LITERRARY CRITICISM
considerations are irrelevant.
 Literary criticism is the practice
of studying, evaluating, and
interpreting works of literature.
 Similar to literary theory,
which provides a broader
philosophical framework for
how to analyze literature,
literary criticism offers readers
new ways to understand an
author’s work.
PURPOSE OF LITERARY
CRITICISM
 The purpose of literary
criticism is to broaden a
reader’s understanding of an
author’s work by summarizing,
interpreting, and exploring its
value.
 The practice of literary
criticism creates space for
readers to better understand the
beauty and complexity of the
world through literature.
Traditional Critical Approaches
1. Formalist Criticism
 Placed at the center because it
deals primarily with the text
and not with any of the outside
considerations such as author,
the real world, audience, or
other literature. Meaning,
formalists argue, is inherent in
the text. Because meaning is
determinant, all other
2. Deconstructionist Criticism
 Subject texts to careful, formal
analysis; however, they reach
an opposite conclusion: there is
no meaning in language. They
believe that a piece of writing
does not have one meaning and
the meaning itself is dependent
on the reader.
3. Historical Criticism
 relies heavily on the author and
his world. In the historical
view, it is important to
understand the author and his
world in order to understand his
intent and to make sense of his
work. In this view, the work is
informed by the author’s
beliefs, prejudices, time, and
history, and to fully understand
the work, we must understand
the author and his age.
4. Inter-textual Criticism
 Concerned with comparing the
work in question to other
literature, to get a broader
picture. One may compare a
piece of work to another of the
same author, same literary
movement or same historical
background.
5. Reader-response Criticism
  Concerned with how the work
is viewed by the audience. In
this approach, the reader creates
meaning, not the author or the
work. Once the work is
published, the author is no
longer relevant.
6. Mimetic Criticism
 Seeks to see how well a work
accords with the real world.
How does a piece of literature
accurately portrays the truth is
the main contention of this
literary approach.
7. Psychological Criticism
 Aside from the characters, the
author and even the reader may
be criticized as why they
exhibit certain behavior during
the actual writing and reading
experience.
8. Archetypal Criticism
 Assumes that there is a
collection of symbols, images,
characters, and motifs (i.e.
archetypes) that evokes
basically the same response in
all people which seem to bind
all people regardless of culture
and race worldwide.
9. Marxist Criticism
 Concerns with the analysis of
the clash of opposing social
classes in society, namely; the
ruling class (bourgeoisie) and
the working class (proletariat)
as it shaped the events that
transpired in the story.
10. Feminist Criticism
 Concerns with the woman’s
role in society as portrayed
through texts. It typically
analyzes the plight of woman
as depicted in the story.
Generally, it criticizes the
notion of woman as a construct
through literature.
How to write a Literary Criticism
1. Read
 Read the literary work
carefully. Note down and mark
the important events, situations,
dialogues.
2. Understand the title
 If you are given a specific title,
understand that title properly
before attempting anything
else. If you are not given a title,
decide the particular aspect you
want to focus on, rather than
criticizing the whole work.
 When you are writing a literary
criticism, you are expected to
answer a certain question or
make a certain claim about the
literary work. You are not
 usually expected to write about
each and every aspect of the
novel.
For Example:
What is the position of
LGBTQ members in the
song “Sirena” by Gloc 9?
 This question explains what
aspects you should analyze on
your criticism. So you don’t
have to talk about all the
components in the novel, only
the important elements that are
relevant to the portrayal of
women.
3. Select Relevant Theories
 Check if you can apply any
literary theory you know to the
above question. Determine
what aspects of the question
can be connected with literary
theories.
4. Find Evidence
 If you are not sure about what
information should be included
in the criticism, skim through
the work. The notes and
highlighted sections from the
earlier reading will refresh your
memory.
5. Formulate an Answer
 After you have enough
evidence to answer the
question, organize these facts
and information in a proper
manner.
 Suppose you have gathered
evidence to answer the
question, you can structure
your answer according to
different incidents or events in
the story, or you can structure it
based on different characters.
Make sure you have used the
most important facts that reflect
the position of LGBTQA
member in the song.
SELF AND PEER ASSESSMENT
OF A LITERARY TEXT’S
CREATIVE ADAPTATION
SELF-ASSESSMENT
 It is a process where students
are directed to assess their
performance against pre-
determined standard criteria. It
involves the students in goal
setting and more informal,
dynamic self-regulation and
self-reflection.
Peer-Assessment
 It is the assessment of students'
work by other students of equal
status. Students often undertake
peer assessment in conjunction
with formal self-assessment.
They reflect on their own
efforts and enrich this reflection
 by exchanging feedback on
their own and their peers' work.
What is the importance of Peer
and Self-Assessment?
1. It encourages you to take
responsibility for your learning
by encouraging engagement
with assessment criteria and
reflection of your own
performance and that of your
peers.
Through this, you can learn
from your previous mistakes,
identify your strengths and
weaknesses and learn to target
your learning accordingly.
2. It makes you more active in
your learning which in this
way, it can help to change the
perception that learning is a
passive process whereby
students simply listen and
absorb information for the sake
of compliance.
In this way, students are more
likely to engage with their
learning as participants instead
of just spectators.
3. It enables you to better
understand assessment
expectations and work towards
improving your own
performance.
Getting yourself more actively
involved in your assessment
can make assessment itself a
means by which you can
develop.
Literature
 Literature expresses human
thoughts, feelings, sensations,
and imaginations. It recreates
situations, relates experiences
and records events and history.
