Hughes: IB Lterature HL Critical Literary Theory Image: Stockholm Public Library
Critical Strategies (Lenses) for Reading and Writing about Literature The following information comes mainly from the text, Thinking and Writing about Literature, by Michael Meyer, and is meant as an introduction to the concept of critical analysis. Additional content comes from K. Meister of Como Park High School, MN. The following overview of strategies should help you look at the intriguing possibilities that you can use to interpret a work of literature. No one approach is the right approach. No one approach can be used for all literature. The appropriateness of the strategy may well depend on the work itself as well as your own understanding and experiences. By all means do not go off into unsupportable areas. Literary criticism, like any valid hypothesis, attempts to account for the text without distorting or misrepresenting it. Enough said. Formalist Lens Formalist critics focus on the formal elements (literary style) of the work: its language, structure and tone. A formalist reads the literature as an independent work rather than a reflection of the author s state of mind or as a reflection of history. A formalist pays special attention to the language, stylistic choices, irony, metaphor, symbol as well as the plot elements or narrative techniques. Formalists look at how all the elements of writing work together to give it shape and meaning. Poetry lends itself well to the close reading of the formalist approach. Obviously other forms of literature are also evaluated by this approach, and you will recognize it as the one that is formally taught to you in high school. Biographical Lens Knowledge of an author s life can help a reader understand his/her work more completely. Events in a work may actually follow an author s life, or the work may be based on people the author may have known. Biographical information may sometimes complicate the work and at other times this information does adds to our understanding and enriches our appreciation. It is best to make sure that the biographical information you are working with is absolutely correct before using it as a judgment of the writing. Psychoanalytic Lens Some critics use the psychoanalytic theories to understand more fully the text, the writer and the reader. Such critics use this approach to explore motives of characters and symbolic meanings of events. Psychological critics also try to describe the reader s response to a work. Consider the personality, feelings, and desires of the author. What repressed material is expressed in imagery or symbols? This approach is based heavily on the impulses, desires and feelings about which a person is unaware but which influences emotions and behavior. Consider some of the prevalent psychoanalytic theories such as the Oedipal complex, the Electra complex, the Id, the Ego, and the Superego Historical Lens Historical critics may use literature as a window into history or they may look the other direction and say that the time period had an influence on the writing. Literary historians move beyond the author s personal life and into the social and intellectual events of the period. Often this approach is used to connect different works together or to show how one author or text may have influenced another. The main idea in this approach is using the historic background to shed some meaning on the writing. Feminist Criticism Feminist critics attempt to explain how gender affects the way men and women write about each other, or whether they use language differently. They also look at how men and women respond differently to the same texts. Consider how sexual stereotypes are either reinforced or contradicted. Consider what role gender or sexuality plays in this work.
Mythological or Archetypal Criticism Mythological approaches attempt to identify what in a work creates deep universal responses. Mythological critics try to identify the hopes, fears and expectations of entire cultures. Since myths attempt to explain a people s origin or purpose, this approach seeks to connect the writing to a culture s view of itself. These critics do not attempt to explain if the myth is truth, but to look at its connection to the common human concerns or values of the culture. Recurrent patters are an attempt to define universal meaning and these symbolic characters, images and themes are often called archetypes. These archetypes are stones of quests, initiations, descendents to the underworld or heavenly ascents. Ideas like water symbolizing rebirth, setting suns symbolizing the approach of death, green symbolizing fertility or black symbolizing chaos, evil or death all come from the mythological approach. Consider the archetypal characters of the hero, the earth mother, the rebel, anti-hero, magician, the victim, the temptress Reader Response. This seems self explanatory. This approach focuses its attention on the reader rather than the work, but it requires a deep and strong connection to the text. The literary work is seen as a changing creation of the readers as he/she adds his/her experiences to the text. These experiences change with the readers even though the text stays the same. In fact a reader may respond one way to the text, and then several years later read the same piece and have a very different response. This theory is not an explanation for bizarre interpretations but attempts