Critical Approaches to Literature By Ms. Wuerth

Definition: Literary criticism is defining, classifying, analyzing, interpreting and evaluating works of literature

When critics approach a work of literature, they approach it with certain philosophies, assumptions, and understandings. The method one uses in order to approach a work of literature makes up a critical approach. There are many critical approaches to literature.

Before you choose a resource for your paper, you must evaluate whether or not the resource constitutes a critical resource.

Critical resources do not summarize, or provide readers with a “book review.”

Some ways to decide on the relevance of a source:

1. Read the preface: What does the author want to accomplish?

2. Browse through the table of contents and the index This will give you an overview of the source. Is your topic covered in enough depth to be helpful? If you don't find your topic discussed, try searching for some synonyms in the index.

Try to determine if the content of the source is fact, opinion, or propaganda If you think the source is offering facts, are the sources for those facts clearly indicated? Do you think there's enough evidence offered? Is the coverage comprehensive? (As you learn more and more about your topic, you will notice that this gets easier as you become more of an expert. ) Is the language objective or emotional? Are there broad generalizations that overstate or oversimplify the matter? Does the author use a good mix of primary and secondary sources for information? If the source is opinion, does the author offer sound reasons for adopting that stance? (Consider again those questions about the author. Is this person reputable?)

Accuracy How timely is the source? Is source 20 years out of date? Some information becomes dated when new research is available, but other older sources of information can be quite sound 50 or 100 years later. Do some cross-checking. Can you find some of the same information given elsewhere? How credible is the author? If the document is anonymous, what do you know about the organization? Are there vague or sweeping generalizations that aren't backed up with evidence? Are arguments very one-sided with no acknowledgment of other viewpoints?

Audience: Are you the intended audience Audience: Are you the intended audience? Consider the tone, style, level of information, and assumptions the author makes about the reader. Are they appropriate for your needs?

Critical Approaches

1920s--Formalism Formalism originated in Russia in the 1920s. This approach to literature focuses on the formal patterns and technical devices of literature to the exclusion of its subject matter and social values. Formalists views literature as a specialized use of language, and proposes a fundamental opposition between the literary (poetic) use of language and the ordinary or practical use of language. This focus on linguistics proposes that the linguistics of literature is different from the linguistics of practical discourse, which is meant to inform. Formalists would pay attention to syntax, grammatical constructions, rhythm, rhyme, stanza forms, meter, alliteration, and speech sounds.

New Criticism New Criticism is very much like formalism, although it is an American construct. New Critics analyze a piece of literature as if it were a self-sufficient verbal entity, constituted by internal relations and independent of reference either to the state of mind of the author or to the actualities of the eternal world. New Critics do not focus on the linguistics of a work, rather they focus on the complex interplay within a work of ironic, paradoxical, and metaphoric meanings around a humanly important theme.

Feminist Criticism critiques patriarchal language and literature by exposing how these reflect masculine ideology. It examines gender politics in works and traces the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and their relative status, positionings, and marginalizations within works.

Reader Response--In the reader response critical approach, the primary focus falls on the reader and the process of reading rather than on the author or the text. *Literature exists only when it is read; meaning is an event *The literary text possesses no fixed and final meaning or value; there is no one "correct" meaning. Literary meaning and value are "transactional," "dialogic," created by the interaction of the reader and the text. According to Louise Rosenblatt, a poem is "what the reader lives through under the guidance of the text."