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Information at a Glance

Approach Purpose(s) Assumption(s)

Familiar To understand literature in Literature reflects the life and world of

the context of an author’s its author.
biography and/or historical
period.

Formalist To value a literary work for Literature is an utterance of abstract,

its own intrinsic properties. absolute truths about reality.

Psychological To determine meanings that (1) Literature comes from the uncon-
are suggested but not scious of a writer, expressing meanings
overtly stated. that even he or she may not recognize.
(2) A character’s nature is revealed by
more than external actions: dreams,
symbols, slips of language. Some liter-
ary patterns can be universally
recognized.

Archetypal To identify universal images Some literary patterns are universally

and patterns of conduct recognized.
that carry emotional power.

Marxist To reveal how those in con- Economics controls all aspects of a soci-
trol of the means of pro- ety. The material, not the spiritual, is all
duction manipulate the rest important.
and thereby change the
system.

Feminist (1) To read with heightened (1) Because society is and has been
awareness of the nature, basically patriarchal, the talents and
social roles, and treatment products of women have been under-
of female characters. valued, leaving them without visible
power.
(Continued)
343
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344 INFORMATION AT A GLANCE

Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).

Approach Purpose(s) Assumption(s)

(2) To recognize ignored (2) Sexual orientation is central to

and undervalued female critical analysis and understanding.
writers.
(3) To explore more sexual
identities than the tradi-
tional male/female binary.

Reader-Response To include the reader in Whatever a text means is at least

constructing the meaning of partially the product of a reader’s
a text. interaction with it.

Deconstructionist To demonstrate the multi- Meaning is always provisional, not

plicity of meanings in a stable, united, or unchanging.
given text.

New Historicist To understand a text as a Because a text is the product of more

product and maker of com- than a single contributing source, it is
plex and sometimes con- not explainable simply as the reflection
flicting historical forces. of a controlling idea of a given period.

Postcolonialist To examine the literature of Physical conquest of a culture leads to

colonized peoples and that loss or serious modification of it, re-
of the descendants of their sulting in uncertainty of identity for
colonizers, featuring what both the conquered and the colonizers,
happens when one culture who live in a mixed culture often
is dominated by another. marked by contrasts and antagonisms,
resentment, and blended practice.

Multiculturalist To identify and analyze the The literature of historically marginal-

literatures of racial and ized groups provides a rich source of
ethnic minorities in order to works for analysis.
discover their unique char-
acteristics and worldviews.

Ecocritical To examine the relationship Because all life is inter-related, the

of literature and nature as a impact of human activity on the
way to renew a reader’s environment should be minimized.
awareness of the nonhu-
man world and his or her
responsibility to sustain it.

Strategy or Strategies Strength Weakness

Read literature as a reflection Provides a framework for Subordinates literary con-

of major events, figures, and tracing growth and devel- cerns to nonliterary ones.
ideas of a period. opment of literary ideas
and styles.

Read closely to see how ten- Shows how meaning is a Looks for a single best
sions in diction and style are product of form. interpretation.
resolved into a unified whole.
(Continued)
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INFORMATION AT A GLANCE 345

Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.
Copyright 2011 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in part. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s).

Strategy or Strategies Strength Weakness

Pay close attention to uncon- Reveals meanings that are Can degenerate into non-
scious motivations and not explicitly stated. literary jargon or arrive at
meanings expressed indirectly unjustified interpretations.
through dreams, language,
and symbols.

Identify characters or beha- Deepens the emotional and Can overlook meaningful
viors similar to those you have thematic impact of a text. details in the search for
met in other narratives. universal patterns.

Identify the powerful indivi- Connects literature with

Is essentially nonliterary—
duals or groups in the text life—that is, with everyday
that is, does not take
and show how they create the concerns about economics,
aesthetic matters into
superstructure that controls class, and power.
account.
the proletariat.

(1) Examine the roles and Gives attention to tradition- Can become narrowly fo-
treatment of female ally overlooked aspects of cused, leaving out other
characters. a text and to heretofore ig- important aspects of a text.
(2) Discover (or reintroduce) nored writers.
works by neglected female
writers.
(3) Look for fluidity of char-
acters’ sexual identities.

Connect the life experiences Makes the reader an active Can produce idiosyncratic
and worldviews of the reader coparticipant in creating a readings.
with the text. text, not simply a passive
receiver of it.
Identify those places where Opens up a text to an un- Uses difficult, specialized
misstatements, gaps, and ending series of new vocabulary.
inconsistencies in a text interpretations.
undermine what it claims
to be saying.

Acknowledge all the social Accepts any written text as May neglect literary ele-
concerns that surround and worthy of serious analysis ments of a text for its
infuse a text, particularly the (not just those composed in political aspects.
power structures of the cul- traditional literary genres).
ture it depicts and that of the
author’s world.

Determine the stance of a Generates understanding of Can be more concerned

text regarding colonialism, cultures as well as texts. with social criticism than
postcolonialism, and/or literary criticism.
neocolonialism.

Identify materials, purposes, Liberates the minority from Divides cultural groups
and styles that are characteris- dependence on mainstream from one another.
tic of a racial or ethnic minority. standards of performance.

Pull traditionally disregarded Makes the reader aware of Is more interested in social
elements of nature into the his or her obligation to treat change than in literary
center of your reading. nature with respect. analysis.