Literature Theory English 10

Literature Theory Affective Theory The main job is to arouse emotion in the reader. Any release of emotion is positive. If an emotion is felt, then we will ACT! Those without the release of emotion, will not act, and therefore, will not grow or mature.

Literature Theory Expressive Theory The artist expresses meaning through his feelings The TRUTH lies in how we feel or react If a feeling is in one individual, then it is in all of us. The task is to reach all people through these emotions Meaning exists…we have to find it.

Literature Theory Imitative Theory All Art imitates life It is a re-creation or re-representation of actual life. The events aren’t important, but the consequences are. Literature shows us how we are to “BE” It clarifies things in our lives.

Critical Perspectives The Great tradition – Lewis (1895-1978) There is a link between all great writers, because each learns from the writers that came before. Literature Progresses. This places a moral obligation on the writer and the reader needs to be aware of that tradition.

Critical Perspectives Reader Response- I.A. RIChards (1893-1979) The individual Reader’s response is the important thing. What the writer might have intended is not important, what the reader finds is. The Readers way into the text is through connection made between the words and our perception of their meaning. School-Based Theory.

Critical perspectives Genre Literature is classified into genre categories, then judged against the conventions of that genre. This is used often in media studies.

Critical Perspectives Structuralism The focus is on analyzing without evaluating, showing what and how, but not judging how effective it is. Barthes – literature is a system of codes rooted in culture that invites us to explore what “reality” is. What we find in the text depends on what our culture is. Macherey – a writer re-assembles pre-existing ideologies, conventions and codes according to ideologies we might not even be aware of. Jakobson – the patterns in a text and the language are what we should focus on. How you say it rather than what you say.

Critical perspectives Deconstructionists – Derrida Because every test is read differently as readers find meaning, no text can be said to have “meaning”. Words do not create meaning; they merely play linguistic games that follow and break rules. We then create meaning based on interpretation of those rules.