ENG 11 Critical Approaches - Literary Theory PowerPoint
ENG 11 Critical Approaches - Literary Theory PowerPoint
ENG 11 Critical Approaches - Literary Theory PowerPoint
APPROACHES
TO LITERATURE
Literary Theory
Unit Focus Questions
motivations of literary
characters
Looks at literary characters
female consciousness is
depicted by both male and
female writers.
4B. The Feminist Approach
4 Basic Principles of Feminist
Criticism
1. Western civilization is patriarchal.
2. The concepts of gender are mainly
cultural ideas created by patriarchal
societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has
been gender-biased.
5. The Biographical
Approach
Biographical
Criticism argues
that we must take
an author’s life and
background into
account when we
study a text.
5. The Biographical
Approach
Three Benefits:
1. Facts about an author’s experience can help
a reader decide how to interpret a text.
2. A reader can better appreciate a text by
knowing a writer’s struggles or difficulties in
creating that text.
3. A reader can understand a writer’s
preoccupation by studying the way they
apply and modify their own life experiences
in their works.
6. The New Historicist
Approach
New Historicist Criticism argues that
every literary work is a product of its
time and its world.
6. The New Historicist
Approach
New Historicism:
1. Provides background information necessary to