TYPES OF CONTEXT

FOR LITERARY WORKS

 THE WORLD IS FULL OF TEXTS TO
INTERPRET, AND THERE ARE MYRIAD WAYS
TO INTERPRET EACH AND EVERY ONE.
BEING CRITICALLY LITERATE JUST MEANS
ENGAGING WITH THAT WORLD AND THOSE
TEXTS IN THOUGHTFUL WAYS TO
UNDERSTAND JUST HOW MANY POSSIBLE
WAYS OF BEING AND THINKING THERE ARE.
RATIONALE

Historical
Experiences
Social
Visual Texts Phenomeno
n

Literary Analysi Data &

Texts s Skills Statistics
WE ARE SURROUNDED BY TEXTS THAT SEND AN IDEOLOGICAL MESSAGE.
THAT MESSAGE TAKES PLACE WITHIN, IS SHAPED BY, AND SERVES TO
SHAPE SOCIAL AND POLITICAL EXISTENCE. THAT EXISTENCE IS BASED ON
RELATIONS OF POWER INVOLVING GENDER, RACE, SEXUALITY, CLASS,
INEQUALITY, ETC. CRITICAL LITERACY INVOLVES RECOGNIZING THE
VARIETY OF TEXTS THAT REQUIRE AN EXPLORATION OF POWER AND
IDEOLOGY. CRITICAL LITERACY REQUIRES ANALYSIS SKILLS AND MEANS
AWARENESS AND THE ABILITY TO NEGOTIATE CULTURAL
CIRCUMSTANCES THAT DEFINE OUR LIVES.
 ‘TEXT’ AND ‘CONTEXT’
• ‘TEXT’: (A UNIT OF) CONNECTED DISCOURSE. ITS
FUNCTION IS COMMUNICATIVE, AND IT IS AN
OBJECT OF ANALYSIS AND DESCRIPTION

• ‘CONTEXT’: A GENERAL TYPE OF CONNECTION OR

RELATIONSHIP; CIRCUMSTANCES RELEVANT TO
SOMETHING UNDER CONSIDERATION’; THE
ENVIRONMENT SURROUNDING A PHENOMENON
(SUCH AS E.G. A TEXT!) THAT DETERMINES ITS
MEANING, SIMILAR TO SETTING, BACKGROUND,
FRAME, (FIGURE AND) GROUND.
 BIOGRAPHICAL CONTEXT

THIS APPROACH "BEGINS WITH THE

SIMPLE BUT CENTRAL INSIGHT THAT
LITERATURE IS WRITTEN BY ACTUAL
PEOPLE AND THAT UNDERSTANDING AN
AUTHOR'S LIFE CAN HELP READERS
MORE THOROUGHLY COMPREHEND THE
WORK." HENCE, IT OFTEN AFFORDS A
PRACTICAL METHOD BY WHICH
READERS CAN BETTER UNDERSTAND A
TEXT.
• HOWEVER, A BIOGRAPHICAL CRITIC MUST BE
CAREFUL NOT TO TAKE THE BIOGRAPHICAL
FACTS OF WRITER'S LIFE TOO FAR IN
CRITICIZING THE WORKS OF THAT WRITER:
THE BIOGRAPHICAL CRITIC "FOCUSES ON
EXPLICATING THE LITERARY WORK BY USING
THE INSIGHT PROVIDED BY KNOWLEDGE OF
THE AUTHOR'S LIFE.... BIOGRAPHICAL DATA
SHOULD AMPLIFY THE MEANING OF THE TEXT,
NOT DROWN IT OUT WITH IRRELEVANT
MATERIAL."
 HISTORICAL CONTEXT

