Did the use of language help in conveying the poem‘s message? How?
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TOPIC 4: Critical Reading Strategies in Literature

Sometimes, we read for entertainment, leisure and fun. It takes a keen observer and
valid researcher to become a critical reader.

 Being a critical reader means that you do not aim to simply memorize facts and
information in the text that you are reading.
 Being a critical reader means that you are looking for ways of thinking about the subject
matter of the text that you are reading.

To help you in your critical reading, listed below are the steps or modes of analysis that
are reflected in three types of reading and discussion as presented by Daniel J. Kurland
(2000):

 What a text says is the restatement . At first, you simply talk about the same topic as
what is written in the original text.
 What a text does is the description. Next, you discuss and examine the aspects of the
discussion or the content of the text.
 What a text means is the interpretation. As you read critically, you should analyze the
text and assert a meaning for the text as a whole.

Here are the three main goals of critical reading that require inference from reading
within the text (Kurland 2000):

 First is to recognize the author’s purpose, which involves inferring a basis for choices
of content and language.
 Second is to understand the tone and persuasive elements of the text, which
involves classifying the nature of language choices used by the author.
 Third is to recognize bias, which involves classifying the nature of patterns of choice
and language used in the text.

The following critical reading strategies will help you cope with different reading texts:

1. Previewing.
Before you begin reading the text, preview it by gathering important information about it.
Previewing helps prepare your mind for the barrage of information that is to come when you do
the actual reading. When you preview a text, you skim it to get the big picture or an overview of
the entire text. Consider the following:

Who wrote the text? What are the author‘s other works?
Where and when was the text published? What were the major events around the time
the text was written or published?
What can you infer about the text based on the title?
What seems to be the general progression or organization of ideas based on the
chapter titles or section headings and subheadings?
What is your purpose for reading the text?
2. Annotating.
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Annotating involves highlighting or making notes of important ideas in the text. This can
be done by doing the following:

With a pencil or a pen in hand, underline important ideas such as the thesis, topic
sentences, and key concepts. Also, highlight unfamiliar words so you can look them up
later.
Make notes such as questions and comments or responses on the margins as you
read.
Develop a symbol system. You may draw symbols to mark important words or
sentences so that the text will not appear cluttered.

3. Contextualizing.
When you contextualize, you consider the historical, cultural, or biographical context of
the text. Identify the context(s) in which the text was written and determine how this context
differs from your own. Keep in mind that your understanding of a particular concept is
influenced by these contexts, in the same way that they influence an author‘s.

4. Outlining and Summarizing.

Outlining and summarizing the text help you identify the main ideas in the text and
express them again in your own words. In outlining the text, you identify the basic structure of
the text (i.e., the main ideas and the supporting ideas) and make connections between those
ideas. Outlining helps you understand how the author developed the text through the ideas
presented. After making an outline, you can now summarize the text. Summarizing the text
allows you to present your understanding of the text by reviewing and synthesizing important
ideas, and then restating them in your own words.

5. Analyzing.
Analyzing a text deals with examining the information presented to support the author‘s
argument(s). In analyzing a text, you look at the evidence, sources, and author‘s bias (es).
Consider the following questions:
Is there enough evidence to support the author‘s argument? Does the evidence relate to
and support the thesis or the main point the author is trying to convey?
Are the pieces of evidence relevant, credible, and up-to-date?
Are the sources of information credible?
Why did the author take that particular position? What is the author‘s background that
may have led to or influenced his or her position?

6. Rereading.
Rereading requires a repeated examination of the text to enable you to improve your
comprehension of the text and to identify ideas that you may not have noticed in initial reading.
Critical readers read the text more than once to fully grasp the meaning of the text and what
the author is conveying.

7. Responding.
After you have developed a clear understanding of the text, you are now ready to
respond to the text. Responding to the text means drawing meaning from what you have read
and presenting it in writing or talking about it to others. When you respond to a text, you
express your thoughts, feelings, and questions about the text. You can write why you agree or
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disagree with the text or the author‘s arguments, or you can interpret the text. You can also
respond to a text by discussing it with others. Sharing the information that you gained from a
text with others who have read the same text is a good way to check your understanding.

