Critical Theory Final

Benedict Anderson

Anderson argues that nations are “imagined communities.” Print culture (newspapers, novels) allows people to imagine themselves as part of a shared group, even without direct interaction.

Stuart Hall

Hall builds on Gramsci:

• Hegemony = dominant cultural power that appears natural

• Cultural Studies examines how culture produces and resists this power

He also emphasizes the role of “organic intellectuals”—people who challenge dominant ideologies from within society.

Walter Benjamin

Mechanical reproduction (film, photography) destroys the “aura” of art—its uniqueness and authenticity. However, film also democratizes art and allows new ways of seeing and engaging with culture.

Rob Nixon

The Anthropocene refers to human impact on the planet.

Nixon highlights:

• Slow, invisible environmental violence

• Tension between optimism (human innovation) and pessimism (ecological destruction)

Ann Kaplan

Kaplan distinguishes:

• Internal trauma (psychological origins, hysteria)

• External trauma (war, real events)

Modernity produces new forms of trauma tied to media and global conflict.

Edward Said

Said argues that British literature often reinforces imperial ideology by portraying colonized people as inferior or exotic. Literature helps justify empire by shaping cultural assumptions about race and power.

Francois Leotard

Postmodernism is defined by:

• The collapse of grand narratives (universal truths)

• Hyper-referentiality (constant referencing of other texts/images)

Knowledge becomes fragmented and localized.

Frederic Jameson

Jameson argues that postmodernism:

• Replaces parody with pastiche (empty imitation)

• Leads to the “death of the subject” (loss of individual depth)

• Produces nostalgia mode (recycling past styles without context)

Modernism was critical; postmodernism aligns with consumer capitalism.

Jacques Derrida

Deconstruction exposes unstable binary oppositions (e.g., human/animal, male/female).

Derrida shows that:

• These hierarchies are constructed

• Meaning is always deferred (never final)

Rosi Braidotti

Braidotti critiques humanism’s focus on the rational, autonomous individual.

Posthumanism:

• Blurs boundaries between human, animal, and machine

• Emphasizes interconnectedness and ethical responsibility

Stephen Greenblatt

New Historicism sees literature as a cultural artifact shaped by power, history, and ideology.

Key ideas:

• Resonance: how a text connects to broader cultural meanings

• Wonder: its aesthetic or emotional impact

Toni Morrison

Morrison argues that:

• The literary canon is shaped by racial and imperial power

• “Greatness” often excludes marginalized voices

• Literature plays a role in nation-building and ideology

Caroline Levine

Levine argues that literary forms (like narrative structure, hierarchy, or networks) interact with social and political forms. These forms are not isolated—they shape and are shaped by real-world systems.

“Strategic” means we analyze how forms operate across contexts, not just inside literature.

Stephen Best & Sharon Marcus

• Symptomatic reading looks beneath the surface to uncover hidden meanings, ideologies, or repressed tensions (often Marxist or psychoanalytic).

• Surface reading (Best & Marcus) focuses on what is clearly present in the text—description, patterns, and explicit meaning—without assuming hidden depth.

Surface reading is a reaction against over-interpretation.

Susan Bordo

Bordo argues that the body reflects cultural pressures:

• Disorders like anorexia symbolize resistance to and submission within patriarchy

• The body becomes a site of ideological control

Lennard Davis

Davis argues:

• “Normal” is a constructed category

• Disability defines what counts as normal

He connects this to Lacan’s mirror stage—identity is formed through comparison.

Judith Butler

Gender is not innate—it is performed through repeated behaviors.

• Society constructs gender norms

• Drag exposes gender as imitation, not essence

How do poststructuralism and postmodernism challenge earlier theories like structuralism or New Criticism?

Poststructuralism rejects the idea that meaning is stable or fixed (as assumed in structuralism and New Criticism). Instead, meaning is always shifting, unstable, and dependent on language systems that never fully resolve.

Postmodernism extends this by rejecting “grand narratives” (Lyotard), embracing fragmentation, irony, and pastiche. While New Criticism focuses on the text as a unified object, postmodernism emphasizes contradiction, surface, and cultural context.

Hegemony

A system where dominant power operates through consent, making inequality seem natural.

Ideology

A set of beliefs that shapes how people understand the world, often reinforcing power structures.

Performativity

The idea that identity (especially gender) is created through repeated actions rather than existing naturally.

Abjection

A feeling of disgust or disturbance when boundaries (self/other, human/animal) are broken.

New Historicism

A method of literary analysis that treats texts as products of their historical and cultural contexts, shaped by power, ideology, and social forces. Literature is not separate from history—it both reflects and helps construct cultural beliefs and power relations (e.g., empire, class, race).

Posthumanism

A theory that challenges the idea of the human as a central, autonomous, superior subject, emphasizing instead the interconnectedness of humans, animals, machines, and the environment. Questions human dominance and explores blurred boundaries (human/animal, human/technology).

Postcolonialism

A critical approach that examines the cultural, political, and literary effects of colonialism and imperialism, especially how colonized peoples are represented. Analyzes power, race, identity, and resistance, often exposing how literature reinforces or challenges colonial ideologies.

Deconstruction

A method (associated with Jacques Derrida) that reveals how texts contain unstable meanings and internal contradictions, especially through binary oppositions. Shows that meaning is never fixed and that hierarchies (e.g., male/female, human/animal) are constructed and reversible.

Disability Studies

An approach that examines how the category of “disability” is socially and culturally constructed, rather than purely biological. Focuses on how society defines “normal” vs. “abnormal” and how literature represents bodies, difference, and exclusion.

Cultural Studies

An interdisciplinary field (associated with Stuart Hall) that studies how culture produces and challenges power and ideology. Analyzes media, literature, and everyday practices as sites where meaning and power are negotiated.

Imperialism

A system in which a nation extends its political, economic, and cultural power over other territories. In literary studies, it refers to how texts support, justify, or critique empire and domination.

Eurocentrism

The belief that European culture, history, and values are central and superior, often marginalizing other perspectives. Critics examine how literature privileges European viewpoints and excludes or distorts others.

Ethnic Studies

An academic field focused on the experiences, histories, and cultural productions of marginalized racial and ethnic groups. Highlights voices excluded from dominant narratives and challenges systemic racism in literature and culture.

Humanism

A philosophy that centers the human as rational, autonomous, and the primary source of meaning and value.

Trauma Theory

A framework for understanding how extreme events (war, violence, catastrophe) affect individuals and are represented in literature.

Focuses on:

• Memory and its fragmentation

• The difficulty of representing trauma

• The difference between personal (internal) and historical (external) trauma

Antihumanism

A critique of humanism that rejects the idea of a stable, independent self, emphasizing instead that identity is constructed by language, culture, and power. Antihumanist theories (like poststructuralism) question individuality and human exceptionalism.