21ST CENTURY LITERATURE FROM Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893) READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

THE PHILIPPINES AND THE WORLD Applying the scientific method to art—assumes language is Two Important Ideas in Reader-Response
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factual, reality is absolute, the “truth” can be verified.  An individual reader’s interpretation usually
*CRITICAL APPROACHES TO Taine’s three major factors for interpreting a text: changes over time.
LITERATURE  Race—i.e., national characteristics of the artist’s  Readers from different generations and different
Literary Theories & Criticisms historical place and time time periods interpret texts differently.
 Milieu—i.e., sum total of artist’s experience Ultimately… How do YOU feel about what you have read?
WHAT IS LITERATURE?  Moment—intellectual & philosophical currents of What do YOU think it means?
 Works with a particular set of qualities artist’s historical place and time
(e.g., plot, character, tone, setting, etc.?) *THE FORMALIST APPROACH
 Works that emphasize universal themes Wellek and Warren Theory of Literature (1949)
(i.e., transcend the merely social or political)? Key issues to understanding a text: Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a literary
 Works of the imagination/creative writing?  The writer’s heredity & environment (Taine’s work to determine its meaning, focusing on literary
 Texts that have stood the test of time? “milieu”) elements and how they work to create meaning.
 Works that fit the parameters of literary genres:  The fictional world of the text vis-à-vis the world Examines a text as independent from its time period,
poem, essay, short story, novel? outside the text (Taine’s “race” & “moment” social setting, and author’s background. A text is an
Anything that is written?  The audience for which the text was intended independent entity.
------------------------------------------------------------------------ Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the
WHAT IS LITERARY THEORY? CRITICAL APPROACHES TO CONSIDER
The capacity to generalize about phenomena and to effects of literary elements and techniques on the text.
Literary Theories and Criticisms
develop concepts that form the basis for interpretation and Two Major Principles of Formalism
analysis—in this instance, of a “literary” text.  Reader-Response Criticism
 A literary text exists independent of any particular
 Formalist Criticism reader and, in a sense, has a fixed meaning.
CRITICAL APPROACHES TO THE STUDY OF  Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism  The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and
LITERATURE  Sociological Criticism “universal.”
- Marxist Criticism
Critical Approaches are different perspectives we - Feminist/Gender Criticism *THE PSYCHOLOGICAL/ PSYCHOANALYTIC
consider when looking at a piece of literature. APPROACH
 Biographical Criticism
They seek to give us answers to these questions, in
 New Historicist Criticism Psychological Criticism views a text as a revelation of its
addition to aiding us in interpreting literature.
------------------- author’s mind and personality. It is based on the work of
*THE READER-RESPONSE APPROACH Sigmund Freud.
1. What do we read?
2. Why do we read? Reader-Response Criticism asserts that a great deal of  Also focuses on the hidden motivations of literary
3. How do we read? meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it. characters
 Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our
WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM? perception of meaning in a text (how we feel at the  Looks at literary characters as a reflection of the
beginning vs. the end) writer
The disciplined application of theoretical principles  Deals more with the process of creating meaning *THE SOCIOLOGICAL APPROACH
for the purpose of analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating and experiencing a text as we read. A text is an
literary texts. Sociological criticism argues that social contexts (the
experience, not an object.
social environment) must be considered when analyzing a
 The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s
------------------------------------------------------------------------ imagination.
text.  A reader can understand a writer’s preoccupation
by studying the way, they apply and modify their own life
Focuses on the values of a society and how those views are experiences in their works.
reflected in a text
*THE NEW HISTORICIST APPROACH
Emphasizes the economic, political, and cultural issues
within literary texts New Historicist Criticism argues that every literary
work is a product of its time and its world.
Core Belief: Literature is a reflection of its society.
New Historicism:
The Marxist Approach  Provides background information necessary to
understand how literary texts were perceived in their
Marxist Criticism emphasizes economic and social
time.
conditions. It is based on the political theory of Karl Marx
 Shows how literary texts reflect ideas and attitudes of
and Friedrich Engels.
the time in which they were written.
Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics,
and money in literary texts New historicist critics often compare the language in
contemporary documents and literary texts to reveal
Marxist Criticism examines literature to see how it reflects
cultural assumptions and values in the text.
 The way in which dominant groups (typically, the
majority) exploit the subordinate groups (typically, the REMEMBER…
minority)
 We will never look at a text STRICTLY from one
 The way in which people become alienated from one
standpoint or another, ignoring all other views.
another through power, money, and politics
That is antithetical to what we are trying to do.
The Feminist Approach
Feminist/Gender Criticism is concerned with the role,  We should always keep our focus on the text and
position, and influence of women in a literary text. use these critical approaches to clarify our
understanding of a text and develop an
 Asserts that most “literature” throughout time has interpretation of it.
been written by men, for men.
 Examines the way that the female consciousness is
depicted by both male and female writers.

*THE BIOGRAPHICAL APPROACH

Biographical Criticism argues that we must take an
author’s life and background into account when we study a
text.
Three Benefits:
 Facts about an author’s experience can help a
reader decide how to interpret a text.
 A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing
a writer’s struggles or difficulties in creating that
text.