Learning Activity

Direction: On a short bond paper, create an interpretation of the passage below stated
by F. Sionil Jose. Write a response to the National Artist about whether you
agree with him or whether you want to simply respond to his critical
thoughts:

―We are shallow because our media are so horribly shallow. Every morning, I peruse the
papers and there is so little to read in them. It is the same with radio — all that noise,
that artifice.‖

Assessment Activity
Direction: On a short bond paper, answer the following questions:

1. What are the strategies for critical reading in literature?

2. What is an ―author‘s argument‖?
3. If you were asked to evaluate a text, how would you check the reliability of the
information if there are multiple arguments given?
4. In reading an article, how does a reader make a cross-reference?
5. In preparing for a debate or a thesis defense, what do you need to take note of?
6. Why is it important to ask questions instead of simply agreeing and believing?

RVM INTEGRATION QUESTIONS:

1. How does one become an effective critic? What does the Word of God tell to the matter of
―judging others‖ based on the Bible (Qur‘an)? Site a line (s) that refer(s) to this notion.
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. How do the biographical, sociocultural, and linguistic contexts affect your criticism to the
matters of life?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
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________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Reference List:

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short%20Stories/Wedding%20Dance.htm

http://www.seasite.niu.edu/Tagalog/Literature/Short%20Stories/How%20My%20Brother%20Le
on%20Brought%20Home%20A%20Wife.htm

http://jesmarpacis.weebly.com/uploads/1/6/6/8/16683740/how_my_brother_leon_brought_hom
e_a_wife.pdf

http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.html

https://courses.lumenlearning.com/englishcomp2kscopex92x2/chapter/what-is-literary-criticism/

―7 Critical Reading Strategies.‖ Salisbury University. Accessed May 3, 2018. http://www.

salisbury.edu/counseling/new/7_critical_reading_strategies.html.

Bautista, C. F. 2006. ―Believe and Betray: New and Collected Poems.‖ Manila: De La Salle
University Press.

Bethge, Wolfgang. 2007. ―Josephine Bracken - Her Bonds of Love with Jose Rizal.‖ Josephine
Bracken - Her Bonds of Love with Jose Rizal. Accessed January 03, 2017.
http://www.insightsphilippines.de/brackenengl.htm.

Brizee, Allen, J. Case Tompkins, Libby Chernouski, and Elizabeth Boyle. ―Literary Theory and
Schools of Criticism.‖ OWL Purdue Online Writing Lab. Accessed January 3, 2017.
https:// owl. english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/1/.

Brooker, Peter, Raman Selden, and Peter Widdowson. 2005. A Reader‘s Guide to
Contemporary

Literary Theory. 5th ed. Great Britain: Pearson Education.

Crockett, L. ―10 Great Critical Thinking Activities That Engage Your Students.‖ Accessed April
30, 2018. https://globaldigitalcitizen.org/10-great-critical-thinking-activities-that-engage-your-
students

Gioia, Dana and X.J. Kennedy. 2007. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction Poetry, Drama, and
Writing, Compact Edition. 5th ed. New York: Allyn & Bacon/Longman.

Knott, Deborah. ―Critical Reading Towards Critical Writing.‖ University of Toronto. Accessed
May 3, 2018.
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/reading-and-researching/criticalreading.

Kurland, Daniel. ―What Is Critical Reading?‖ Dan Kurland‘s www.criticalreading.com. Accessed

May 3, 2018. http://www.criticalreading.com/critical_reading. htm.
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Stockinger, Johann. ―José Rizal.‖ University of Vienna. May 13, 1995. Accessed May 9, 2018.
https://www.univie.ac.at/ksa/apsis/aufi/jorizal.htm.
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LESSON 5
Literary Criticism: Critical Literary Theories in Literature

TOPIC 1: Introduction to Literary Criticism

Strictly defined, “literary criticism” refers to the act of interpreting and studying
literature. A literary critic is not someone who merely evaluates the worth or quality of a piece
of literature but, rather, is someone who argues on behalf of an interpretation or understanding
of the particular meaning(s) of literary texts.

