1. Literary Criticism: An Introduction

2. Historicism Interested in the history behind a text
Uses information from biographical facts and historical contexts to build meaning
How was this text influenced by the era it was created in?
How do the authors personal experiences contribute to the story?

3. New Criticism Meaning from the text and only the text
Advocates close reading and detailed analysis
Not interested in the life of the writer and the time period of the writing

4. Reader Response Theory
A text has no existence until it’s read
The reader is an active participant in making the text have a meaning
The reader decodes the text using from their perspective, using their existing knowledge

5. Psychoanalysis Built off the work of Sigmund Freud
Became famous for treating hysteria in women through dream analysis
Freud suggested that our adult lives are shaped by our childhood experiences

6. Psychoanalysis As children, we have certain basic desires
When those desires aren’t fulfilled, they can be traumatic - and as a result, they get pushed out of our conscious minds or ‘repressed’

7. Psychoanalysis
Repressing these memories doesn’t mean they don’t affect us
We unconsciously behave in ways that play out those early experiences
To keep these conflicts buried in our subconscious, we use defenses: selective perception, selective memory, denial, displacement, projection, regression, fear of intimacy, etc.

8. Psychoanalysis How might characters be affected by repressed memories?
Are there any Oedipal dynamics at play?
Can characters’ behaviour be explained by basic desires/fears (fascination with death, sexual development, etc.)?
What does the work suggest about the psychological background of its author?

9. Archetypal Theory Carl Jung was a student of Freud’s psychology
Developed a literary theory that combined psychoanalitic theory with the human collective unconscious

10. Archetypal Theory
Theory suggests that all stories and symbols are based on mythic models from the past
Stories are universal and cross religious, ethnic, and geographical divisions
Include common symbols, settings, plot lines, and characters

11. Archetypal Theory Archetypal Characters Archetypal Plots Hero Mentor
Ally
Villain
Star Crossed Lovers
Archetypal Plots
The Quest
The Fall
The Initiation Ritual
Death and Rebirth

12. Marxism Based on the theories of philosopher Karl Marx
Concerns itself with class differences, especially those that arise in capitalist economies

13. Marxism
Marxists believe that social change is driven by economics, and not by law, politics, religion, art, philosophy, etc.
Society is divided into three classes (low, middle, and high) and the tension that arises between these classes is what guides change

14. Marxism - The Revolution
The lower class (or the proletariat) will eventually gain class consciousness and realize that they are being oppressed by the higher classes (the bourgeoisie)
They will overthrow the higher classes in a revolution and take over the means of production
Finally, they will form a new and equal society where everything is communally owned and wealth is redistributed
“From each according to his ability, to each according to his need”

15. Marxism What is the social class of the author?
Which class does the work claim to represent?
What values does it reinforce?
What values does it subvert?
What social classes do the characters represent?
How do characters from different classes interact or conflict?

16. Feminism
Feminist theory is interested in the ways literature reinforces or undermines the inequality of women
It is also interested in the ways women are included or excluded from the literary canon

17. Feminism First Wave: 1700s - 1900s Second Wave: 1960s - 1970s
Writers like Mary Wollstonecraft highlight the inequalities between the sexes. Activists like Susan B. Anthony contribute to the women's suffrage movement, which leads to National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment.
Second Wave: 1960s s
Building on more equal working conditions necessary in America during World War II, movements such as the National Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966, bring together feminist political activism.
Third Wave: 1990s - present
Focused on addressing the deeper roots of inequality between genders, including gender stereotypes, rape culture, and the experiences of women of colour

18. Feminism How is the relationship between men and women portrayed?
What are the power relationships between men and women?
What constitutes masculinity and femininity?
What does the work reveal about the operations of patriarchy?
What does the history of the work's reception tell us about the operation of patriarchy?

19. Trauma Theory Takes its roots in psychoanalysis
When we experience a traumatic event, our conscious mind buries it in an attempt at self-protection
Until the moment of trauma is faced, though, we continue to experience its effects

20. Trauma Theory
Until the traumatic experience is brought forward into the conscious mind and faced, it will continue to have an impact
Writing or speaking about trauma, although emotionally and linguistically challenging, is the key to healing

21. Post-Colonialism: History Lesson
Growing European powers needed to expand into other countries to exploit resources
Unfortunately, these other countries had people in them

22. Post-Colonialism: History Lesson
In some colonies, residents were looked at as another resource to exploit
In all colonies, residents were regarded as ‘Other’ - something different (uncivilized, unintelligent, inhuman) from the folks at home
In some places (like Canada), the colonizers had the goal of staying and settling down
Indigenous peoples posed a roadblock to that settlement
They needed to be either killed or assimilated

23. Post-Colonialism What did this look like in a Canadian context?
Reservations
Residential Schools
Lack of access to resources
Lack of political rights
The ultimate goal was to turn every living Indigenous person away from their heritage and erase Indigenous peoples from the country.

24. Post-Colonialism: A History Lesson
At the end of World War Two, colonial powers withdrew from many countries they had controlled for decades
This led to a period of change within those former colonies as subjects adjusted to domestic rule and began to redefine themselves and their experiences

25. So what is Post-Colonial Theory?
(Get to the point, McLaren)

26. Post-Colonial Theory
Post-colonial critics are concerned with literature produced by colonial powers and works produced by those who were/are colonized
Post-colonial criticism also questions the role of the western literary canon and western history as dominant forms of knowledge making

27. Post-Colonialism
How does the literary text represent various aspects of colonial oppression?
What does the text reveal about the problematics of post-colonial identity, including the relationship between personal and cultural identity?
What person(s) or groups does the work identify as "other" or stranger? How are such persons/groups described and treated?
What does the text reveal about the operations of cultural difference - the ways in which race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, and customs combine to form individual identity - in shaping our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live?