• THIS APPROACH "SEEKS TO UNDERSTAND A LITERARY

WORK BY INVESTIGATING THE SOCIAL, CULTURAL, AND
INTELLECTUAL CONTEXT THAT PRODUCED IT - A
CONTEXT THAT NECESSARILY INCLUDES THE ARTIST'S
BIOGRAPHY AND MILIEU." A KEY GOAL FOR
HISTORICAL CRITICS IS TO UNDERSTAND THE EFFECT
OF A LITERARY WORK UPON ITS ORIGINAL READERS.
 PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT
• CONTEMPORARY AUTHORS CONSCIOUSLY OR UNCONSCIOUSLY
ADDRESS THE SAME QUESTIONS THAT HAVE CAPTIVATED
HUMANITY’S ATTENTION
• FIRST CATEGORY (METAPHYSICS)
• WHAT IS THE NATURE OF THE UNIVERSE?
• WHAT IS INDIVIDUAL’S RESPONSE TO THE UNIVERSE?
• SOMETHING ELSE LIKE HUMANITY, LIFE, DEATH, THOUGHT, LOVE,
GOD, NATURE, TIME AND SO ON…
 PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT
• SECOND CATEGORY IS ETHICS, QUESTIONS OF MORALITY
AND BEHAVIOUR, PLEASURE AND PAIN, FATE AND FREE
WILL, KINDNESS AND CRUELTY AND ANYTHING ELSE
CONCERNING HUMAN ACTIONS.
• TO CONSIDER PHILOSOPHICAL CONTEXT, DETERMINE
WHICH PHILOSOPHICAL TRENDS THE AUTHOR ADMIRES
AND WHICH HE OR SHE IS REJECTING.
• HOW DOES THE WORK DEMONSTRATE THIS?
• RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN THE WORK AND PHILOSOPHY
ARE IMPORTANT, EXPLAINS THE PHILOSOPHER’S IDEAS
 LITERARY CONTEXT
• RESPOND TO OTHER LITERARY WORKS, AUTHORS
RESPOND TO OTHER AUTHORS POSITIVELY, NEGATIVELY
OR BOTH
• HOW DOES A PARTICULAR WORK FIT INTO BROADER
CATEGORIES OF LITERATURE?
• CAN IT BE CHARACTERIZED BY A PARTICULAR –ISM SUCH
AS ROMANTICISM, REALISM, NATURALISM,MODERNISM
ETC.
• WHAT OTHER WORKS OR AUTHORS DID IT INLFUENCE IN
 LINGUISTIC CONTEXT
-Linguistic actions are embedded in the environment in which
they occur and fulfil certain functions
-Sentences obey formal rules, principles and parameters,
-The local, the particular, the social, the situated, the individual,
the unique, the relative
-the generally valid, the typical, the supra-individual, the absolute
• WITTGENSTEIN’S IDEA THAT LANGUAGE IS A FORM OF ACTION,
AND THAT THE MEANINGS OF LINGUISTIC FORMS ARE THEIR
USE IN SPECIFIC ‘FORMS OF LIFE’

• AUSTIN’S EMPHASIS ON HOW THE CONTEXTS OF SPEECH ACTS

INFLUENCE THE CONVENTIONS OF LANGUAGE USE, AND HOW
SPEECH ACT PERFORMANCE DEPENDS ON THE ENVELOPING
CONTEXT AND LANGUAGE USER’S INTENTIONS.

• GADAMER’S AND STEINER’S HERMENEUTIC INTERPRETIVE

STUDY OF TEXTS WITH ITS ‘FUSION OF HORIZONS’ UNITING
WRITER AND READER IN THEIR CONTEXT-DEPENDENCE.
• GRICE’S CONCEPTION OF CONTEXT AS PART OF
A THEORY OF LANGUAGE USE - INCLUDING
CONVERSATIONAL MAXIMS WHICH GUIDE THE
CONDUCT OF TALK AND EXPRESS AN
UNDERLYING CO-OPERATIVE PRINCIPLE.

• SPERBER AND WILSON’S NOTION OF

RELEVANCE AS A SET OF INTERNALIZED
CONTEXTUAL FACTORS FOR INTERPRETING
UTTERANCES
• FORGAS’ VIEW THAT UTTERANCE MEANING AND
SPEAKERS’ SHARED VIEWS OF CONTEXT RESULT
FROM COLLECTIVE COGNITIVE ACTIVITIES.

• CLARK’S IDEA OF LANGUAGE USE AS A FORM OF

COLLABORATIVE ACTION BOUND UP WITH
CONTEXTS AS ‘COMMON GROUND’, I.E.,
KNOWLEDGE, BELIEFS, ASSUMPTIONS WHICH
LANGUAGE USERS BRING TO JOINT ACTIVITIES