Literary Theory

Different Ways to Read

What is
Literary
THeory?
Have you ever felt this way?
“Even when I had done the assigned reading, I was often tongue-tied and embarrassed
when called on. What was unclear to me was what I was supposed to say about
literary works, and why.”

--Gerald Graff, “Disliking Books at an Early Age”

Text
(Now What??)
Literary
theory offers
us different
“Lenses”
through which
we can read a
Different Literary
Theories offer us
different things to pay
attention to in a text,
and different questions
Literary A systematic approach to reading and

Theory: interpreting a work of literature, often

drawn from fields outside literature
(e.g. psychology, political and social
ideologies like feminism or Marxism)
*Note: in this slideshow, you will often see
the words “theory” and “criticism” used
synonymously. What’s the difference?

Theory refers to a particular school of

thought that you use to generate an
interpretation.

Criticism is what happens when you apply

that theory. It’s the interpretation that the
theory allows you to generate.

So if you are a “Feminist Critic,” that means

you approach literature from a background
 Author

Text

World Reader
Text
Formalis
m
● Formalism is a type of criticism that focuses solely on the text
itself

● Formalists treat the text like it exists in a vacuum, with no

author, no history

● Things a formalist might pay attention to:

○ Symbolism
○ Motif
○ Structure
○ Repetition or Pattern The text, the whole text, and nothing but the
text
● Questions a formalist might ask:
○ What is the effect this flashback has on the text as a
whole?
○ What is the significance of the repetition of the word
“yes”?
Author

Text
Biographical
Criticism
● Biographical criticism focuses on the relationship between the
author and the text

● Biographical critics look for connections between an author’s

life and his/her work

● Things a biographical critic might pay attention to:

○ Commonalities or differences between a character’s life
and an author’s life

● Questions a biographical critic might ask:

○ Why would a war vet like Salinger avoid talking about
the war in a novel set in the post-war period?
Biographical criticism has often informed readings of J.D.
Salinger’s novel The Catcher in the Rye
PsychoAnalytic
Criticism
● Psychoanalytic Criticism examines literature and art as a
manifestation of the human subconscious.

● This theory believes that the major forces leading to the

creation of a text are hidden and must be uncovered.

● Things a psychoanalytic critic might pay attention to:

○ What subconscious fears or insecurities might have
caused the author to create this scene?
○ What figure from the author’s past does this character
represent?

Sigmund Freud’s theories on the subconscious mind

form the basis for this theory.
Text

Reader
Reader Response
theory
● Reader Response theory focuses on the relationship between a text and its
reader.

● This theory depends on subjectivity.

● Reader Response critics assume that the text effectively does not exist until
the reader brings his or her thoughts, life experiences, assumptions, etc. to it

● Things a Reader Response critic might pay attention to:

○ Commonalities or differences in life experiences, attitudes, beliefs
between reader and text

● Questions a Reader Response critic might ask:

It’s just you and the text. FYI, this is the typical
○ How does my experience of being a teenager in love compare with theoretical approach to middle school book reports
Romeo and Juliet’s?
 Text

World
New
historicism
● New Historical criticism focuses on unearthing the
stories of people who have been oppressed and silenced

● New Historical critics often have to “read against the

grain” of the text

● Things a New Historicist might pay attention to:

○ The perspective of minor characters rather than
the narrator
○ Cultural context

● Questions a New Historicist might ask:

○ What are the social pressures that would cause
Ophelia to commit suicide in Hamlet?
Ever heard the phrase, “History is written by the
victors”? Yeah, not if you’re a New Historicist
New Historicism is one of the richest, most
generative schools of theory of the past
several decades.

It has given birth to a variety of offshoot

schools of literary theory based on the
interests of individual groups that have been
silenced, including:
 Feminist/Gender
theory
● Feminist/gender criticism focuses on how traditional and/or
stereotypical gender roles impact the way a text was written or is read.

● Feminist/gender critics try to be aware of hidden aspects of and

assumptions about gender and sexuality.

● Things a feminist/gender critic might pay attention to:

○ The genders of major characters
○ An author’s intentional or unintentional assumptions about a
particular gender

● Questions a feminist/gender critic might ask:

○ How might my reading of Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye change “We can ALL do it”
if Holden were a girl?
 PostColonial/Race
Theory
● Postcolonial/race theory challenges the reader to recognize the stories of
people groups who were marginalized or oppressed by colonial influences.

● Postcolonial/race critics question the dominance of white, Western

language and culture as seen in literary works.

● Things a postcolonial/race critic might pay attention to:

○ Language and culture
○ “Other” people groups

● Questions a postcolonial/race critic might ask:

○ How does this text approach cultural differences between
characters?
The British Empire and its colonies
Marxist
Theory
● Marxist criticism views art and literature as a projection
of social, political, and economic history, class, and
influence.

● Marxist critics call attention to the cultural and societal

factors that prevent equality.

● Things a Marxist critic might pay attention to:

○ Wealth and/or social class of characters

● Questions a Marxist critic might ask:

○ What is the role of class in The Great Gatsby?
○ What is the social class of the author?
These Theories are not
always mutually
exclusive. Sometimes
you may use more than
one with a text to inform
On the other hand,
different theories may
lead you to different
interpretations of a text
-- And that’s okay!
(It’s all about being able to back up your
interpretation with evidence from the text.)
Let’s try it.
Directions
1. Together we’ll read the excerpt from Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s A Private Experience out loud.

2. Choose one of the following critical theories through which to analyze the excerpt:
a. Biographical Criticism
b. Gender Criticism
c. Marxist Criticism
d. Reader Response Criticism

3. Read the excerpt once more silently to yourself, underlining and annotating anything that seems related to your
critical theory.

4. With your groupmates, come up with a list of QUESTIONS that you, as a biographical, gender studies, Marxist
theory, or reader response critic might want to ASK about this excerpt. Be prepared to share.
 An excerpt from A Private
Experience
Chika climbs in through the store window first and then holds the shutter as the woman climbs in after her. The store
looks as if it was deserted long before the riots started; the empty rows of wooden shelves are covered in yellow dust, as
are the metal containers stacked in a corner. The store is small, smaller than Chika's walk-in closet back home. The
woman climbs in and the window shutters squeak as Chika lets go of them. Chika's hands are trembling, her calves
burning after the unsteady run from the market in her high-heeled sandals. She wants to thank the woman, for stopping
her as she dashed past, for saying "No run that way!" and for leading her, instead, to this empty store where they could
hide. But before she can say thank you, the woman says, reaching out to touch her bare neck, "My necklace lost when
I'm running."

"I dropped everything," Chika says. "I was buying oranges and I dropped the oranges and my handbag." She does not
add that the handbag was a Burberry, an original one that her mother had bought on a recent trip to London.

The woman sighs and Chika imagines that she is thinking of her necklace, probably plastic beads threaded on a piece of
string. Even without the woman's strong Hausa accent, Chika can tell she is a Northerner, from the narrowness of her
face, the unfamiliar rise of her cheekbones; and that she is Muslim, because of the scarf. It hangs around the woman's
neck now, but it was probably wound loosely round her face before, covering her ears. A long, flimsy pink and black scarf,
with the garish prettiness of cheap things. Chika wonders if the woman is looking at her as well, if the woman can tell,
from her light complexion and the silver finger rosary her mother insists she wear, that she is Igbo and Christian.