1. Biographical Criticism
Authors typically write about things they know well, the events and circumstances of their lives are often reflected in their works.
The context for a literary work includes information about the author
Interpretation of the work should be based on an understanding of its context
Focuses on explicating the literary work by using the insight provided by knowledge of the author’s life

2. Biographical Criticism
Advantages
Helps to illuminate the text; provide insight into themes historical references, social oppositions and the creation of fiction characters
Disadvantages
Some biographical details may be irrelevant
Writers often revise facts
Can overwhelm and distort the work
Requires knowledge of the author

3. Biographical Criticism
Questions and strategies
Research the author’s life and relate that information to the work
Research the author’s time and relate that information to the work
What elements of the author’s life come out in the work? Why?
How might the work came into being? How did the author change it from its autobiographical origins?

4. Historical Criticism
When reading a text, you have to place it within its historical context
Historical refers to the social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual climate of the time
Less concerned with explaining a work’s literary significance for today’s readers than with helping us understand the work by recreating the exact meaning and impact it had on its original audience

5. Historical Criticism Advantages Disadvantages
There have been so many social, cultural, and linguistic changes that some older texts are incomprehensible without this criticism
Even simple historical analysis can help with analysis
Disadvantages
Requires research and prior knowledge
May be missed if knowledge isn’t present
Often ignores the other types of analysis

6. Historical Criticism Strategies and Questions
What information about the time the author wrote is important to the work?
What information about the time the work is set in is important to the work?
What ways did the people of that period see and think about the world in which they lived
Research the fundamental historical events of the period in which the author wrote

7. Historical Criticism Strategies and Questions, cont.
Consider the fundamental historical events of the period in which the literary work is set if it is different from the period in which the author wrote
View the text as part of a larger context of historical movements, and consider how it both contributes to and reflects certain fundamental aspects of human history? How does this effect the story?