ENG 11 Critical Approaches - Literary Theory PowerPoint

Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
Download as ppt, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 18

CRITICAL

APPROACHES
TO LITERATURE

Literary Theory
Unit Focus Questions

How do we study literature?


How do viewpoint and bias
affect our perception of
reality?
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?
Critical Approaches to
Consider
1. Reader-Response Criticism
2. Formalist Criticism
3. Psychological/Psychoanalytic Criticism
4. Sociological Criticism
A. Feminist/Gender Criticism
B. Marxist Criticism
5. Biographical Criticism
6. New Historicist Criticism
1. The Reader-Response
Approach
Reader-Response Criticism asserts that
a great deal of meaning in a text lies with
how the reader responds to it.
 Focuses on the act of reading and how it
affects our perception of meaning in a text
(how we feel at the beginning vs. the end)
 Deals more with the process of creating
meaning and experiencing a text as we
read. A text is an experience, not an object.

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT =


MEANING
1. The Reader-Response
Approach
2 Important Ideas in Reader-
Response
1. An individual reader’s
interpretation usually changes
over time.
2. Readers from different
generations and different time
periods interpret texts differently.

Ultimately… How do YOU feel


about what you have read?
What do YOU think it means?
2. The Formalist Approach
Formalist Criticism emphasizes the
form of a literary work to determine
its meaning, focusing on literary
elements and how they work to
create meaning.
 Examines a text as independent from
its time period, social setting, and
author’s background. A text is an
independent entity.
3. The Psychological/
Psychoanalytic Approach
Psychological Criticism
views a text as a revelation
of its author’s mind and
personality. It is based on
the work of Sigmund Freud.
 Also focuses on the hidden

motivations of literary
characters
 Looks at literary characters

as a reflection of the writer


4. The Sociological
Approach
Sociological criticism argues that
social contexts (the social
environment) must be considered
when analyzing a text.
 Focuses on the values of a society

and how those views are reflected


in a text
 Emphasizes the economic,

political, and cultural issues within


literary texts
 Core Belief: Literature is a

reflection of its society.


4A. The Marxist Approach
Marxist Criticism
emphasizes economic
and social conditions. It
is based on the political
theory of Karl Marx and
Friedrich Engels.
 Concerned with

understanding the role


of power, politics, and
money in literary texts
4A. The Marxist Approach
Marxist Criticism examines literature to
see how it reflects
1. The way in which dominant groups
(typically, the majority) exploit the
subordinate groups (typically, the
minority)
2. The way in which people become
alienated from one another through
power, money, and politics
4B. The Feminist Approach
Feminist Criticism is
concerned with the role,
position, and influence of
women in a literary text.
 Asserts that most “literature”

throughout time has been


written by men, for men.
 Examines the way that the

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

understand how literary texts were perceived in


their time.
2. Shows how literary texts reflect ideas and

attitudes of the time in which they were written.


 New historicist critics often compare the

language in contemporary documents and


literary texts to reveal cultural assumptions and
values in the text.
REMEMBER…
 We will never look at a text STRICTLY
from one standpoint or another, ignoring
all other views. That is antithetical to
what we are trying to do.
 We should always keep our focus on the
text and use these critical approaches to
clarify our understanding of a text and
develop an interpretation of it.

You might also like