Literary Theories and Criticism

literary theory

the methodology or set of assumption that explains what literature is, how it function, and the principles behind interpreting

literary criticism

the practical application of that theory that involves analyzing, evaluating, and interpreting a specific text using a theoretical framework

major schools of literary theory are different

interpretive lenses scholars use to analyze text

Literary theory frameworks explore the

social, psychological, historical, and structural forces behind writing, providing a deeper understanding of literature and its cultural impacts

The critic of Moral Criticism (~360 BC - present)

Plato

Moral Criticism theory

argues that the primary purpose of literature and art is to teach virtue, piety, and ethics

The goal of Moral Criticism is

to evaluate whether a work promotes moral behavior, maturity, and sincerity, or whether it threatens to corrupt the audience

Plato’s argument in Moral Criticism

Plato argued that because art is just an imitation or reality, it can manipulate emotions and lead citizens away from truth. Therefore, works deemed unethical should be censored or restricted in his utopian Republic

Dramatic Construction (~360 BC - present) critic

Aristotle

Dramatic Construction was established in his work

Poetics

Aristotle was

plato’s student

The goal of Dramatic Construction

It assess a work’s technical elements like plot structure, character development, language, rhythm, and spectacle

Aristotle argument in Dramatic Construction

Aristotle argued that art is meant to provide entertainment, enjoyment, and catharsis

Dramatic Construction evaluates

form, execution, and emotional resonance

Formalism focuses on

form

Formalism analyzes a texted based on its

internal structural elements like plot, narrative style, motifs, and word choice rather than external factors like the author’s biography or historical and social context

Two major movements within Formalism

Russian Formalism and New Criticism

Russian Formalism

a movement thought to establish literature as an autonomous science that focuses on how texts are constructed and language is used to create art

new criticism

popularized close reading to reveal how all parts of a text function together as a unified whole

close reading

microscopic examination on of a text’s language like irony, paradox, meter and symbols

organic unity

the formalist belief that a successful literary work is an interconnected system where every line, stanza, or chapter is necessary to the overall theme

New Aristotelianism

a modern philosophical movement that revives the ideas of Aristotle

Psychoanalytic Criticism (1930s-present) builds on

Sigmund Freud’s Freudian theories of psychology

Psychoanalytic Criticism interprets texts through the lends of

psychology, viewing literature as the expression of unconscious desired, anxieties, and repressed conflicts

collective unconscious

Carl Jung’s theory that posits an inherited universal layer of the psyche shared by all human beings, distinct from our personal experiences that explains why identical archetypes and mythic themes naturally appear across completely different cultures and time periods

Marxist Criticism(1930s-present)

Based on the theories of Karl Marx that focuses on class differences, economics, and the implications and complications of capitalism

Marxists critics are interested in how the

lower or working class are oppressed in everyday life and in literature

Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present)

considers readers’ reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of a text

Reader-responses theorists share two beliefs:

1. the role of the reader cannot be omitted from out understanding of literature

2. readers do not passively consume the meaning presented to the by an objective literary text; rather they actively make the meaning they find in literature

Structuralism emerges from

theories of language and linguistics

Structuralism looks for

underlying elements in culture and literature that can be connected so that critics can develop general conclusions about the individual works and the systems from which they emerge