AP LIT THEORIES

reader response theory

focus on reader response or action to a certain text, more than the text itself.

horizon of expectations (rr)

developed by hans robert jauss, explain how readers expectation or frame of reference is based on readers past experience of literature and what preconceived notions abt lit

implied reader (rr)

wolfgang iser, implied reader is a hypothetical reader of text. the implied reader embodies all those predispositions needed for a literary work to exercise its effect (predispositions laid down by text itself). roots are placed in firm of text, he is a construct and not identified with real reader.

transactional analysis (rr)

louise rosenblatt, meaning is made in a transaction of a reader with text. as an approach the critic would think how the reader interprets the text as how the text produces a response in her.

key figures of reader response theory

stanley fish, david bleich, wolfgang iser

time period of reader response theory

1960s

emphasis on reader response

the role of reader actively constructing meaning rather than passively consuming text

psychoanalytic theory

the unconscious and human behavior. psyche: ed, id, superego and child parent conflicts structure human responses in the world. psychoanalysis is applied to the work of an author or main character that seeks unconscious or latent meaning underneath the manifest language and analyze symbols.

what period is psychoanalytic theory

early 1900s

what does psychoanalytic theory argue abt

literary texts (dreams) express underlying meanings from the authors own neuroses. assumed that all characters are projections of an authors psyche.

key figures of psychoanalytic theory

sigmund freud, jacques lacan

unconscious (psych)

irrational part of psyche unavailable to a persons conscious except thru dissociated acts or dreams

ID (psych)

completely unconscious part of psyche that stores our desires wishes and fears

ego (psych)

mostly to partially conscious part of psyche that process experiences and functions as a mediator between ID and superego

superego (psych)

“conscious”, operates as an internal censor encouraging moral judgements in light of social pressure

new historicism

look at literature alongside other cultural products of a certain historical period to illustrate concepts, attitudes, and ideologies across a broad spectrum not exclusive to literary. acknowledge own criticism can have bias that come from historical positions. meaning of text is fluid, artistic texts are historical context and understand cultural and intellectual history

what period is new historicism

1970-1980s

key figures of new historicism

michael foucalt and stephen greenblatt

discourse (new hist)

language used in various constituencies (law medicine church) for purposes to do with power relationships between ppl

power (new hist)

michael foucalt, 3 axes of constitutive of subjectification, ethics, and truth. implies knowledge: gives one power but one has the power in certain situations to constitute body of knowledge, discourses and so on invalid or valid.

existentialism theory

views each person as an isolated being who is in an alien universe and sees the world as possessing no inherent human truth value or meaning. a persons life who moves from nothingness defines an existence that is absurd and anguished. all choices are possible in a world without sense.

atheist extentialism

soren kierkegaard theorized that belief in god required a conscious choice or leap of faith

key figures of existentialism

albert camus, franz kafka, jean paul sarte, soren kierkegaard

what period is existentialism

mid to late 19th century. peaked in mid 20th century france

absurd (ex)

describe existence, a world without inherent meaning or truth

authenticity (ex)

make choices based on individual code of ethics (commitment) rather than bc of social pressure. “its what ppl do” is inauthentic

“leap of faith”

soren kierkegaard said that religion was filled with risks and unknowable and requires act of commitment. commitment to christianity would lessen the despair of an absurd world

feminism

theory is already a reduction. aimed at defining feminist literary canon or theories seeking to re interpret and revision literature from a less patriarchal view. focus on sexual differences/politics

first wave of fem

19th and 20th century

second wave of fem

early 1960s

3rd wave of fem

early 1990s

4th wave of fem

around 2012

key figures of feminism

betty friedan, charlotte perkins gilman, simone de beauvoirs

what do women and men need to consider in feminism

how it meant to be a woman and how much society deemed inherent of female traits culturally and socially constructed. question ‘othering’ of women

androgyny (fem)

sex roles are not defined and are blurred combo of men and women roles that are neither fem or masc dominant. “the man in every woman or the woman in every man”

essentialism (fem)

belief in unique fem essence existing above cultural standards. this justified the oppression of women and the natural superiority of men

patriarchy (fem)

sexism is set up by the patriarchy of male dominated structures and social arrangements establish oppression of women. exhibits androcentrism: male centered

Marxism

sociological approach to literature that viewed works of literature or art as products of historical forces which can be analyzed by looking at the material conditions in which they were formed.

marxism focus is

the clash between dominant and repressed classes in any age

marxism is what time period

mid 19th century, systemized in the 1920s

key figures of marxism

karl max, terry eagleton, friedrich engels

commodification (marx)

attitude of valuing things not for their use but for their power to impress others or for resale possibilities

dialectical materialism (marx)

history develops in neither fashion nori in a linear one but instead as struggles between contradictions that ultimately find resolutions in a synthesis of 2 sides. ex: class conflicts lead to a new social systems

new criticism

reactions to traditional criticism that new critics saw as very concerned with matters that are extraneous to the text

new criticism proposed…

work of literary art should be regarded as autonomous (able to govern itself) and should not be judged by reference to considerations beyond itself

new criticism time period

later 1920s and 1930skey fi

key figures of new criticism

A. richards, t s elliot, cleanth brooks

intentional fallacy (new crit)

equating the meaning of a poem with the authors intentions

affective fallacy (new crit)

confusing the meaning of a text with how it makes the reader feel, the readers emotional response is not mean it is a reliable interpretation

close reading (new crit)

detailed analysis of a text itself to arrive at an interpretation without referring to historical authorial or cultural concerns

postcolonialism

refers to the period following the decline of colonialism (the end of dominating european empires). used as a critical approach, “ a collection of theoretical/critical strategies to explore the culture of european empires and their relation to the rest of the world”

postcolonialism time period

1960s

key figures of postcolonialism

chinua achebe, salam rushdie, jamaica kincaid

diaspora (postcolon)

refer to any people or ethnic population forced or induced to leave their traditional ethnic homelands. dispersed to parts of the world and ensure developments

eurocentrism (postcolon)

practice (conscious or etc) of placing emphasis on european (and western) concerns, culture and values at the expense of other cultures. it is relevant bc of how it aligns with current and past real power structures in the world.

imperialism (postcolon)

policy of extending control over foreign entities as a means of acquiring or controlling of empires either thru direct territorial control or indirect methods of exerting control on the politics/economy of other countries