to help us understand how our responses are shaped by both the text and ourselves. Marxist Criticism: This lens views texts based on the cultural theory of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engles (economists, political theorists). Assumes that each society is made up of a set of concepts, beliefs, values, and ways of thinking influenced by economic and class structure. For this lens, consider who has the power/money and who doesn t. What role does power, money, or class play in this work? Consider the context of the work in relation to the social class and time period of the author. Modernism/ Post-Modernism There is a significant difference between these two literary lenses. Modernism takes its theories from the period of Enlightenment (beginning of 1700s through the early 1800s), whereas Post-Modernism is a product of the late 20 th century. Both modernism and post-modernism reject traditional forms of literature (chronological plots, continuous narratives, close endings, etc.) in favor of experimental forms. Both celebrate new forms of fragmentation. Modernists celebrate progress through science and technology; post-modernists are skeptical of progress, are antitechnology, are neo-luddites, and celebrate new-age religions. Post-modernism is skeptical of the modernization of society: mass production, over consumption, increased bureaucracy, increasing alienation of the individual. There is a lot of debate about these two lenses. Some people say that there really isn't a distinction between the two and that postmodernism is just the latest development of modernity rather than something qualitatively different. It's difficult to know where exactly to draw the line because the modernist movement is so concerned with things like progress and self-transformation, that it's tough to say whether what comes after it should be seen as opposing response or part of its own evolution.
Literature through a Feminist Lens Also known as gender criticism, this lens examines how sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works. Gender studies began with the feminist movement and were influenced by such works as Simone de Beauvoir s The Second Sex (1949) and Kate Millett s Sexual Politics (1970) as well as sociology, psychology, and anthropology. Feminist critics believe that culture has been so completely dominated by men that literature is full of unexamined male produced assumptions. To speak of "Feminism" as a theory is already a reduction. However, in terms of its theory (rather than as its reality as a historical movement in effect for some centuries) feminism might be categorized into two general groups: theories aimed at defining or establishing a feminist literary canon or theories seeking to re-interpret and revision literature (and culture and history and so forth) from a less patriarchal slant theories focusing on sexual difference and sexual politics (including gender studies, lesbian studies, cultural feminism, radical feminism, and socialist/materialist feminism). Further, women (and men) needed to consider what it meant to be a woman, to consider how much of what society has often deemed inherently female traits, are culturally and socially constructed. Early projects in feminist theory included resurrecting women's literature that in many cases had never been considered seriously or had been erased over time (e.g., Charlotte Perkins Gilman was quite prominent in the early 20th century but was virtually unknown until her work was "re-discovered" later in the century). Since the 1960s the writings of many women have been rediscovered, reconsidered, and collected in large anthologies such as The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women. Recently, gender criticism has expanded beyond its original feminist perspective. Critics have explored the impact of different sexual orientations on literary creation and reception. A men s movement has also emerged in response to feminism. The men s movement does not seek to reject feminism but to rediscover masculine identity in an authentic, contemporary way. Led by poet Robert Bly, the men s movement has paid special attention to interpreting poetry and fables as myths of psychic growth and sexual identity. Key Terms (this list is woefully inadequate; suggestions for additional terms would be appreciated): Androgyny - taken from Women Studies page of Drew University - "'...suggests a world in which sex-roles are not rigidly defined, a state in which the man in every woman' and the woman in every man' could be integrated and freely expressed' (Tuttle 19). Used more frequently in the 1970's, this term was used to describe a blurring, or combination of gender roles so that neither masculinity or femininity is dominant." Backlash - a term, which may have originated with Susan Faludi, referring to a movement ( ca. 1980s) away from or against feminism. Essentialism - taken from Women Studies page of Drew University - "The belief in a uniquely feminine essence, existing above and beyond cultural conditioning...the mirror image of biologism which for centuries justified the oppression of women by proclaiming the natural superiority of men (Tuttle 90)." Tong's use of the term is relative to the explanation of the division of radical feminism into radical-cultural and radical libertarian. Patriarchy - "Sexism is perpetuated by systems of patriarchy where male-dominated structures and social arrangements elaborate the oppression of women. Patriarchy almost by definition also exhibits androcentrism, meaning male centered. Coupled with patriarchy, androcentrism assumes that male norms operate through out all social institutions and become the standard to which all persons adhere" (Joe Santillan - University of California at Davis). Sources: Literature, an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama, 6 th edition, Harper Collins, 1995 The webpage of Dr. Kristi Siegel, Associate Professor, English Dept. Director, English Graduate Program, Chair - Languages, Literature, and Communication Division Mount Mary College, 2900 North Menomonee River Pkwy; Milwaukee, WI 53222, siegelkr@wi.rr.com http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm
