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Introduction Literary Theories and Criticisms

Literary criticism involves the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature through analyzing its structure, context, and how it manipulates readers. It asks what literature is, what purpose it serves, and what value it holds. The goal is to form general principles for examining literary works and reveal important aspects of individual works.

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Jessica Abuque
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342 views15 pages

Introduction Literary Theories and Criticisms

Literary criticism involves the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature through analyzing its structure, context, and how it manipulates readers. It asks what literature is, what purpose it serves, and what value it holds. The goal is to form general principles for examining literary works and reveal important aspects of individual works.

Uploaded by

Jessica Abuque
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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LITERARY

THEORY AND CRITICISM


DEFINITION …
Literary criticism is the study, discussion,
evaluation, and interpretation of literature.

Wow …
thanks a lot …
now everything is crystal clear …

Wikipedia rocks :)
Let's try again …
"Literary criticism is the evaluation of literary
works. This includes the classification by
genre, analysis of structure, and judgement
of value."

Beckson & Ganz


Ok, that's a bit better …
And again …
"Literary criticism asks what literature is, what
it does, and what it is worth."

Encyclopedia Britannica

Nice …
In my own words …
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.
Why do we have to analyze
everything????
O Talking about experiences enhances
our enjoyment of them
O Talking about experiences involves
the search for meaning which
increases our understanding of them
O Because Socrates said so: "The life
which is unexamined is not worth
living."
To further explain …
Literary criticism helps us to understand what is
important about the text
O its structure
O its context: social, economic, historical
O what is written
O how the text manipulates the reader
And there's more …
O Literary criticism helps us to
understand the relationship between
authors, readers, and texts

O The act of literary criticism ultimately


enhances the enjoyment of our
reading of the literary work
Literary Criticism
Literary criticism has two main functions:
1. To analyze, study, and evaluate works of
literature.
2. To form general principles for the
examination of works of literature.
What is literary theory?

O 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.
Critical Approaches to the Study
of Literature
Critical Approaches are different perspectives we consider
when looking at a piece of literature.
They seek to give us answers to these questions, in
addition to aiding us in interpreting literature.
1. What do we read?
2. Why do we read?
3. How do we read?
“Big Questions” about Literature
O What is “literature”?
O Does the author matter?
O What are the influences on how we read a text?
O How do we make connections to others in
distant lands and times through a work of
literature?

O Literary Theories/Critical Theories are attempts


to answer some of these questions.
The Basic Idea
O The point of criticism is to argue your point
of view on a work of literature.
O You don’t have to “criticize” a text (but you
can)
O You do have to analyze a text and support
your assertions with specific evidence from
experts and the text.
O It’s crucial to go beyond plot development
and into more abstract, higher-level thinking
like theme, tone, purpose, etc.
The Basic Idea
O A critical analysis is an in-depth examination
of some aspect of the literary work
O you may examine any element of the text:
character development, conflicts, narrative
point of view, etc.
O Literary critical theories inform us of certain
ways to approach big ideas in the novel.
Literary Theories
O Mimetic Theory
O Authorical Theory
O Reader Response Theory
O Literary Tradition Theory
O Textual Analysis Theory

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