1. Literary Criticism
A way to approach, discuss, and understand literature from different perspectives

3. What is it?
“Literary criticism is like a vast river of conversation. To behold it from the outside is daunting, and to enter it may give a paralyzing shock to the system, but once you jump in, the current will become second-nature.” – Professor Sharon Alker, Whitman College
A way to approach specific aspects of literature from different specific perspectives
A way to focus on and discuss central factors, perspectives, and ideas that have led to the creation of the work
A way to focus on and discuss central themes and ideas that become part of the reader’s experience with the work

4. What Is It?
Basically: different lenses critics use to talk about art, literature, and even culture

5. Why is it?
To add depth to the discussion and understanding of different forms of literature.
Allows a reader to focus on specific themes or aspects of a work and discuss how this theme is significant for the novel as a whole
Allows aspects and levels to be revealed that might remain unseen in a more holistic reading.

6. Why Is It?
Different lenses allow critics to consider art with certain assumptions that are made under any given school of theory (i.e. under any given “lens”)
For example, if you put on an “Athlete” lens (this does not actually exist,) you might be looking at literature with the assumption that everyone is driven by a desire to compete, to win, or to better themselves physically

7. Why is it?
Another way to think of it is that critics are seeking to explain why texts exist, and what message authors are sending to readers through their characters, plotlines, themes, and even the structure of their texts (whether purposeful or not)
i.e. A feminist critic might write about how the archetype of the damsel-in-distress princess in Disney movies is a trope which reflects the way we perceive girls’ role in society and damages young girls’ perception of themselves as powerful individuals

8. Why is it?
Also allows critics to focus on particular aspects of a work that they find important (especially important for complex works with multiple storylines and multiple deeply-developed themes.)
Example:
In The Great Gatsby, one theme is that reality can be distorted by one’s expectations. Another is that the American Dream is dead because it is accessible only to those who are already rich, while yet another could be that women are often used are symbolic representations of male socioeconomic achievement. Someone looking through a Marxist theory lens might focus on the second theme, while someone looking through a Feminist lens might focus on the third.

9. What Is it? Another scenario:
If a critic is working with certain Marxist theories, s/he might focus on how the characters in a story interact based on their economic situation, i.e. how the poor treat the rich.
If a critic is working with post-colonial theories, s/he might consider the same story but look at how characters from colonial powers (Britain, France, and even America) treat characters from, say, Africa or the Caribbean.

10. What is it?
Timeline of the most major critical theories (not an exhaustive list, and many overlap):
Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-present)
Formalism, New Criticism, Neo-Aristotelian Criticism (1930s-present)
Psychoanalytic Criticism, Jungian Criticism(1930s-present)
Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)
Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present)
Structuralism/Semiotics (1920s-present)
Post-Structuralism/Deconstruction (1966-present)
New Historicism/Cultural Studies (1980s-present)
Post-Colonial Criticism (1990s-present)
Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)
Gender/Queer Studies (1970s-present)

11. What Is it?
As you can see, theory changes with time, and new theories are always developing or being added to the more traditional theories
It is like a current of conversation, a river, that you are just now jumping into – have to get used to the momentum of the stream

12. Literary Theory Why is it important?
Let’s ask Chimamanda Ngoze Adichie!

13. Karl Marx

14. Marxist Literary Criticism
Based on the works of Karl Marx ( )
Premise:
1. Material conditions in the world are valued above and play a determining role in human thought about the world
2. As a result, a change in material conditions can lead to changes in the way humans think and can cause sweeping social and political change.
3. The economic system is the fundamental base of any society. Other aspects (culture, politics, religion, school etc.) are part of the “superstructure” dependent upon that base.

15. FUNDAMENTAL Base - ECONOMIC SYSTEM
Basic PREMISE
Etc.
religion
politics
culture
FUNDAMENTAL Base - ECONOMIC SYSTEM

16. Basic Premise
People must first acquire certain necessities to live: i.e. food, clothing, housing.
People band together to make this production more efficient
Leads to a division of labor, where people are assigned different tasks
This division leads to a development of class society (not necessarily meaning an economic class).
The needs and desires of these classes are fundamentally at odds with one another.