Literature through a formalist Lens The foundations of this course, IB English Literature, are rooted in the formalist lens, which regards literature as a unique form of human knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms (Kennedy). All the elements necessary for understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form style, structure, tone, imagery, etc. that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text s content to shape its effects upon readers. Considerations of the formalist lens Great literature is universal. A universal message is a message that transcends time and culture. A universal message reveals a great truth about the human condition. Specific passages in great works of literature can be closely analyzed to determine its message and the constructs utilized to convey the message. A formalist reads the literature as an independent work rather than a reflection of the author s state of mind or a sa reflection of history. Questions that may be answered from a formalist perspective include: How is the work structured or organized? How does it begin? Where does it go next? How does it end? What is the work s plot? How is its plot related to its structure? What is the relationship of each part of the work to the work as a whole? How are the parts related to one another? Who is narrating or telling what happens in the work? How is the narrator, speaker, or character revealed to readers? How do we come to know and understand this figure? Who are the major and minor characters, what do they represent, and how do they relate to one another? What are the time and place of the work its setting? How is the setting related to what we know of the characters and their actions? To what extent is the setting symbolic? What kind of language does the author use to describe, narrate, explain, or otherwise create the world of the literary work? More specifically, what images, similes, metaphors, symbols appear in the work? What is their function? What meanings do they convey? (DiYanni 1562). What is ignored with the formalist lens? The name of the author is not important. The time in which the author lived is not important. Any cultural impact on the author s life is not important. The political beliefs of the author are not important. The actual reader is not important. Sources: DiYanni, Robert. Literature Approaches to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama. 2nd ed. Boston: McGraw Hill, 2008. Print. Kennedy, X. J. and Gioia, Dana. Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, Drama, and Writing. Revised edition for Burlington County College. NY: Pearson, 2011. Print. Wishart, Mrs. Catherine, Adjunct Instructor (online ppt)
Literature through a historical/cultural Lens Historical Criticism insisted that to understand a literary piece we need to understand the time period in which the text was written, the author's biography and social background, ideas circulating at the time, and the cultural milieu. This school of criticism fell into disfavor as the New Critics emerged (late 1970s to 1980s). New Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by considering the work within the framework of the prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. New Historicists concern themselves with the political function of literature and with the concept of power, the intricate means by which cultures produce and reproduce themselves. These critics focus on revealing the historically specific model of truth and authority (not a "truth" but a "cultural construct") reflected in a given work. In other words, history here is not a mere chronicle of facts and events, but rather a complex description of human reality and evolution of preconceived notions. Literary works may or may not tell us about various factual aspects of the world from which they emerge, but they will tell us about prevailing ways of thinking at the time: ideas of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc. They raise questions of interest to anthropologists and sociologists. New Historicism is more "sociohistorical" than it is a delving into factoids: concerned with ideological products or cultural constructs which are formations of any era. Typical questions: What language/characters/events present in the work reflect the current events of the author s day? Are there words in the text that have changed their meaning from the time of the writing? How are events' interpretation and presentation a product of the culture of the author? Does the work's presentation support or condemn the event? Can it be seen to do both? How does this portrayal criticize the leading political figures or movements of the day? How does the literary text function as part of a continuum with other historical/cultural texts from the same period...? How can we use a literary work to "map" the interplay of both traditional and subversive discourses circulating in the culture in which that work emerged and/or the cultures in which the work has been interpreted? How does the work consider traditionally marginalized populations? What value systems are noticeable in the text and with what bias are they presented? Works Consulted Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. 