Historical/Biographical

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1 Historical/Biographical Biographical avoid/what it is not Research into the details of A deep understanding of the events Do not confuse a report the author s life and works and experiences of an author s life; about the author with enables a reader to a deep understanding of the actual biographical consider how the content author s fundamental beliefs or criticism; biographical of the target piece has philosophies; look for connections criticism must analyze been influenced by that between what the author has how the author s self, author s experiences. experienced and what is experience, and identity represented in the text then ask manifest in the target why. text. Historical Research into the social, political, cultural and economic contexts in which the target piece was created helps to uncover how this context influenced the author and how references to the context manifest in the text. A reader s awareness of the historical context surrounding the author s experience will help the reader appreciate allusions and references as well as interpret how an understanding of history can help make plot, character, and setting more clear. Do not confuse a summary about a time period or era with actual historical criticism; historical criticism must analyze how the historical context influences the text, its content and themes.

2 Reader-Response Reader- Response Reader- Response is based on the idea that there is an interaction between a reader and a text. RR criticism involves the reader uncovering their individual response to a text, identifying what in the text elicited that response, how that structure produces the resulting feeling, and even (to an extent) what within the reader s identity or experience facilitated that interaction with the text. RR is wholly subjective; though the reader cannot arbitrarily say a texts means whatever they want it to mean a reader must be able to support their interpretations through an examination of what the text does and how it does it. RR is based on the cause- effect cycle between a reader and a text. The text produces a response within the reader, which then influences the reader s subsequent interpretation of the text. avoid/what it is not RR is not a judgment of the quality or appeal of a text, but rather is an examination of what structures elicit a response from a reader and why.

3 Psychoanalytical Psychological Psychological criticism is usually used to analyze characters within a work by considering a character s actions and motivations, often by applying Freud s concepts of the id (biological impulses and desires), superego (social constrains and norms), and ego (the part of the self which attempts to reconcile and alleviate the tension between the id and superego). Psychological criticism seeks to examine characters by probing within their minds and exploring hidden conflicts, motivations, tensions, or underlying influences on their behavior. A close examination of a character s actions, words, emotions, thoughts, appearance, and relationships are a starting point; from then, the reader must draw inferences based on an understanding of human behavior, impulses and identity. avoid/what it is not Psychological analysis is not just about how a character is represented in a text, but is also about what underlying psychology within that character manifests through the character.

4 Formalism ( New Criticism ) Formalism (New Criticism) New Criticism and Formalism focus on the structure of the text and what literary devices it employs to accomplish a purpose. This tends to ignore historical or biographical contexts of the author, instead emphasizing the work the writing does via overarching structure, work choice, language, relationships within the text, images, and symbols. What the author meant is irrelevant; New Criticism focuses on what the text does and how it does it. Thorough criticism therefore requires multiple readings of a text. New Criticism also tends to focus on attention to detail, while often also connecting those details to a universal theme or human experience. New Criticism could be characterizes as looking at how the pieces of the text, like a puzzle, when examined together can produce a broader picture. New Criticism involves examining minute details in order to consider how those details accumulate to communicate a broader concept. This is the kind of literary criticism most common to high school literature classes that demand the citation of text evidence to support a broader theme or assertion. avoid/what it is not New Criticism is not concerned with what the author intended to accomplish, nor is it specifically about a reader s response. This approach implies that the form of a text has the ability to communicate a rather unambiguous truth or theme through the close examination of details.

5 Marxist Marxist Based on Marxist theories about power in society, as well as disconnect or dissonance between what is and how people perceive it to be. This latter perception, according to Marxism, is rooted in the dominant ideology imposed upon a society. This ideology is accepted by a society as normal, natural, inevitable and just, but Marx contents that the maintenance of the ideology serves only to reinforce and legitimize structures of social, political and economic power. Ideology maintains social strata and position, facilitating the exploitation of the lower classes by the higher classes. Thus, ideology serves to preserve the status quo and suppress change, revolution, or progress. Marxist literary criticism seeks to examine how ideology influences, manifests, and informs literature as well as how the norms and ideologies constructed within a text serve the same sort of social control. Marxist criticism also requires readers to consider the dissonance between what is and what is perceived to be. avoid/what it is not Marxist literary criticism is not about identifying power struggles present in a work of literature; rather, this lens is as much about exposing what is unsaid and unseen in the text.

6 Feminist Feminist Feminist criticism, as well as gender studies, examine the assumptions and assertions made within a text about gender roles and identity in both the society represented in the text as well as in the societal context in which the author created the text. Gender studies extends feminist criticism to consider how concepts of gender, femininity and masculinity imbue or color the attitude and effect of a text, based on the idea that gender roles are constructed by a dominant ideology in order to maintain the power status quo. Like Marxist criticism, Feminist criticism considers how language and ideology reinforce a status quo; as with Marxist criticism, Feminist requires attention to what is versus what is perceived or presented as truth. avoid/what it is not Feminist criticism is not by nature the demeaning or subverting of masculinity, but rather the recognition of the inequality between genders and how that inequality manifests and can be interpreted and experienced by people differently based on their constructed gender.

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