1. Introduction to Literary Criticism CP English IV

2. Literary Criticism and Theory Any piece of text can be read with a number of different sets of “glasses,” meaning you are looking for different things within the text. Literary Criticism helps readers understand a text in relation to the author, culture, and other texts.

3. The Most Common Critical Stances for Literature Formalistic Historical/Cultural Psychological Gender Marxist Reader-Response

4. Theories Formalist – reading of a text focuses on symbol, metaphor, imagery, and so on. Historical – examines a text in relation to its historical or cultural backdrop and effect on history or culture. Psychological – a way to understand characters behaviors and actions Feminist – a way to balance out the under-representation of literary works written by female authors. Marxist – answers the overarching question, whom does the work 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. Reader Response – considers readers' reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text.

5. Formalist Criticism (p.2095) A formalist (aka New Criticism) reading of a text focuses on symbol, metaphor, imagery, and so on. Formalism ignores the author’s biography and focuses only on the interaction of literary elements within the text. It’s what you do most often in English literature.

6. A Formalist Reading of “The Three Little Pigs” What does the wolf symbolize? Notice the consonance of “I’ll huff and I’ll puff…” How does the story foreshadow the final fate of the pigs? What does the wolf’s dialogue tell us about his character?

7. Historical/Cultural Criticism (p.2101) Of course, this critical viewpoint examines a text in relation to its historical or cultural backdrop. You may examine a text’s effect on history or culture. A historical/cultural analysis is often very similar to a biographical analysis, and it’s possible to view history, culture, and biography in a single essay.

8. Historical/Cultural Reading of The Crucible How accurate is Arthur Miller’s account of the Salem Witch Trials? What can The Crucible reveal about colonial New England and Puritan society?

9. Psychological Criticism (p. 2099) Psychological critical theory applies the theories of psychology to a text to better understand its characters Based largely on Freud, this theory hinges on the belief that an examination of people’s (characters’) unconscious desires.

10. Psychological Criticism Drives governing human behavior Id – the animal nature that says, “Do what feels good.” Ego – the reality-based part of your personality that makes decisions to satisfy the Id and Superego Superego – the socialized “conscience” that tells you what’s right or fair

11. Psychological Criticism Oedipus Complex – Every boy has the unconscious desire to have sex with their mother; consequently, sons are deeply afraid of their fathers, and fathers are deeply threatened by their sons. Elektra Complex – Every daughter has the unconscious desire to have sex with their father; consequently, daughters are deeply afraid of their mothers, and mothers are deeply threatened by their daughters.

12. Psychological Criticism Of course, these complexes have their origins in literature and mythology. Psychological criticism is a way to understand characters, not diagnose them.

13. A Psychological Reading of Macbeth Macbeth kills King Duncan because he unconsciously recognizes the king as a father-figure. Hence, Duncan is a rival for power and the affections of the people. In the latter acts of the play, Macbeth has indulged his id so often that his ego has lost the ability to restrain it.

14. Gender Criticism (p.2105) Gender criticism analyzes literature through the lens of socially-constructed gender roles. The largest part of gender criticism is feminism, which critiques and seeks to correct women’s subordination to men in society. In its purist form, feminism is about equality.

15. Gender Criticism A newer segment of gender criticism is “queer theory,” which looks for the influence of homosexuality within texts. Research of this type is fairly difficult because, as you’ve learned, homosexuality was largely suppressed in Europe and America, and it hasn’t been openly discussed until the last few decades.

16. A Feminist Reading of Goldilocks As a single, young woman, Goldilocks finds herself without means or opportunity because she is unattached to a father or a husband. Perhaps, this is why she’s alone in the woods. An independent woman, then, is a threat to the “normal” nuclear family, represented by the three bears.

17. Marxist 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: Marxism attempts to reveal the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience

18. Marxist Commodificaion - "the attitude of valuing things not for their utility but for their power to impress others or for their resale possibilities" Conspicuous consumption - "the obvious acquisition of things only for their sign value and/or exchange value" Dialectical materialism - "the theory that history develops neither in a random fashion nor in a linear one but instead as struggle between contradictions that ultimately find resolution in a synthesis of the two sides. For example, class conflicts lead to new social systems” Material circumstances - "the economic conditions underlying the society. To understand social events, one must have a grasp of the material circumstances and the historical situation in which they occur" Reflectionism - associated with Vulgar Marxism - "a theory that the superstructure of a society mirrors its economic base and, by extension, that a text reflects the society that produced it” Superstructure - "The social, political, and ideological systems and institutions--for example, the values, art, and legal processes of a society--that are generated by the base”

19. Reader-Response At its most basic level, reader response criticism considers readers' reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text. Reception theory is applied to the general reading public rather than an individual reader. Each generation has different experiences, values, issues, etc. Therefore, each generation will read a work differently. Analyzes the response to the novel and how the novel impacts society.

20. More Literary Theory New ways of viewing literature (and the world) continue to develop, but these are the main theories you’ll come in contact with.