The task of a literary critic is to explain and attempt to reach a critical

understanding of what literary texts mean in terms of their aesthetic, as well as social,
political, and cultural statements and suggestions. A literary critic does more than simply
discuss or evaluate the importance of a literary text; rather, a literary critic seeks to reach
a logical and reasonable understanding of not only what a text‘s author intends for it to
mean but, also, what different cultures and ideologies render it capable of meaning.

“Literary theory,” however, refers to a particular form of literary criticism in which

particular academic, scientific, or philosophical approaches are followed in a systematic
fashion while analyzing literary texts.
For example, a psychoanalytic theorist might examine and interpret a literary text strictly
through the theoretical lens of psychoanalysis and psychology and, in turn, offer an
interpretation or reading of a text that focuses entirely on the psychological dimensions of it.

Traditional literary criticism tends not to focus on a particular aspect of (or approach to)
a literary text in quite the same manner that literary theory usually does. Literary theory
proposes particular, systematic approaches to literary texts that impose a particular line
of intellectual reasoning to it.
For example, a psychoanalytic literary theorist might take the psychological theories of
Sigmund Freud or Carl Jung and seek to reach a critical understanding of a novel such as
Ernest Hemingway‘s For Whom the Bell Tolls. A literary theorist applying, perhaps, Sigmund
Freud‘s notions of trauma to Hemingway‘s novel might explore the protagonist‘s psychology,
using Freud‘s theoretical ―tools,‖ and argue that the protagonist suffers from what Freud
termed ―shell shock‖ and that the novel, then, can reasonably be argued to be a commentary
upon the effects of war on the psychology of individuals. Literary theorists often adapt
systems of knowledge developed largely outside the realm of literary studies and impose
them upon literary texts for the purpose of discovering or developing new and unique
understandings of those texts that a traditional literary critic might not be intellectually
equipped to recognize.

 Literary criticism asks what literature is, what it does, and what it is worth.‖
(Encyclopedia Britannica)

 Literary criticism is the method used to interpret any given work of literature. The
different schools of literary criticism provide us with lenses which ultimately reveal
important aspects of the literary work.

IMPORTANCE OF LITERARY CRITICISM

 To help us solve a problem in reading
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 To enable us to form judgments about literature

 Appreciation towards a certain literary piece.
 Understanding reality from fiction
 Stimulate emotional responses
 Talking about experiences enhances our enjoyment of them
 Talking about experiences involves the search for meaning which increases our
understanding of them
 Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text
i. its structure
ii. its context: social, economic, historical
iii. what is written
iv. 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
 Because Socrates said so: "The life which is unexamined is not worth living.

Different critical approaches are like different lenses that critics use to view and talk
about art and literature. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based
on certain assumptions. Criticism can help form judgments about literature and help readers
appreciate and enjoy a literary work.

BRIEF HISTORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM

1. Classical Criticism
2. Neo-Classical Literary Criticism
3. Romantic Literary Criticism
4. Victorian Criticism
5. Modern Schools of Literary Criticism

1. CLASSICAL CRITICISM
PLATO
If art does not teach morality and ethics, then it is damaging to its audience. Plato‘s ideas
about art and literature are classified as „moral criticism’.

ARISTOTLE
“Aristotle’s Poetics” is the earliest work of literary theory.
Tragedy stimulates the emotions of emotions of pity and fear, as the audience identify with the
plight of the protagonist. The resultant effect is that of ‗purgation’, or what he calls
‗Catharsis’.

