Critical Approaches in Literary Criticism

Flashcards covering the main critical approaches and critique guidelines from the notes.

What does New Historicist Criticism argue about every literary work?

It argues that every literary work is a product of its time and its world.

What is one purpose of New Historicist criticism?

To provide background information necessary to understand how literary texts were perceived in their time.

What is another purpose of New Historicist Criticism?

To show how literary texts reflect ideas and attitudes of the time in which they were written.

What method do New Historicist critics use to reveal cultural assumptions?

They compare the language in contemporary documents and literary texts to reveal cultural assumptions and values.

Biographical Approach: What is one benefit?

Facts about an author's experience can help decide how to interpret a text.

Biographical Approach: Another benefit?

A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing a writer's struggles or difficulties in creating that text.

Biographical Approach: A third benefit?

A reader can understand a writer's preoccupation by studying how they apply and modify their own life experiences in their works.

Two major principles of Formalism?

1) A literary text exists independent of any particular reader and has a fixed meaning. 2) The greatest literary texts are timeless and universal.

What does Formalism emphasize to determine meaning?

The form of the work, its elements, and how they work to create meaning; close readings; text is independent of time, social setting, and author's background.

Marxist Criticism is based on which thinkers and what does it emphasize?

Based on Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels; emphasizes economic and social conditions, power, politics, and money in texts.

What do Marxist critics examine about social groups?

How dominant groups exploit subordinate groups and how power, money, and politics can lead to alienation.

Four basic principles of Feminist Criticism?

1) Western civilization is patriarchal; 2) Gender concepts are cultural ideas created by patriarchal societies; 3) Patriarchal ideals pervade literature; 4) Much literature has been gender-biased.

What does Feminist Criticism assert about who wrote most literature?

Most literature throughout time has been written by men, for men.

What does Feminist Criticism examine regarding female consciousness?

How female consciousness is depicted by both male and female writers.

Gender Criticism: What does it examine?

How sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works.

Masculinist approach mentioned in Gender Criticism?

The masculinist approach advocated by poet Robert Bly.

Sociological Criticism: Core Belief?

Literature is a reflection of its society; social contexts must be considered; focuses on economic, political, and cultural issues in texts.

What should Sociological Criticism focus on?

The values of a society and how they are reflected in a text.

Reader-Response: What is the central claim?

A great deal of meaning lies with how the reader responds to a text.

Reader-Response: What does it focus on?

The act of reading and how it affects our perception of meaning; the text as a living thing in the reader’s imagination.

What is the formula for meaning in Reader-Response?

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING.

What does the Reader-Response approach say about the text?

The text is an experience that lives in the reader’s imagination.

Body of a critique should include what kind of writing and evidence?

Facts and concrete evidence; third-person objective analysis; focused on precise concepts.

Introduction to critique should include?

A brief synopsis of the work, followed by careful analysis, and a controversial thesis stated.

What is the purpose of a critique?

Formal analysis and evaluation of a text, a production, or a performance; assess arguments, evidence, implications, and underlying assumptions.

What are the three parts of a critique's structure?

Introduction, body, and conclusion.

What questions do critical approaches help answer?

What do we read? Why do we read? How do we read?

What is the overall definition of a critique?

A formal analysis and evaluation of a text, with attention to what is said, how well, what issues are overlooked, implications, and assumptions.