Literary Adaptation
 is a process of adapting a
literary source (e.g. a novel,
short story, and poem) to
another genre or medium
such as a film, stage play, or
even video games.
What do we want in a literary
adaptation?
According to Watts (2020) in the
article entitled “What do we want in a
literary adaptation?”, there is
complexity and difficulty to commit
as regards to determining: What
makes a good adaptation? Which
matters more: the quality of the film
itself, or how “accurate” it is to the
book it’s based on? Literary text and
literary adaptation are different art
forms such as in the case for instance
between novels and films. Instead, she
noticed four different types or
“levels” of adaptation.
1.The Museum adaptation
 This type is concerned with
preserving every possible detail
of the book exactly how it
exists in the book, just
transferred to the film as a
medium.
2. The Artful adaptation
 It is concerned with finding
balance between being true to
its own as a work of art.
Accordingly, it is like a
conversation between the book
and audience. Rather than
preserving every detail like a
museum, an Artful Adaptation
finds the essential elements of
the book and interprets them in
ways that meaningful for the
audience.
3. The Loose Adaptation
 This type is concerned about
keeping a few elements or
some semblance of the premise
of the book it’s based on, but
then more or less does its own
thing with them. Often, this
type of adaptation is discussed
in negative terms, as if its lack
of exact similarity to its source
material is somehow a failure.
4. The Transformative Adaptation
 This type of adaptation seeks to
highlight the timelessness and
universality of their source
works’ messages and themes.
Representative Texts and Authors
from Asia
Asia, the largest continent in the
world, has a vast literary tradition in
terms of scope and length of
existence. Literature in the Eastern
hemisphere prospered and mirrored
the developments in religion, war, and
politics.
East Asia
China
 Du fu
- Also known as Tu fu
- The greatest Chinese poet
of all time.
- Wrote the poem “The
Ballad of the Army Cats”
which is about conscription
and with hidden satire that
speaks of the noticeable
luxury of the court.
 Li Po
- Also known as Li Bai,
 - a Chinese poet who is a
competitor of Du Fu as
China’s greatest poet.
- His works are known for
its conversational tone and
vivid imagery.
- Wrote the poem “Alone
and Drinking under the
Moon” that deals with the
ancient social custom of
drinking
Korea
 Ch’oe Nam-Seon
- A leading member of the
modern literary movement
and became notable in
pioneering modern Korean
poetry.
- Wrote the poem "The
Ocean to the Youth” The
poem aimed to produce
cultural reform.
 Yi Kwang-su
- He was also the one who
launched the modern literary
movement together with
Ch’oe Nam-Seon.
- Wrote the first Korean
novel “The Heartless”. It
was a description of the
crossroads at which Korea
found itself, stranded
between tradition and
modernity, and undergoing
conflict between social
realities and traditional
ideals.
Japan
 Abe Kobo
- Also known by the
pseudonym of Abe
Kimifusa.
- Wrote the best-known play
"Tomodachi" (Friends)
which is a story, with dark
humor, reveals the
relationship with the other,
and exposes the peculiarity
of human relations in the
present age.
 Kimitake Hiraoka
- Also known by the pen
name Mishima Yukio,
- The most important
Japanese novelist of the 20th
century.
- He was one of the finalists
of the 1963 Nobel Prize for
Literature
- He wrote the novel “The
Temple of the Golden
Pavilion”
Middle East
 Abbas Mahmoud al-
Aqqad
- An Egyptian poet,
journalist, and literary critic,
an innovator of the 20th-
century Arabic poetry and
criticism.
 - He became famous for his
Abqariyat series, a seven-
book compilation that
covers the life of seven of
the most important Sahabah
(the disciples and followers
of Muhammad).
 Taha Hussein
- He was an Egyptian
novelist, essayist, critic, and
an outstanding figure in
Egyptian literature.
- His nickname was “The
Dean of Arabic Literature”.
- He wrote the novelized
autobiography “The Days”,
that talks about his
childhood in a small village,
and his studies in Egypt and
France.
South and Southeast Asia
 Dhanpat Rai Srivastava
- Also known by his
pseudonym Prem Chand
- Wrote the most popular
Hindi novel “Godaan” (Cow
Donation) and was about the
socio-economic deprivation
as well as the exploitation of
the village poor.
 Raja Rao
- He is an Indian writer of
Central Asia
novels and short stories in
the English language.
- His famous novel “The
Serpent and the Rope”
- It won him the Sahitya
Akademi Award. He was
also rewarded the Neustadt
International Prize for
Literature.
 Nguyen Du
- The father of Vietnamese
literature
- Wrote the epic poem “The
Tale of Kieu” that recounts
the life, trials, and
tribulations of Thuy Kieu, a
beautiful and talented young
woman, who has to sacrifice
herself to save her family.
She sells herself into
marriage with a middle-aged
man, not knowing that he is
a pimp, and is forced into
prostitution.
 Chart Korbjitti
- The most successful Thai
writer. National Artist in
Literature (2004)
- He was recognized by his
publication of his novel
Khamphiphaksa (The
Judgment).
- His novel was named as
Book of the Year by
Thailand's Literature
Council.
 Abdullah Qodiriy
- Known by the pseudonym
Julqunboy.
 - One of the most influential
Uzbek writers of the 20th
century and Soviet
playwright, poet, writer, and
literary translator.
- Known for his historical
novel O’tgan kunlar (Days
Gone By), the first Uzbek
full-length novel.
 Mukhtar Auez-uli
- He was an early Soviet
Kazakh writer
- Won recognition for the
long novel “Abay” which is
based on the life and poetry
of Kunanbay-uli, and for his
plays, including Änglik-
Kebek.