SIR PHILLIP SIDNEY

Sidney wrote Apology for Poetry in about 1580.
The function of poetry is to ―teach and delight‖.
Literature has the primary aim of giving pleasure.
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2. NEO-CLASSICAL LITERARY CRITICISM

 During the Neo-classical age (Augustan), literature was subservient to criticism.
Literature suffered from the restrictions imposed upon it by the critical conventions of
that time. Literature written in conformity to a definite code will reveal lack of freedom
and spontaneity.
 JOHN DRYDEN (1631-1700):
- The first modern English prose.
- He accepted the Classical tenets which were generally accepted in the Continent. His
test of literary worth was conformity to the practice of Greece and Rome as illustrated in
Aristotle’s Poetics and Horace’s Ars Poetica.

3. ROMANTIC LITERARY CRITICISM

 It emphasized the value of a literary work in itself, apart from any external standards.
 It ascertains the viewpoint and intentions of the writer.
 It ignored ancient authorities and the doctrines of Aristotle in assessing a literary work.

4. VICTORIAN CRITICISM
MATTHEW ARNOLD
 He considered the most important criteria used to judge the value of a poem were “high
truth” and “high seriousness”.
 Arnold advocated scientific objectivity in the study of literature. He sought for literary
criticism to remain free of any external considerations outside the work itself. The
appreciation of a literary work should be of ―the object as in itself it really is."
Psychological, historical and sociological backgrounds are irrelevant.

5. MODERN SCHOOLS OF LITERARY CRITICISM

 Formalism and New Criticism (1920s-present)
 Psychoanalytic Criticism, Jungian Criticism(1930s-present)
 Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)
 Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present)
 Structuralism/Semiotics (1920s-present)
 Post-Structuralism/Deconstruction (1966-present)
 New Historicism/Cultural Studies (1980s-present)
 Post-Colonial Criticism (1990s-present)
 Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)

Learning Activity – A MATTER OF PERSPECTIVE

Direction: Let‘s explore the notion of perspective. Much contemporary fiction violates
traditional narrative expectations by telling the story from the perspective of
different characters, rather than from the perspective of a single protagonist.
Read and follow the guidelines below. Use (a) short bond paper(s).

1. Tell the story of ―The Three Little Pigs.‖ (Short summary of the story)
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2. Now look at the children‘s book The True Story of the Three Little Pigs, as Told by A.
Wolf. What differences does that switch in perspective make?
3. Think of a family story, preferably one that is retold often and is a part of your family
mythology. In a paragraph or so, tell that story from your own perspective. Write your
version below.
4. Now think of another family member, and retell the story from his or her perspective.
Write that version below.
FAMILY MEMBER: __________
5. How can we know what the ―true‖ version of the story is?

Assessment Activity
Direction: The same literary piece/story – ―The Three Little Pigs‖, write a critical
analysis. You may consider the biographical, sociocultural, and/or linguistic
context(s) that is/are suitable to the piece. Write your answer on a short
bond paper.
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TOPIC 2: Critical Lenses

The following are lenses that one may use in critiquing literary pieces:

1. READER-RESPONSE THEORY

 Focuses on the reader (or "audience") and his or her experience of a literary work, in
contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the author or the
content and form of the work.

 Person reading behind a building column. Although literary theory has long paid some
attention to the reader‘s role in creating the meaning and experience of a literary work,
modern reader-response criticism began in the 1960s and ’70s, particularly in the US
and Germany, in work by Norman Holland, Stanley Fish, Wolfgang Iser, Hans-
Robert Jauss, Roland Barthes, and others.

 Reader-response theory recognizes the reader as an active agent who imparts “real
existence” to the work and completes its meaning through interpretation. Reader-
response criticism argues that literature should be viewed as a performing art in which
each reader creates their own, possibly unique, text-related performance. It stands in
total opposition to the theories of formalism and the New Criticism.

