Introduction to Literary Theory and

Criticism
How was literature studied in the past?

 Philology (linguistics, language, grammar)

 Rhetorics (the art of eloquence and
persuasion)
 Moral philosophy (human conduct)
 History (the past)
 Textual scholarship (the accuracy of texts)
 Biography (the author and the circumstances
in which he/she wrote)
What is literary criticism?
 an enlightened and reasoned response to a
work of literature

 a thoughtful contribution to the

understanding and appreciation of literature

 involves the application of the principles and

practice of literary theories
What are the two primary questions of
literary criticism?

 Why does a piece of literature have the

precise characteristics (e.g. form, style) that
it does? How exactly does it work?

 What is the value of literature or of a

particular piece of literature?
What are literary theories?
 They are theories about how we read literary
texts.
 They are theories that explain the structures
and dynamics of literature.
 They are theories that help us get more out
of our reading of literature.
 They are theories that seek to explain the
functions and inter-relationships of different
aspects of a literary text.
What are the different literary theories?

literature is an
imitation of life

Classical Theory two functions of

literature:
dulce or utile

catharsis: purgation of three styles:

negative feelings low, middle, high
Catharsis - catharsis is a metaphor used by Aristotle in the Poetics
to describe the effects of true tragedy on the spectator. The use is
derived from the medical term katharsis (Greek: “purgation” or
“purification”). Aristotle states that the purpose of tragedy is to
arouse “terror and pity” and thereby effect the catharsis of these
emotions.

dulce or utile - delightful and instructive

 Traditional Approaches

Historical-Biographical:
Moral-Philosophical:
sees the literary work
the literary work primarily aims
as a reflection of its
to teach morality and to probe
author’s or the character’s
philosophical issues
life and times
from Antigone by Sophocles
 Ismene: I do them no dishonour; but to defy the State, - I have
no strength for that.
 Antigone: Such be they plea: - I, then, will go to heap the earth
above the brother whom I love.
 Ismene: Alas, unhappy one! How I fear for thee!
 Antigone: Fear not for me: guide thine own fate aright.
 Ismene: At least, then, disclose this plan to none, but hide it
closely, - and so, too, will I.
 Antigone: Oh, denounce it! Thou wilt be far more hateful for thy
silence, if thou proclaim not these things to all.
 Ismene: Thou hast a heart for chilling deeds.
 Antigone: I know that I please where I am most bound to
please.
Historical-Biographical - deems it necessary to know about the
author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his
times in order to truly understand the work(s).
It also is necessary to take a historical approach in order to
place allusions in their proper classical, political, or biblical
background.

Moral / Philosophical Approach - Practitioners include Matthew

Arnold (works must have “high seriousness”), Plato (literature must
exhibit moralism and utilitarianism), and Horace (literature should be
“delightful and instructive”).
Alexander Pope’s “An Essay on Man,” which presents an obvious
moral philosophy.

It is also useful when considering the themes of works (for example,

man’s inhumanity to man in Mark Twain’s Huckleberry Finn).

Finally, it does not view literature merely as “art” isolated from all
moral implications; it recognizes that literature can affect readers,
whether subtly or directly, and that the message of a work -and not
just the decorous vehicle for that message -is important.
 the purpose is to expose
the work’s unity
studies the literary work
as an entity in itself a close reading of the
work will reveal its
complexities

New Criticism/ Formalism

In a station of the Metro by Ezra Pound

The apparition of these faces in the crowd

Petals on a wet, black bough
Formalistic critics believe that all information essential to the
interpretation of a work must be found within the work itself; there
is no need to bring in outside information about the history, politics,
or society of the time, or about the author’s life.
applies the ideas of Freudian Psychoanalytical Theory
psychology to literature

encourages the reader/critic

creative writing is like
to be creative in speculating
dreaming – it disguises what
about the character’s/author’s
cannot be confronted directly –
motivations, drives, fears or
the critic must decode what
desires
is disguised
from Lover Boy by Lilia Pablo Amansec

 ‘... before I knew it, I was kissing her, at first

timorously, like a young man on his first date, lightly
pecking at the corners of her mouth, limning her
upper lip with my tongue, then her lower lip. A long
hot thrill shot through my loins and I began to push
into her mouth, my mouth a suction of desire,
engulfing hers, salivating, opening and closing to
taste the delights within. ‘Little Lady Moon, Little
Lady Moon,’ I whispered hoarsely. Then a wave of
passion hit me like a lightning, and I found myself on
fire.’
They look either at the psychological motivations of the characters
or of the authors themselves, although the former is generally
considered a more respectable approach.
 Mythological/Archetypal Approach

seeks to discover the

based on Carl Jung’s
existence of underlying
theory of the
mythological patterns
collective unconscious
the artist is a myth-maker
speaking out of his/her
unconscious a
primordial truth
Sample Literary Texts

 Lam-ang (archetype of immortality)

 Odysseus (death and rebirth)

 Ibong Adarna (wise old man archetype)

 Superman (archetypal meaning of color)

 Feminist Criticism

examines social, cultural

concerned with how and psychosexual contexts
women have been of literature and
written and how criticism
women have written aims to identify and
oppose the various ways
women are excluded,
suppressed and
exploited
You and I by Roger McGough

I explained quietly. You I am dove. You

hear me shouting. You recognize the hawk. You
try a new talk. I offer an olive branch. I
feel old wounds reopen. feel the thorns.

