Why Teach Literary Theory

Transcription

1 UW in the High School Critical Schools Presentation - MP 1.1 Why Teach Literary Theory If all of you have is hammer, everything looks like a nail, Mark Twain Until lions tell their stories, tales of hunting will glorify the hunter African Proverb Both of these quotes illustrate a major focus of this unit: the way in which a text is approach can be as important as the content of the text itself. Twain suggest having only one way of approaching the world in this case a hammer will ensure that the world will be reduced to a mere nail. The African proverb suggests that the point of view from which a story is told mediates the story itself. Through the course of this research, you will lead students into a discussion from the nail s perspective, from the lion s point of view. By the end, you will see something different, and you will be able to report from somebody else s shoes. To most of you, this subject may seem irrelevant. It seems like silly academic games, but, whatever your perspective, you can never do any wrong by understanding another human being, and that is what literary theory does: it makes space for the voices that nobody hears (or has ignored). Literary Theory is kind of like wearing 3-D glasses: when you put them on and the picture changes; you could still see the story, but now you can see it differently, more completely. Critical Schools bring hidden images into focus; studying them IS NOT to convince you one is more important than the other, or that your perspective is wring, but to examine life from a perspective you may not have known existed. Benefits of using Critical Lenses: Allows new distinctions and categories for looking at a work. Allows students and teachers to explore a text in an independent way Allows for new, more specific ways of looking at literature Allows for a more global perspective: hearing how others might see a situation or a story Allows for higher-order thinking, wherein you are reading from the outside in, rather than just responding to a text. Assignment: To do this assignment, you will need to look within the text of Martin Dressler: Tale of an American Dreamer, and outside the text for research. You will, as a group give a 15-minute presentation explaining how your critical school relates to the novel. In doing so, you will need to have present the following items. 1. A Graphic Organizer demonstrating where the concepts appear in novel; using key words from the critical school and aligning them with moments from the novel (in classes with Art Portfolio students, they will be responsible for the design of the organizer) 2. An Artifact (Advertisement - From the Period or Created for your project) Art/Picture from the period that sells your concept from the perspective of your critical school (could be satire or straight, but must utilize an appeal) 3. Critical Questions Ask at the beginning of the presentation, Answer at the end 1 - Question related to Artifact 1 - Question related to Historical Context 3 - Questions related to the Critical School UW in the High School - Mr Thomas - uw_thomas@icloud.com 1

2 Marxist Criticism and Economic Determinism This critical perspective views texts in terms of how the power structure is determined or reinforced. Some basic assumptions: Contends that material conditions (money and political power) are the deep structure (base) for literature and culture (superstructure). Argues that the culture can act independently of the base (example: racist ideology endures after the economic system of slavery ends). Art is wholly determined by economics. Argues that those in power will work to maintain that power, in part by using texts to define culture in a way that supports the status quo. Humans and their possessions The working class living conditions The cost of financial progress on the human spirit What is power: who has it, where did they get it? Feminism This critical perspective views texts in terms of how gender is represented in texts. Some basic assumptions: Views women's personal experience as a valuable source of insight. Points out that many of the canonical texts are written by and focus on the male experience. Notes that women in literature were often marginalized, objectified, subspeciated (made less than human) or ignored entirely. Highlights ways that traditional criticism centered on Paternalism (made dominated) ignored women readers & the way women were portrayed in literature from a malecentered viewpoint. Seeks to recover neglected women authors of the past and value female experience. Define gender roles within a written work? Where is there evidence of sub-speciation (made less valuable)? What role does each character play? How does the story perpetuate or reconfigure the understood role of women and men? Psychological Criticism This critical perspective utilizes the principles of psychology to study literature. Some basic assumptions: Considers psychoanalytical concepts that appear in the work, such as the psyche, repression, the unconscious, and the conflict between id and ego, and the superego University of Washington in the High School Lynden Christian School Mr Thomas 2

