2.  seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it: a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.  A key goal for historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original readers.  When, where, and why?

3.  literature is written by actual people and understanding an author’s life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend the work  focuses on explicating the literary work by using the insight provided by knowledge of the author’s life

4.  What time period was the piece written in?  How does that time period influence the work?  What cultural impact does the time period have on the piece?  What is the author’s background?  Does the author’s personal history influence the piece? If so, how?  Are any significant historical events described in the work?  Was there a political and or religious message in the work?  Does the author’s political or religious bias influence the piece?

5.  Time period clarifies purpose  A window into a different time  Insight into author’s personal life  Taste of previous culture’s language and society  Comparisons between past and present

6.  Author’s political bias  Religious and political influences from society  Content may be inaccurate  Censorship  Limits reader’s creativity  Accuracy of timeline

7.  English Class-  A Thousand Splendid Suns- Historical Context (Turmoil in Afghanistan in the late 20 th Century). By Khaled Hosseini  Tweak – Biography of a struggling drug addict. By Nic Sheff  History Class-  The Jungle- Historical Context (Chicago Meatpacking plants in 1906) By Upton Sinclair. Read a 4 page section of the book.  “The Gettysburg Address” by Abraham Lincoln- Lincoln’s speech delivered to the nation after the bloody battle of Gettysburg. Reflected the nation’s chaos at the time, and was short and concise, just over two minutes. (1863)  Math-  The Pythagorean Theorem- In every math book that deals with this type of arithmetic there is a short piece on the origination of the method. Pythagoras of Samos published the method in the late 6 th century B.C.

8.  The Catcher in The Rye by J.D. Salinger  My Pet Virus by Shawn Decker  Boardwalk Empire HBO Television Series  Enemy at the Gates – Movie, The Battle of Stalingrad  Saving Private Ryan Academy Award Winning Movie, Based on a platoon in WWII  American Gangster- Movie, Famous drug dealer Frank Lucas  Gladiator­- Move, Graphic depiction of the late Roman Empire  Night by Elie Wiesel  Columbine by Dave Cullen  To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee  The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

9.  When reading  When studying history  During research  Determining author’s purpose  Relating text to time period  During critical analysis

10.  http://www.wikipedia.org/ http://www.wikipedia.org/  http://mgshapenglish12.blogspot.com/2008/05/bio graphical-historical-literary-lens.html http://mgshapenglish12.blogspot.com/2008/05/bio graphical-historical-literary-lens.html  http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.ht ml http://home.olemiss.edu/~egjbp/spring97/litcrit.ht ml  www.classjump.com/eball/documents/9256264647.doc www.classjump.com/eball/documents/9256264647.doc  http://english23405.tripod.com/english234.html http://english23405.tripod.com/english234.html  http://www.mccd.edu/faculty/pirov/Engl1B/Histori cal_files/frame.htm http://www.mccd.edu/faculty/pirov/Engl1B/Histori cal_files/frame.htm  http://www.ci.maryville.tn.us/mhs/studyskills/comp guide/AppLitCrit.htm http://www.ci.maryville.tn.us/mhs/studyskills/comp guide/AppLitCrit.htm