At its most basic level, reader-response criticism considers readers' reactions to

literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text. However, reader-response criticism
can take a number of different approaches. A critic deploying reader-response theory can use a
psychoanalytic lens, a feminist lens, or even a structuralist lens. What these different lenses
have in common when using a reader-response approach is they maintain "...that what a text
is cannot be separated from what it does" (Tyson 154).

Tyson explains that "...reader-response theorists share two beliefs:

1) that the role of the reader cannot be omitted from our understanding of literature and
2) that readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to them by an objective
literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature" (154).

In this way, reader-response theory shares common ground with some of the
deconstructionists discussed in the Post-structural area when they talk about "the death of the
author," or her displacement as the (author)itarian figure in the text.

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED:

 How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning?

 What does a phrase-by-phrase analysis of a short literary text, or a key portion of a
longer text, tell us about the reading experience prestructured by (built into) that text?
 Do the sounds/shapes of the words as they appear on the page or how they are spoken
by the reader enhance or change the meaning of the word/work?
 How might we interpret a literary text to show that the reader's response is, or is
analogous to, the topic of the story?
 19

 What does the body of criticism published about a literary text suggest about the critics
who interpreted that text and/or about the reading experience produced by that text?
(Tyson 191)

2. (RUSSIAN) FORMALISM – NEW CRITICISM

Formalist theory has dominated the American literary scene for most of the twentieth
century, and it has retained its great influence in many academic quarters. Its practitioners
advocate methodical and systematic readings of texts.

The major premises of New Criticism include: "art for art's sake," "content = form,"
and "texts exist in and for themselves."

These premises lead to the development of reading strategies that isolate and objectify
the overt structures of texts as well as authorial techniques and language usage. With these
isolated and objective readings, New Criticism aims to classify, categorize, and catalog works
according to their formal attributes.

Along the way, New Criticism wants to pull out and discuss any universal truths that
literary works might hold concerning the human condition. These truths are considered by New
Critics to be static, enduring, and applicable to all humanity. Leading new critics include I.A.
Richards, Cleanth Brooks, Northrop Frye, John Crowe Ransom, T.S. Eliot, and Roman
Jacobsen. These thinkers consider literature to be a language game in which communication
becomes semi-transparent. They reject Impressionism, moral tones, and philological studies,
and believe that written works should work mostly on the intellect. The rise of New Criticism
coincides with that of modern literature, probably because of the popularity of the "art for art's
sake" maxim.

Formalists value poetry rich in ambiguity, irony, and intention, and want to make
literary criticism a science. This last projection introduces the concept of expert readers into
interpretive theory. Current theorists tend to criticize Formalism for this and other symptoms of
narrow-mindedness; still, they cannot deny that New Criticism has left a lasting impression on
American literary scholarship. Its terminology continues as the basis for most literary education
in the United States, and other critical approaches to reading and critiquing literature depend
upon readers‘ familiarity with these terms to articulate their findings.

Note: For the deeper context of this theory, check this link:
http://www.write.armstrong.edu/handouts/Formalism.pdf\

RUSSIAN FORMALISM VS. NEW CRITICISM

As you correctly note, Russian Formalism and New Criticism have many similarities, as
both are part of the early twentieth-century formalist movement.

In both schools of thought, the text itself is paramount and is studied independently of
its context or author's intent. Literary language is thought of as distinct from ordinary
language, and the form and structure of the text are considered to provide more meaning
 20

than the content itself. These schools of criticism are most commonly applied to poetry and
encourage very close reading.

However, there are several distinct differences between the two schools of thought.

 In Russian Formalism, a differentiation is made between form and content, whereas

New Criticism does not make such a differentiation, maintaining that texts are
unified through their patterns, literary devices, themes, etc.

 Russian Formalism also affords some importance to the text's language and structure,
whereas New Criticism considers a text to be completely self-contained,
autonomous of its fabric.

 Furthermore, in Russian Formalism, a process called "dematerialization" was

privileged, wherein reality of fact is created through the use of language.

