Any work with a unique aesthetic

quality?

Texts that have stood the test of time?

Works of the imagination/creative

What is literature? writing?

Works with a particular set of qualities—

e.g., plot, character, tone, setting, etc.?

Works that emphasize universal themes

(i.e., transcend the merely social or
political)?

Works that fit the parameters of literary

genres: poem, essay, short story, novel?

Anything that is written?

What is literary theory?

 The capacity to generalize about phenomena

and to develop concepts that form the basis
for interpretation and analysis—in this
instance, of a “literary” text.
What is literary criticism?

The disciplined application of theoretical

principles for the purpose of analyzing,
interpreting, and evaluating literary texts.
 THE 4 CRITICAL VARIABLES of
LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

1. The World

2. The Author

Beyond the Real Other

3. The Text
World World Texts
Text = Symbol, Text = ITS CONTEXT Text = Ideologically
Archetype Objective reality constructed language

4. The Reader
Formalism: the TEXT (as art) Gender Studies: WORLD/author/text/reader

Structuralism: the TEXT (as language system) Postcolonial: AUTHOR/world/text/reader

Psychoanalytic: AUTHOR/READER/text Marxist: WORLD/text

Reader Response: READER/TEXT/community Territorial: TEXT/[reader/ author/world])

of readers w/shared values
SOME TRADITIONAL APPROACHES

 Historical—author’s historical moment is key

to understanding a literary text
 Biographical—author’s personal experiences
are central to understanding the text
 Social realism (?)—social transparency is
key to understanding the text…
 Hippolyte Taine (1828-1893)

Applying the scientific method to art—assumes

language is factual, reality is absolute, the “truth” can
be verified.
Taine’s three major factors for interpreting a text:
Race—i.e., national characteristics of the artist’s
historical place and time
Milieu—i.e., sum total of artist’s experience
Moment—intellectual & philosophical currents of artist’s
historical place and time
 Wellek and Warren
Theory of Literature (1949)

Key issues to understanding a text:

The writer’s heredity & environment (Taine’s
“milieu”)
The fictional world of the text vis-à-vis the
world outside the text (Taine’s “race” &
“moment”
The audience for which the text was intended
Irresolvable problem with traditional (pre-1970)
social approaches to literary interpretation

Practitioners assumed that historical, biographical,

and social information could be accurately gathered
and verified. They viewed language as transparent,
facts as reliable, history as objective.
Poststructuralist theories about the ideological
appropriation of language by dominant groups &
postmodernist disillusionment with objective reality
both undermine old-style criticism.
NEW CRITICISM*

 Meaning resides in the text—not in reader,

author, or world
 Texts may contain numerous messages,
but must have a unifying central theme
created by the perfect union of all artistic
elements.
 Texts are artistic creations
 Close reading is the basis of new critical
analysis
 The methodology for finding meaning is
clear-cut; the tools are unique to literary
analysis

*one type of formalism

READER RESPONSE

Text has many interpretations—text & reader interact to

create meaning

Meaning ultimately resides in the reader’s mind

or the consensual “mind” of a community of readers
(this class, for example)

A text’s truth is relative

Readers may reach the same conclusions about a

work--but approach the task quite differently
STRUCTURALISM

 Meaning resides in the structure of language, not in

art nor in the reader’s mind
 Scientific approach to literary analysis:
structure of language as a logical sign system
determines meaning
 Two levels of language: langue (“the King’s English”)
& parole (everyday speech)
 Interpret a text or part of a text by taking its language
apart (study word derivations, sentence syntax, etc.)
POSTSTRUCTURAL
SOCIAL CRITICISM
Texts—composed of language, an unstable sign Jacques Derrida
system that always “defers” meaning.
Truth is constructed, not “given,” so there’s no
such thing as A correct interpretation
 Look for an apparent meaning of some aspect of
the text ; show how the text undermines
(deconstructs) it; look again & show how the text
undermines the latest interpretation, etc.
Look for oppositions: good vs. evil, e.g. Show how
the text undermines first one, then the other so that
good and evil are exposed as “empty” concepts
NEW HISTORICISM

 Literature is one among many socially constructed texts. If there is

a difference, it’s the intentional use of the imagination to convey
ideas.
 History is every bit as subjective as intentionally imaginative texts
 Purpose of analyzing literature is to locate hidden social
messages, especially those that promote oppression.
 Texts have no final interpretation
 Language, though socially constructed, is stable enough to be
useful.
 Find a small intriguing or odd piece of the text and interpret it by
comparing it to contemporary sign systems—magazines,
newspapers, fads, laws. Try to locate uses & abuses of power.
POSTCOLONIALISM

 Meaning resides in text, history, and ideology

 Literature is a political tool—those in power
decide what is “art”
 Truth is relative
Study the author’s (and reader’s) life & times; locate
tensions between conflicting cultures; explore the “double
consciousness” of colonized & post colonized writers;
observe how colonizers “refashion” the colonized;
MARXISM

 Meaning resides in text, history, & ideology: messages of

oppression & class conflict
 Texts are commodities, not timeless works of art
 Truths are socially constructed.

Look for evidence of oppressive ideologies of the dominant

social group; look for uses & abuses of power

What workers look like to a capitalist

FEMINIST CRITICISM
Meaning is socially constructed.
Texts have more than one interpretation
Texts are commodities (products of
society)
Truth is relative, highly dependent on
arbitrary categories of difference, esp.
those based on “sex” and “gender”
Look for systems of containment; for evidence
of repression, oppression, suppression,
subversion, & rebellion in texts by women;
study women’s unique ways of understanding
and writing about the human condition.
Territorialism

 Possessions (objects of desire) are metaphors for who we are

or how we wish to be perceived—aspects of the “self.”
 Possessions may be tangible or intangible (my car or my idea,
e.g.)
 They occupy mental space: cognitive, affective, and conative.
 These spaces strongly resemble territories—with rights of
ownership, markers, boundaries, rules of “in” and “out,”
defensive strategies, etc.

 Look for territorial behaviors; determine the “object(s) of desire”;

what aspect of self is in play? Who owns the object? Who
wants it? Why? Identify the territorial act: acquisition,
management, or defense? How does this information improve
our understanding of the text?