You see both sides. I You bleed

see your blinkers. I crocodile tears. I
am placatory. You withdraw. You
sense a new selfishness. reel from the impact.
 deals with defamiliarization,
‘baring the device,’ retardation opposed to the old classical
of the narrative maxim that true art
conceals its art

concerned with establishing

the literariness of a
Russian Formalism literary work
Pedagogic by Cirilo Bautista

I walked towards the falling woods

To teach the trees all that I could

Of time and birth, the language of men,

The virtues of hate and loving.

I knew the footnotes, all the text,

My words were precise and correct-

They listened to me with a serious mien.

I was sure that they were learning-

Till one tree spoke, speaking in dolor,

To ask why I never changed color.
 Structuralist Literary Theory puts emphasis upon
how a text means,
instead of the what of
the New Critics

draws from the linguistic assumes that literature,

theory of Ferdinand as an artifact of
de Saussure culture, is modeled on
the structure of
language
 The Farmer’s Son by Alfredo Navarro Salanga

There is great power in reason

Learn, he said,
it comes like so much rain
learn words
or like strong wind in a dry month.
that you may pry off
these letters
My father was bent
that have made me
by work
old and bent.
his shoulders were bent
in a contract
I came back
he never understood.
many years later
with my words
While I was still
I knew he wanted
a young man he sent me
but by then
to school
it was too late.
and bid me walk
with straight shoulders.
I listened to him
die with words:
you are lucky
to have learned words
they will keep you
from having bent shoulders.

By his deathbed
I cried
and spat off
letters while
my shoulders bent
with grief.
 questions texts of all
kinds and our common
practices of reading
them
exposes the
contradictions in a
Deconstruction discourse and shows how
a text undermines
itself

the critic begins by

discerning a flaw in the
discourse and reveals
the hidden articulations
In the Dark Depths by Jose Ma. Sison

The enemy wants to bury us

In the dark depths of prison
But shining gold is mined
From the dark depths of the earth
And radiant pearl is dived
From the dark depth of the sea.
We suffer but we endure
And draw up gold and pearl
From depths of character
Formed so long in struggle.
 a literary work must
speak to concerns that
readers recognize as
literature must have a
relevant to their lives emphasize the
social dimension – it
is a social product relationship of
literature and
ideology

Marxist Literary Theories

from People of Consequence by Ines Taccad
Cammayo
 ‘… The first change in the quiet girl he married came one night;
lying, facing each other on the slatted floor of their bedroom in
the hut which was now their kitchen, she spoke of her plans,
spelled each dream so grimly as to leave no doubt in Camus’s
mind that these were already real. Talk of a child had long
since been avoided. Now she spoke of bringing in kiln-dried
posts from Cuenco, a proposal wildly ostentatious and
impossible, considering the steep descent from the town. She
spoke of galvanized roofing, capiz windows and all the
accoutrements of town houses, hardware, varnished walls, two
big bedrooms, a sala so spacious it could accommodate their
old hut, and carved narra furniture.
 …The house never wore a coat of paint, growing darker and
rain stained with every passing season. The big bedroom was
never occupied except when out-of-town officials came. It
contained a monstrous, carved, and highly varnished bed. Its
shaky posts bore aloft a wooden balance that gave it unusual
elegance. A three-panel mirrored aparador in the room was
used by no one except their guests; so too, a washbowl inlaid
with mother-of-pearl which gleamed against the mahogany
shadows of the room.’
 Studies diasporic texts outside
the usual Western genres,
especially productions by
aboriginal authors,
marginalized ethnicities,
immigrants and refugees.
There is a need to escape
from the implicit body of
assumptions to which English
was attached

Postcolonial Criticism
Involves analysis of
nationality, ethnicity, and
politics with poststructuralists
ideas of identity and
indeterminacy

• Alterity
• Diaspora
• Eurocentrism
from This Earth of Mankind by
Pramoedya Ananta Toer
“Nobody ever challenged my relationship with
Herman Mellema. Why? For the simple reason he
was a Pure-Blooded European. But now people are
trying to make an issue of Mr. Minke’s relationship
with Annelies. Why? Only because Mr. Minke is a
Native? ...If Europeans can act in these ways
because of their superior wealth and power, why is
it that a Native must become the target of scorn
and insults…?” (p. 287)
 A whole new way of thinking and
being in the world emerged-a
paradigm shift in the cultural,
social and economic orders.

Postmodern is term This culture has

used to refer to the undergone a profound
culture of advanced shift in the “structure of
capitalist societies feeling”

Postcolonial Criticism
from The Eyre Affair by Jasper
Fforde
‘…She cackled maniacally and twisted a pair of scissors that she
had buried between Hades’ shoulder blades. He cried out once
again and fell to his knees as the flame from the lit candle set fire
to the layers of wax polish that had built up on a bureau. ‘The
flames greedily enveloped the piece of furniture and
Rochester pulled some curtains down in order to smother
them. But Hades was up again, his strength renewed:
The scissors had been withdrawn. He swiped at
Rochester and caught him on the chin; Edward reeled and
fell heavily to the floor. A manic glee seemed to
overcome Acheron as he took a spirit lamp from the
sideboard and hurled it to the end of the corridor; it burst
into flames and ignited some wall hangings. …’ (p. 338)
Caveat
 We must be consistent in our approach to
literary texts – this does not mean that the
same theory should be used forever.
 When we adopt a particular theory and its
practice, we understand why it is appropriate
to a particular text and accept its limitations.
 No theory can explain everything about a
text.
 the nature of
representation in
the text

Any literary
theory has the nature of
to account reality
for the ff:

how representation
of reality is
accomplished,
denied or subverted