3. HISTORICISM – NEW HISTORICISM

Historicism is a process that examines the impact of local factors on regional

developments. In the development of Historicism there has come to be two distinct "types" of
Historicist thought: old and new historicism.

Old Historicism
 Explains literary works in terms of the "influence" of history upon them.
 This influence might take the shape of wars, social upheavals or equally cultural
traditions.
 An Old Historicist therefore would ask such questions of a work as:
- What are the author's political inclinations?
- Do we see any reflections on historical events in this work?
- What aspects of culture are important to this work?
These questions would identify the influence of history on the production of the work.

New Historicism

 Starts off from debating the concept of history and knowledge by asking how we receive
our knowledge of history and questioning its veracity as an objective fact.

 New Historicism therefore argues that what we call "history" is not necessarily
"true", but that history is actually a narrative which will exclude some event and
characters just as much as it will include others.

 New Historicism therefore identifies oppressed voices and allows them to have
their say in history. -- These oppressed voices might be women, or working class, or
ethnic minorities (such as slaves).
 21

 New Historicists go beyond this, however, by arguing that, like Old Historicists, all texts
are formed by history. The crucial difference lies in that New Historicists believe that the
history that influences texts is likewise, only just another text that needs to be
interpreted and probed.

4. MARXISM
Focuses on how literary works are products of the economic and ideological
determinants specific to that era. Critics examine the relationship of a literary product to the
actual economic and social reality of its time and place (Class stratification, class relations,
and dominant ideology).
Based on the theories of Karl Marx (and so influenced by philosopher Georg Wilhelm
Friedrich Hegel), this school concerns itself with class differences, economic and otherwise,
as well as the implications and complications of the capitalist system: "Marxism attempts
to reveal the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our
experience" (Tyson 277).
Theorists working in the Marxist tradition, therefore, are interested in answering the
overarching question, whom does it [the work, the effort, the policy, the road, etc.] benefit? The
elite? The middle class? Marxist critics are also interested in how the lower or working
classes are oppressed - in everyday life and in literature.
QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED:

 Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed, etc.?

 What is the social class of the author?
 Which class does the work claim to represent?
 What values does it reinforce?
 What values does it subvert?
 What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and those it
portrays?
 What social classes do the characters represent?
 How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?

5. PSYCOANALYTIC CRITICISM

 Adopts the methods of "reading" employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret
texts.
 It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and
anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author's own
neuroses.
 One may psychoanalyze a particular character within a literary work, but it is usually
assumed that all such characters are projections of the author's psyche.
 22

One interesting facet of this approach is that it validates the importance of literature, as
it is built on a literary key for the decoding. Freud himself wrote, "The dream-thoughts which
we first come across as we proceed with our analysis often strike us by the unusual form in
which they are expressed; they are not clothed in the prosaic language usually employed by
our thoughts, but are on the contrary represented symbolically by means of similes and
metaphors, in images resembling those of poetic speech" (26).

Like psychoanalysis itself, this critical endeavor seeks evidence of unresolved

emotions, psychological conflicts, guilts, ambivalences, and so forth within what may well
be a disunified literary work. The author's own childhood traumas, family life, sexual conflicts,
fixations, and such will be traceable within the behavior of the characters in the literary work.
But psychological material will be expressed indirectly, disguised, or encoded (as in dreams)
through principles such as "symbolism" (the repressed object represented in disguise),
"condensation" (several thoughts or persons represented in a single image), and
"displacement" (anxiety located onto another image by means of association).

Despite the importance of the author here, psychoanalytic criticism is similar to New
Criticism in not concerning itself with "what the author intended." But what the
author never intended (that is, repressed) is sought. The unconscious material has been
distorted by the censoring conscious mind.

NOTE:
Read more of Freud‘s stages of Psychosexual Development.

