Literary Theories And Literary Criticism - 1318 Words

Literary theories and literary criticism New Historicism 1. †¢ It is a literary theory based on the criticism of Stephen Greenblatt and philosophy Michel Foucault. †¢ It states that literature should be studied and interpreted in context with the author’s history as well as the history of the critic. †¢ Acknowledges that the author’s literature is influenced by his/her situations or surroundings. †¢ The critic’s response is also influenced by his/her surroundings, beliefs, values and prejudices. †¢ Shows how the author’s settings affected their work and how the literary work reflects on the author. †¢ Recognizes current cultural contexts, which helps critic’s to come to their conclusions about the literary work at hand. 2. †¢ Literary context/work: The Merchant of Venice. †¢ One wanted to know if the play written by Shakespeare, was anti-Semitic. †¢ One could not simply answer yes/no. Research needed to be done and the text needed to be studied and analysed. †¢ You needed to look into the cultural history of the play to come to a conclusion. (Study social classes; point of view of the Jews). †¢ By studying the cultural history of the given work reveals a deeper meaning of the text as well as seeing what the history is about. Post-colonialism - the extension of civilization 1. †¢ Joseph-Ernest Renan †¢ Analyses, explains and responds to the cultural legacy of colonialism and imperialism. †¢ The study of knowledge, its nature and verifiability †¢ Focusses on human values of externalShow MoreRelatedArchetypal Literary Criticism Essay1614 Words   |  7 Pages In Literary Criticism, there is an idea that believes that Archetypes make up literature’s meaning. The concept of Archetypes in literature has been the subject of extensive examination in Literary Criticism. â€Å"Criticism can be broken down into two broad categories: evaluative and interpretive† (Gardner 1287). The criticism is based on Literary Theory, which is composed of ideas that help interpret, and analyze literature. Everything in literature has a meaning, and many different people cameRead MoreLiterary Criticism Of Literature And Literature873 Words   |  4 Pagesbecause throughout history writers, as well as literary historians have failed to construct an agreeable definition (Bressler 12). When one thinks of literature, he or she should think of literary criticism—different critical perspectives. Literary criticism requires readers to analyze literary texts with knowledge of theories. Thus, the next time one reads a text, he or she should first identify the theory that he or she plans to use. The theories represent a set of critical lens that one will useRead More Anatomy of Criticism Essay example1249 Words   |  5 PagesAnatomy of Criticism  Ã‚   Introduction In his Anatomy of Criticism, Northrop Frye offers a complex theory that aspires to describe a unifying system for literary criticism. It can be argued, however, that in attempting to delineate such an all-inclusive structure, Fryes system eliminates identity in literature. The present essay takes up this argument and offers examples of how identity is precluded by Fryes system as outlined in Anatomy of Criticism. Structure Vs. Identity In Fryes systemRead MoreSocialist Feminist Criticism1164 Words   |  5 PagesSocialist Feminist Criticism: You Dropped the Bomb on Me, Baby Feminism and gender studies have been described as having the ability to challenge literary and culture theory to confront the difficult task of assimilating the findings of an expanding sphere of inquiry (Contemporary Literary Criticism 567). This area of study has taken center stage during the last fifty years, not only in our society, but also in literary criticism. Although the terrain Feminism traverses can hardly be narrowedRead MoreThe Formalist Critics, by Cleanth Brooks1513 Words   |  7 PagesBrooks writes in his essay â€Å"The Formalist Critics† from 1951 about criticism that formalist critics encounter and tries to show these arguments from his point of view and even indicates common ground with other literary critics. Cleanth Brooks argues that we lose the intrinsically obvious points of works of literature if we view the work through the different lenses of literary theory, however we are always viewing the literary work through a subjective lens, since th e author and the critic cannotRead MoreHeart of Darkness Themes Essay1654 Words   |  7 PagesJacob Lachini Ms. Batten ENG 4U1-03 Monday, October 29th, 2012. Literary Criticisms in Relation to Heart of Darkness Interpretation is the revenge of the intellect upon art. Even more. It is the revenge of the intellect upon the world. To interpret is to impoverish, to deplete the world -- in order to set up a shadow world of meanings,† Susan Sontag. It is a persons interpretation of any form of literary work that defines itself, what the author intends a reader to discover may be completelyRead MoreFeminist Literary Criticism By Joanne Rowling1012 Words   |  5 Pagesfinished (About – Roger Galbraith). These are recent events in our history, and incidents like this are the reason feminist theory in literary criticism exists. Feminist literary criticism is defined as, â€Å"literary analysis that arises from the viewpoint of feminism, feminist theory and/or feminist politics† (Napikoski). There are a number of aims that feminist literary theory fights for. One is teaching readers to see things from a woman character’s point of view in a written work, as many readersRead MoreMatthew Arnold as a Poet and Critic1500 Words   |  6 PagesPoet and Critic The word criticism is derived from a Greek word that means judgment. So, criticism is basically the exercise of judgment, and literary criticism is, therefore, the exercise of judgment on works of literature. From this, it is clear that the nature of literary criticism is to examine a work of literature, and its function is to identify its points of excellence and its inadequacies, and finally to evaluate its artistic worth. Literary criticism concerns itself with askingRead MoreAnalysis Of `` No One `` By Zora Neale Hurston And Toni Morrison881 Words   |  4 Pagesliterature is flux, to agree or disagree with his sentiments is the very core of an ancient debate: how is literature to be critiqued. Literary theory is wide—its proponents range from deconstructionism and structuralism to aestheticism, and culturalism, flowing through queer theory, gender theory, and race theory to name a few subsets of the latter. The diversity in this theory is easily explained, as it stems from the own diversity of writers and works that have been produced. The identities of these worksRead MoreDescribing Stylistics as a Concept in English Studies Essay1054 Words   |  5 Pageshope of arriving at analyses which are more broadly based, rigorous and objective. The pioneers were the Prague and Russian schools, but their approaches have been appropriated and extended by radical theory in recent years. Stylistics can be evaluative (i.e. judge the literary worth on stylistic criteria), but more commonly attempts to simply analyse and describe the workings of texts which have already been selected as noteworthy on other grounds. Stylistic analysis