17. Basic Premise The result of this process is a capitalist system
Wealth is isolated in the hands of a few through the exploitation of working class masses (proletariat)
Fundamental unfairness in the system: its productivity benefits the rich at the expense of the workers
Because of this the capital system contains the seed of its own destruction: it will collapse.
“The history of all hitherto existing society is the history of class struggle.” (Marx)

18. How does this all tie to literature?
Culture (literature in this case) reflects economic, political, and social conditions in society as a whole. Thus, studying culture can yield important information about these.
Specific concepts to focus on when using Marxist literary criticism:
Alienation
Commodification
Fragmentation
Maintenance of Status Quo

19. How does this all tie to literature?
“Critical lenses like Marxism and Feminism ask us to interrogate rather than simply acknowledge the texts that constitute our cultural heritage.”
Marxist literary theory encourages us to consider the ways in which literary texts and the reading audiences for those texts – including ourselves – are socially constructed
Also helps us point out how literature functions as part of ideology – i.e. not only conscious political doctrines but also systems and norms which shape an individual’s mental picture of lived experience

20. Alienation
When, because of the division of labor, the structure of society leads to a separation between individuals.
This is due to the differences in their everyday activities.
Individuals also become estranged from society as a whole because they participate in only a very small portion of it.
Alienation from others and from oneself

21. Alienation

23. Alienation

24. Alienation

25. Alienation

26. Commodification
A commodity is a good produced for exchange within the market system.
Not valued for their function but for the price they can obtain.
The labor of individuals is a commodity
Leads to the individual not being valued for his/her characteristics but instead for their economic function
Quite simply, this leads to the commodification of human beings: this is dehumanizing

28. Commodification

29. Commodification

30. Commodification

31. Fragmentation
Both alienation and commodification lead to the fragmentation of the individual.
The person in a capitalist society is fundamentally fragmented because they lack a holistic comprehension of society.
Only a fragment of society is understood by that person
Person also has only a fragmented understanding of his/her own role in society.

32. Fragmentation

33. Fragmentation
Privileging the private over the public is central to bourgeois individualism
By keeping practices private, masses are kept from understanding others’ role and how it compares to their own (i.e. fragmentation,) and therefore do not understand that they are oppressed

34. Maintenance of Control
Social institutions and practices by which the ruling class retains its control over society and its norms, and thus the economic base (the proletariat).
Ruling class’ power gained from the consent of the masses to follow the direction imposed by this ruling class.
If needed, the “apparatus of state coercive power” will discipline the groups which do not give their consent.

37. Marxist Structuralism
Looks at the ways in which the individual is formed by the prevailing ideologies of society.
Ideology is a shaping factor in the development of individual identity.
The individual is determined not by their own choices, but by the needs of the economic and political system in which they live.

38. Marxist (Literary) Criticism
Not only discusses the object (the literature) but also examines the perspective from which the literature is being examined (the reader)
Emphasis on the way literature reflects history as a class conflict

39. What to look for in literature when applying Marxist Literary Criticism
The effects of the economic system on the thought processes of the characters.
Tensions and struggle between characters resulting from differences in social class.
How these tensions lead to a “revolution” or change in the social system, or a radical change for the characters in the work.
The alienation, commodification, or fragmentation of the individual.
Processes by which the ruling class maintains its control over those below them.

40. Questions to Pose as a Marxist Critic
Who are the powerful people depicted in the text? Who are the powerless people? Are they depicted with equal attention?
Why do the powerful have that power? Why is it denied to others?
Is there evidence of class conflict and/or struggle?
Is there evidence of alienation, fragmentation, and/or commodification?
Does the bourgeoisie in the text, either consciously or unconsciously, routinely repress and manipulate less powerful groups? If so, what are the tools they use? News? Media? Religion? Literature?

41. Questions to Pose as a Marxist Critic
Does the society that is depicted value things for their usefulness, for their potential resale or trade, or for their power to convey social status?
Do you find in the text itself evidence that it is a product of the culture in which it originated?
What ideology is revealed by the answers to the preceding questions? Does it support the values of capitalism or any other “ism” that institutionalizes the domination of one group of people over another – for example, racism, sexism, or imperialism? Or does it condemn such systems?
Does this text make you aware of your own acceptance of any social, economic, or political practices that involve control or oppression of others?