6. FEMINISM

 Focuses on female representation in literature, paying attention to female points of view,

concerns, and values.
 Three underlying assumptions in this approach are:
 Western Society is pervasively patriarchal, male centered and controlled, and is
organized in such a way as to subordinate women;
 the concept of gender is socially constructed, not biologically determined;
and
 that patriarchal ideology pervades those writings which have been considered
―great works of literature.‖

A. The first wave (1830’s – early 1900’s): Women’s fight for equal contract and property
rights

Often taken for granted, women in the late 19th to early 20th centuries realized that they
must first gain political power (including the right to vote) to bring about change was how to
fuel the fire. Their political agenda expanded to issues concerning sexual, reproductive and
economic matters. The seed was planted that women have the potential to contribute just as
much if not more than men.
 23

B. The second wave (1960’s-1980’s): Broadening the debate

Coming off the heels of World War II, the second wave of feminism focused on the
workplace, sexuality, family and reproductive rights. During a time when the United States was
already trying to restructure itself, it was perceived that women had met their equality goals
with the exception of the failure of the ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (which has
still yet to be passed).

Misconceptions…

This time is often dismissed as offensive, outdated and obsessed with middle class
white women‘s problems. Conversely, many women during the second wave were initially part
of the Black Civil Rights Movement, Anti-Vietnam Movement, Chicano Rights Movement, and
Asian-American Civil Rights Movement, Gay and Lesbian Movement and many other groups
fighting for equality. Many of the women supporters of the aforementioned groups felt their
voices were not being heard and felt that in order to gain respect in co-ed organizations they
first needed to address gender equality concerns.

Women cared so much about these civil issues that they wanted to strengthen their
voices by first fighting for gender equality to ensure they would be heard.

C. The third wave (1990’s – early 2000’s): The ―micropolitics‖ of gender equality

Unlike the former movements, the term ‗feminist‘ becomes less critically received by the
female population due to the varying feminist outlooks. There are the ego-cultural feminists,
the radicals, the liberal/reforms, the electoral, academic, ecofeminists… the list goes on.

The main issues were prefaced by the work done by the previous waves of women. The
fight continued to vanquish the disparities in male and female pay and the reproductive rights
of women. Work continues to end violence against women in our nation as well as abroad.
This wave was about acceptance and a true understanding of the term ‗feminism‘.

7. GENDER STUDIES (LGBT – QUEER THEORY)

 Gender studies and queer theory explore issues of sexuality, power, and
marginalized populations (woman as other) in literature and culture. Much of the work
in gender studies and queer theory, while influenced by feminist criticism, emerges from
post-structural interest in fragmented, de-centered knowledge building (Nietzsche,
Derrida, Foucault), language (the breakdown of sign-signifier), and psychoanalysis
(Lacan).
 Many critics working with gender and queer theory are interested in the breakdown of
binaries such as male and female, the in-betweens (also following Derrida's interstitial
knowledge building). For example, gender studies and queer theory maintains that
cultural definitions of sexuality and what it means to be male and female are in flux:
"...the distinction between "masculine" and "feminine" activities and behavior is
constantly changing, so that women who wear baseball caps and fatigues...can be
perceived as more piquantly sexy by some heterosexual men than those women who
wear white frocks and gloves and look down demurely" (Richter 1437).
 24

 Moreover, Richter reminds us that as we learn more about our genetic structure, the
biology of male/female becomes increasingly complex and murky: "even the physical
dualism of sexual genetic structures and bodily parts breaks down when one considers
those instances - XXY syndromes, natural sexual bimorphisms, as well as surgical
transsexuals - that defy attempts at binary classification" (1437).

