Review of Critical

Literary Views and

Theories
What is a Literary Theory?

Literary theory is a school of thought or
style of literary analysis that gives readers
a means to critique the ideas and principles
of literature.
What is Literary Criticism?
 Literary criticism is the method used to interpret any
given work of literature. The different schools of literary
criticism provide us with lenses which ultimately reveal
important aspects of the literary work.
 Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation and
interpretation of literature.
Types of Literary
Theories
Moral Criticism
 Moralcriticism can be described as the judged
value of a piece of literature or art based on its
moral lesson or teaching (Craddock).
 Theidea originated in Plato’s Socratical dialogue,
The Republic.
Dramatic Construction
 Dramatic Construction is what goes into a play or a piece
of literature to make it successful.
 According to Aristotle, “Art is a way to create something
pleasurable for the audience.”
 Aristotle believed that elements like “ language, rhythm
and harmony” as well as “plot, character, thought,
diction, song and spectacle” influence the audience’s
pity, fear or satisfaction with the work.
Formalism
 Formalism attempts to discover meaning by close reading
a work of literature. Focus is on:
☆ Form, organization and structure
☆ Word choice and language
☆ Multiple meanings
 Considers the work in isolation, disregarding author’s
intent, author’s background, context and anything else
outside of the work itself.
New Criticism
 The formalist movement began in England with the
publication of Ivor Armstrong Richards’ Practical Criticism
(1929).
 American critics (such as John Crowe Ramson, Robert Penn
Warren and Cleanth Brooks) adopted formalism and termed
their new adoptation “New Criticism.”
 New Criticism varied from Formalism in that New Criticism
focuses on image, symbol and meaning. Traditional
formalists often attacked New Critics for their lack of
attention to the form of the work.
Reader-Response Criticism
 Sees the reader as essential to the interpretation of a work
(● Each reader is unique, with different educational
backgrounds, experiences, moral values, opinions, tastes,
etc.)
● Therefore, each reader’s interaction with a work is
unique
 Analyzes the features of the text that shape and guide a
reader’s reading
 Emphasizes recursive reading — rereading for new
interpretations
Psychoanalytic Criticism
 Analyzes literature to reveal insights about the
way the human mind works
 Itis based on the work of Sigmund Freud and his
disciples
 Works well as a method of analyzing character’s
actions and motivations
Practical Criticism
 Practical Criticism is a form of literary analysis
which focuses exclusively on the text, ignoring
such extraneous factors as authorial intention and
historical context.
 The term originates with an experiment
performed on Cambridge literature students by
I.A. Richards
Structuralism
 In a broader horizon, structuralism, as a new school of
thoughts emerged from linguistics and language theories.
Specifically, it analyzes the underlying principles and
components of literature and culture to establish a
relationship between them. With the help of this
established connection, critics draw general conclusions
about different works of an individual and the
system/society which has produced that work.
Structuralism
 Structuralists perceive this world in the form of
structures. According to them, whatever we do practically
can be expressed in language. Language has symbols not
confined to just oral and written communication. The
work of anthropologists like Claude Levi-Strauss or literary
critic like Ronald Barthes are good examples of
structuralism.
Post-Structuralism
 Post-structuralism is a response to structuralism
 Specifically,
post-structuralism holds that the
study of underlying structures itself culturally
conditioned and therefore subject to myriad
biases and misinterpretations.
Post-Structuralism
 To understand an object, it is necessary to study
both the object itself and the systems of
knowledge which were coordinated to produce
the object.
 Post-structuralistphilosophers like Derrida and
Foucault did not form a self-conscious group, but
each responded to the traditions of
phenomenology and structuralism.
Marxist Theory
 This approach to literature is based on the philosophy of
Karl Marx— whoever owns the means of production in a
society (the factories) controlled the society (culture)
 Marxist theory is the belief that literature reflects class
struggle and materialism. It looks at how literature
functions in relation to other aspects of the
superstructure, particularly other articulations of
ideology.
Marxist Theory
 Like feminist critics, it investigates how literature can
work as a force for social change or as a reaffirmation of
existing conditions.
 Like New Historicism, it examines how history influences
literature; the difference is that Marxist focuses on the
lower classes.
Feminist Criticism
 Feminist criticism is the literary and critical theory that
explores the bias in favor of the male gender in literature,
and which reexamines all literatures from a feminist point
of view.
 Feminist criticism aims to understand the nature of
inequality and focus on analyzing gender equality and the
promotion of women’s rights.
 New Historicism
 New Historicism is all about paying close attention to the
historical context of the literary works. After all, play, poems,
novels in general are products of the specific time and place.
 New Historicism is an approach to literary criticism and
literary theory based on the premise that a literary should be
considered a product of time, place and historical
circumstances of its composition rather than as an isolated
work of art or text.
 It aims to understand the work through its historical context
and to understand culture as well as to investigate the
intellectual history and cultural history through literature.
Queer Theory
 Emphasizes radical otherness
 Historically, queer theory is rooted sexuality studies but it
addresses many other issues
 In this theory, the word “queer” is not necessarily a
synonym for “gay” but rather a position that rejects
conventions or mainstream expressions of all types of
behavior including sexuality and gender
 Theorists believe that identities are not fixed— they are
fluid and changing, not only to different people but within
the same person at different times
Critical Race Theory
 Examines relationship between race, racism and power
 Includes economics, history, context, group/self interest,
feelings and the unconscious
 Activism beyond understanding social situations, to
transform racial hierarchies
 Challenges dominant ideologies
Critical Disability Theory
 Critical Disability Theory is rooted in a critique of
traditional discourses and assumptions of disability which
serve to oppress persons with disabilities and infringe on
their human rights
 The theory is built upon the argument that “disability is
not fundamentally a question of medicine or health, nor is
it just on the issue of sensitivity and compassion; rather,
it is a question of politics and power(lessness), power over
and the power to” (Devlin and Pothier, 2006)
 That concludes my report.

Thank you for listening and stay safe!

God bless! 🙂🙂🙂

Prepared by:
Ruther M. Cabrera
BSE-English