Brief Introduction to Literature and Literary Theories. Compiled by Cherri Porter English Writing 301 American River College

Transcription

1 Brief Introduction to Literature and Literary Theories Compiled by Cherri Porter English Writing 301 American River College

2 What is Literature? Sometimes it seems easier to figure out what literature isn t then to determine what it is. What literature is depends on who is doing the defining, as what it is is values-based. Some definers focus on genre, some on text, some on the artistic qualities of the work. Most answers to the question focus on the experience of the reader rather than the writing/creation of it. What all things called literature have in common is LANGUAGE.

3 Cont d What is Literature? Some scholars, including John Ellis, think we can define literature by looking at how people use it. So, a text read for information is not literature but a text read for enjoyment is (Griffith). Franz Kafka said: "If the book we are reading does not wake us, as with a fist hammering on our skull, why then do we read it? What we must have are those books which come upon us like ill-fortune, and distress us deeply, like the death of one we love better than ourselves.a book must be an ice-axe to break the frozen sea inside us."

4 Literary theory is a body of lenses of isms we use to understand cultural productions like literature and art. These theories come from various academic fields psychology, philosophy, history and sociology. Theories tell us which questions to ask of a text and on which elements to focus our asking. Literary theory asks what literature is, what it does, and what its cultural value is. Literary criticism is what happens when a reader / writer applies a theoretical lens to a work of literature to reveal textual features, relationships and meanings.

5 Theory Theory is not an end in itself. It is methodology for seeking meaning. Theory tells us which questions to ask. The application of theory to a text is what we call criticism. Criticism doesn t mean being negative per se, but rather it s the paying focused, specific attention to a text.

6 Literary theories help us to understand what is important about a text. Theories pose questions and offer platforms for analysis. When we look at a text we might notice: its structure form: how it s put together and what effects that has what is written content: word, meaning, theme its context: social, economic, historical, etc. its intertextuality; how it connects to the greater literary tradition and culture at large how the text brings meaning to the reader how the reader brings meaning to the text

7 There are many schools to theory through which to observe and analyze culture and art. Within each school is a great deal of disagreement and diversity of approach; they are not necessarily unified ways of seeing. When we say Theory w/ a capital T we are talking about it generally. Theory with a small t refers to the individual schools of thought.

8 In an introductory level course, we can t cover every theoretical perspectives and all the various subcategories. Instead, we ll focus in on a few. 1. New criticism and close reading. Done! 2. Psychoanalysis: Freud, psychology and motivation 3. Feminism: fish without bicycles 4. Marxism.just a little bit 5. African American & Post Colonialism: oppression, white fragility, black power, systems of abuse 6. And that will be plenty for one semester

9 All of our theories share a common foundation. The history of literary criticism is relatively short. What we identify as our oldest disciplinary practice is less than 200 yrs old and oddly named: New Criticism. New Criticism is really the parent to all of the other theories all of the other theoretical fields are reactions to New Crit. Like teens reacting to stodgy parents, the other theories define themselves against the backdrop of New Criticism.

10 New Critics believe Literature is clearly definable, thus we have a literary cannon of good, important works. There is a cohesive meaning in a literary text. Meaning resides inside of the text. Everything needed to understand the text is in the text. Meaning is objective. There are definable, universal truths. Close reading is the main tool of new critics (and all other critics for that matter); close reading is how we derive meaning.

11 New Criticism is part of the Humanist Tradition Humanism is one of those slippery terms common to theory studies. Humanists believe: The world is governed by God (or, a god) power and order who is the source of everything. We can observe and explain all things in nature with our senses and our brain. Science, order, and truth reign. Art literature is timeless, universal, deeply humane. Content and form are connected.