3 Considers the psyche of the writer, and how the creative process itself is affected by the psychological concepts listed above. Concentrates on internal or family-based power dynamics (not larger, political systems) Like psychology itself, not all psychological critics agree. Is largely formed by the theories of a particular influential thinker from the field of psychology (e.g. Sigmund Freud) How does the character interact with the world around them? What role does family play in the story? In what areas is the character free or oppressed? What conditions motivate the character to act? What conditions immobilize them? Mythological/Archetypal Criticism This critical perspective emphasizes the role of common themes, characters, and symbols that repeat through various cultures, eras, and genres. Some basic assumptions: Seeks out archetypes (an archetype is a symbol or character that can be found in a variety of cultures, e.g. the wise old woman or man, the trickster, the hero s quest, temptation by evil ) To varying degrees, considers Carl Jung s definition of an archetype as "primordial images"; the psychic residue" of repeated types of experience in the lives of very ancient ancestors which are inherited and shared in what he called the "collective unconscious" of the human race Utilizes Joseph Campbell s view of literature and myth as the manifestation of our need to find meaning in human experience Explores a literary work by considering it in relation to other works with similar archetypical elements. Finds great significance in symbols and religious allusions Who play the understood roles: hero, villain, helper, victim? Track biblical allusions? Cityscape vs Pastoral? Archetypal Journey - how does the author play with this understood form? Deconstruction Deconstruction has to do with separating language from meaning in order to discover power structures those elements that define our story and give us meaning. The philosophers involved concerned themselves with: Presence, or what is known to us at any given moment. Anything else is constructed based on personal experience, and is, therefore, not reliable. Absence what we do not know but must fill-in through the process of Difference words have multiple meanings, so you never know the full truth Betrayal words will misrepresent us (we can t take at face value) University of Washington in the High School Lynden Christian School Mr Thomas 3

4 Trace - words point to other signifiers that make language inefficient Logocentric Worldview governed by binary oppositions (good/bad, right/wrong, black/ white), but the world, according to the Deconstructionists, is not one governed by a central moral theme, but rather a series of narratives both small and large which we tell ourselves in order to come to grips with absence, the condition of nothingness that exists, and our of which we constantly try to create meaning. Episteme (how we know things): spoken, unspoken, understood, assigned? Signs (symbols) and Signifiers (the meaning we attach)? Narrative (stories arising out of experience) and Meta-Narratives (stories that govern behavior) Simulacra/Simulacrum (replicating reality) Moral Criticism Moral Criticism judges the ethical worth of a text. Does a work enlarge our moral imagination? Has the author given a full context for moral dilemma, presenting a story in its full scope, maintaining its contradictions and refusing oversimplification? It assumes the imaginary world of the work allows readers to lose themselves and wrestle with the full humanity of the characters. Morality represents a more complete (presumably better) universe, and so the questions a Moral Critic will ask are based on a few theories of the moral good: Plato argues for restraint: literature, he says, should never be used for the arousal of wrongdoing. (The Republic) Evil should never be attractive enough that an audience wants to adopt it as their own. Aristotle argues for catharsis (emotional response): that seeing a work in full should create an emotional purging (Poetics) that leads to transformation. This might mean an encounter with evil pries int our convictions and brings about a change. In the same way, it might challenge something we consider good and give us a different perception of it. It cannot happen through spectacle; it has to be the result of human desires interacting with each other. Percy Shelley argues for empathy, or emotional honesty. In his Defense of Poetry (1821) argues that the imagination is the wellspring of compassion. The greatest moral good is understanding another even someone quite different than us. It is the transformation (the empathic response) that makes great moral art. What do relationships look like? What are characters expectations? What are the living, spiritual, community conditions? Is there hope or desolation why? What is the existing inhibiter or catalyst? Formal/New Criticism: Formalist study the way author s construct their texts, both assuming and demonstrating how devices can impact the reader s experience. They want readers to focus on the words rather than University of Washington in the High School Lynden Christian School Mr Thomas 4

5 their preconceived notions (their personal lenses politics, religion, culture) and let the design of the text speak for itself. To achieve this, they practice/avoid: The Heresy of Paraphrase Formalists do not believe the story is as important as the structure; how something is put together is just as valuable as the underlying themes. Close Reading practice examining only what is in front of them (reading only from the inside-out, not outside-in as the other literary schools do) Explication - practice looking for unifying patterns in a work (repeated words, repeated phrases, parallel characters). Examine Devices device constitutes meaning, and all the parts work together to create a layered examination of the subject Parallel Characters Recurring motifs (repeated symbols, images, devices, themes) What caused (and what were the results of) the finished product? University of Washington in the High School Lynden Christian School Mr Thomas 5