QUESTIONS TO BE ASKED:

 What elements of the text can be perceived as being masculine (active, powerful) and
feminine (passive, marginalized) and how do the characters support these traditional
roles?
 What sort of support (if any) is given to elements or characters who question the
masculine/feminine binary? What happens to those elements/characters?
 What elements in the text exist in the middle, between the perceived
masculine/feminine binary? In other words, what elements exhibit traits of both
(bisexual)?
 How does the author present the text? Is it a traditional narrative? Is it secure and
forceful? Or is it more hesitant or even collaborative?
 What are the politics (ideological agendas) of specific gay, lesbian, or queer works, and
how are those politics revealed in...the work's thematic content or portrayals of its
characters?
 What are the poetics (literary devices and strategies) of a specific lesbian, gay, or queer
works?
 What does the work contribute to our knowledge of queer, gay, or lesbian experience
and history, including literary history?
 How is queer, gay, or lesbian experience coded in texts that are by writers who are
apparently homosexual?
 What does the work reveal about the operations (socially, politically, psychologically)
homophobic?
 How does the literary text illustrate the problematics of sexuality and sexual "identity,"
that is the ways in which human sexuality does not fall neatly into the separate
categories defined by the words homosexual and heterosexual?

QUEER THEORY – Key Concept:

One of the key concepts in queer theory is the idea of ―heteronormativity,‖ which
pertains to ―the institutions, structures of understanding, and practical orientations that make
heterosexuality seem not only coherent—that is, organized as a sexuality—but also privileged‖
(Berlant). Heteronormativity is a worldview that promotes heterosexuality as the normal and/or
preferred sexual orientation, and is reinforced in society through the institutions of marriage,
taxes, employment, and adoption rights, among many others. Heteronormativity is a form of
power and control that applies pressure to both straight and gay individuals, through
institutional arrangements and accepted social norms.
 25

Conclusion

Literary criticism does not require that we all agree about what a work of literature
means, how it works, or whether it’s effective. We don‘t even have to agree with any
expert‘s judgment. We have only two obligations when we assert our opinions.

 First, we are obligated to explain as clearly as possible the reasons behind our ideas
and back them up with evidence from the actual text we‘re discussing.
 Second, we are obligated to listen respectfully to critics‘ ideas in the hope that we can
learn from learning how others respond to works of literature.

Learning Activity – FINISH ME PLEASE

Direction: Finish the following sentences. Explain your answer. (Short bond paper)

Finish these sentences:

From the social-class perspective, The Great Gatsby is a novel about . . .

From a gender perspective, The Great Gatsby is a novel about . . .

Assessment Activity - Looking Through Lenses: Our First Look

Direction: Choose one (1) book that you have read. Do the following guidelines and
answer the following questions. Include a picture of the book. (Use short
bond paper)

1. In three or four sentences please summarize the plot of the book.

2. What were some of the most important things you noticed about the text before we
read our discussion of lenses?
3. Which two lenses do you think might be most useful to apply to this text?
4. Which lenses do you think might not be particularly useful? Why?
5. Now try applying the two lenses that you selected in #3.
 26

RVM INTEGRATION QUESTIONS:

1. In different circumstances of life, how these different critical lenses help you? Which one
you consider as the most helpful in dealing different interactions you have, as a student?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________

2. Why do the other‘s critics matter? How important the other perspectives in making
judgment?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

RVM INTEGRATION QUESTIONS:

1. How can the conventional forms of Literature (magazine, newspaper, biography, etc.) help
the individuals of the society in doing their daily tasks and works and in serving the Lord?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
____________

2. How can you utilize the new emerging 21st century genres of Literature in your growth in
different aspects of life as a child of God?
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________
___________
 27

Reference List:

https://resources.saylor.org/wwwresources/archived/site/wp-
content/uploads/2011/09/ENGL301-An-Introduction-to-Literary-Criticism-and-Theory.pdf
https://libguides.uta.edu/literarycriticism
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/reader-response-criticism-suggested-
replacement/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_sc
hools_of_criticism/reader_response_criticism.html
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/introliterature/chapter/new-criticism-suggested-
replacement/

https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_sc
hools_of_criticism/marxist_criticism.html
https://www.progressivewomensleadership.com/a-brief-history-the-four-waves-of-feminism/
https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/subject_specific_writing/writing_in_literature/literary_theory_and_sc
hools_of_criticism/gender_studies_and_queer_theory.html
https://guides.library.illinois.edu/queertheory/background