7th ed. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College Publishers, 1999. Biddle, Arthur W., and Toby Fulwiler. Reading, Writing, and the Study of Literature. NY: Random House, 1989. Lynn, Steven. Texts and Contexts: Writing About Literature with Critical Theory. 2nd ed. NY: Longman, 1998. Murfin, Ross, and Supryia M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Purdue University Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/09/
Literature through a Marxist Lens (1930s to present) Essential question of the Marxist theory: Whom Does it Benefit? Based on the theories of Karl Marx (and so influenced by philosopher Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel), this school concerns itself with class differences, economic and otherwise, as well as the implications and complications of the capitalist system. The Marxist believes that our socioeconomic position (or status) is the ultimate source of how we interact with the world. Theorists, therefore, using the Marxist lens, therefore, are interested in answering the overarching question, whom does it [the work, the effort, the policy, the road, etc.] benefit? The elite? The middle class? And Marxists critics are also interested in how the lower or working classes are oppressed - in everyday life and in literature. Marxist theories in literature: This lens is concerned with The ways in which power, money, and politics are represented in literary texts What struggle exists between the working class and the ruling (elite) class. How those in power justify seek to maintain their power and justify it through art and literature. Though a staggering number of different nuances exist within this school of literary theory, Marxist critics generally work in areas covered by the following questions. Typical questions: Works Consulted Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed, etc.? What is the social class of the author? Which class does the work claim to represent? What values does it reinforce? What values does it subvert? What conflict can be seen between the values the work champions and those it portrays? What social classes do the characters represent? How do characters from different classes interact or conflict? What is the economic situation of the characters, and what happens to them as a result of this status? To what extent are the lives of characters influenced or determined by social (i.e. how an individual is expected to behave in a given circumstance), political (i.e. the directives of the state), and economic (i.e. the interplay between production, supply, and demand) forces? What social forces and institutions are represented in the work? To what extent does the work overlook the economic, social, and political implications of its material? Purdue University Online Writing Lab: https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/09/
Mythological / Archetypal / Symbolic Definition: A mythological / archetypal approach to literature assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters, and motifs (i.e. archetypes) that evokes basically the same response in all people. According to the psychologist Carl Jung, mankind possesses a "collective unconscious" that contains these archetypes and that is common to all of humanity. Myth critics identify these archetypal patterns and discuss how they function in the works. They believe that these archetypes are the source of much of literature's power. A sample of archetypal interpretations follow. These are NOT the only interpretations of archetype, which is often closely aligned with culture. archetypal women - the Good Mother, the Terrible Mother, and the Soul Mate (such as the Virgin Mary) water - creation, birth-death-resurrection, purification, redemption, fertility, growth, life garden earth, cycle of life (birth/death), paradise (Eden), innocence, fertility desert fire, spiritual vastness, death, transition, lack of direction (lost) colors: red - blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder green - growth, fertility black - chaos, death, evil serpent -sensuality, mystery, wisdom, destruction, temptation numbers seven and three appear most clearly in human storytelling. Their representations are varied, but each leads to the concept of perfection, divinity, unity, and holiness shadow hidden self, unconscious persona, anima/animus hero archetype - The hero is involved in a quest (in which he overcomes obstacles). He experiences initiation (involving a separation, transformation, and return), and finally he serves as a scapegoat, that is, he dies to atone. Advantages: Provides a universalistic approach to literature and identifies a reason why certain literature may survive the test of time. It works well with works that are highly symbolic. Disadvantages: Literature may become little more than a vehicle for archetypes, and this approach may ignore the "art" of literature. (another explanation of the Mythological Lens) Mythological Criticism: This approach emphasizes the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works. Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism explores the artist s common humanity by tracing how the individual imagination uses myths and symbols common to different cultures and epochs. One key concept in mythological criticism is the archetype, a symbol, character, situation, or image that evokes a deep universal response, which entered literary criticism from Swiss psychologist Carl Jung. According to Jung, all individuals share a collective unconscious, a set of primal memories common to the human race, existing below each person s conscious mind often deriving from primordial phenomena such as the sun, moon, fire, night, and blood, archetypes according to Jung trigger the collective unconscious. Another critic, Northrop Frye, defined archetypes in a more limited way as a symbol, usually an image, which recurs often enough in literature to be recognizable as an element of one s literary experience as a whole. Regardless of the definition of archetype they use, mythological critics tend to view literary works in the broader context of works sharing a similar pattern. Some of this information is taken directly from : Skylar Hamilton Burris, http://www.editorskylar.com/litcrit.html
Psychological Lens and Literary Criticism The application of specific psychological principles (particularly those of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan) to the study of literature. Psychoanalytic criticism may focus on the writer's psyche, the study of the creative process, the study of psychological types and principles present within works of literature, or the effects of literature upon its readers. In addition to Freud and Lacan, major figures include Carl Jung, Marie Bonaparte, Bruno Bettelheim, Shoshona Felman, Jane Gallop, Norman Holland, George Klein, Elizabeth Wright, Frederick Hoffman, and, Simon Lesser. Psychological criticism employs three approaches: 1. Creative process of the artist what is the nature of literary genus and how does it relate to normal mental functions 2. Psychological study of the author employing modern psychology to understand the subject s motivation and behavior 3. Analysis of fictional characters bringing modern insights of human behavior into the study of how fictional characters act Key Terms: Unconscious - the irrational part of the psyche unavailable to a person's consciousness except through dissociated acts or dreams. Freud's model of the psyche: Id - completely unconscious part of the psyche that serves as a storehouse of our desires, wishes, and fears. The id houses the libido, the source of psychosexual energy. Ego - mostly to partially (<--a point of debate) conscious part of the psyche that processes experiences and operates as a referee or mediator between the id and superego. Superego - often thought of as one's "conscience"; the superego operates "like an internal censor [encouraging] moral judgments in light of social pressures" (123, Bressler - see General Resources below). Lacan's model of the psyche: Imaginary - a preverbal/verbal stage in which a child (around 6-18 months of age) begins to develop a sense of separateness from her mother as well as other people and objects; however, the child's sense of sense is still incomplete. Symbolic - the stage marking a child's entrance into language (the ability to understand and generate symbols); in contrast to the imaginary stage, largely focused on the mother, the symbolic stage shifts attention to the father who, in Lacanian theory, represents cultural norms, laws, language, and power (the symbol of power is the phallus--an arguably "genderneutral" term). Real - an unattainable stage representing all that a person is not and does not have. Both Lacan and his critics argue whether the real order represents the period before the imaginary order when a child is completely fulfilled--without need or lack, or if the real order follows the symbolic order and represents our "perennial lack" (because we cannot return to the state of wholeness that existed before language). Advantages: It can be a useful tool for understanding some works, such as Henry James The Turning of the Screw, in which characters obviously have psychological issues. Like the biographical approach, knowing something about a writer's psychological make up can give us insight into her work. Disadvantages: Psychological criticism can turn a work into little more than a psychological case study, neglecting to view it as a piece of art. Critics sometimes attempt to diagnose long dead authors based on their works, which is perhaps not the best evidence of their psychology. Critics tend to see sex or sexualty in everything, exaggerating this aspect of literature. Finally, some works do not lend themselves readily to this approach. Sources: Literature, an introduction to fiction, poetry and drama, 6 th edition, Harper Collins, 1995 The webpage of Dr. Kristi Siegel, Associate Professor, English Dept. Director, English Graduate Program, Chair - Languages, Literature, and Communication Division Mount Mary College, 2900 North Menomonee River Pkwy; Milwaukee, WI 53222, siegelkr@wi.rr.com http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm