Critical thinking Exam

LITERARY HISTORY

The study of how literature develops across time, examining historical periods, key authors, styles, movements, and how texts reflect and shape their cultural context.

LITERARY CANON

A collection of works considered culturally, historically, or artistically significant, often taught, preserved, and valued as exemplary literature.

CRITICAL THINKING

The ability to analyze, interpret, and evaluate ideas logically rather than simply accepting them, especially when reading and interpreting texts.

ARTISTIC THINKING

A creative, imaginative way of processing reality, often non-linear, symbolic, and emotionally expressive, used in literature and art.

FOREPLEASURE

A Freudian concept: the initial pleasure gained from imagination, play, or fantasy before it transforms into more mature forms of pleasure, such as artistic creation.

DAYDREAMING

A mental activity involving imagination, fantasy, and escape from reality. In literature, it is the psychological source of narrative and creativity.

PLAYING

A creative human activity based on imagination, imitation, and symbolic expression; seen as a foundation of artistic and literary creation.

ID

The unconscious part of the psyche driven by instincts, desires, and pleasure, without moral or rational control.

EGO 

The rational and conscious part of the mind that mediates between instinctual desires (id) and moral constraints (super-ego).

SUPER-EGO

The moral component of the psyche, representing societal norms, ethics, and internalized authority.

REPRESSION

A defense mechanism where unacceptable thoughts, desires, or memories are pushed into the unconscious to reduce anxiety.

SUBLIMATION

A mature defense mechanism where forbidden or instinctive desires are transformed into socially acceptable activities, such as art or writing.

UNCANNY (UNHEIMLICH) 

A strange, eerie feeling when something familiar becomes unsettling or frightening; common in Gothic and psychological literature.

CULTURAL MEMORY

Shared memories, stories, and symbols preserved by a society through literature, rituals, education, and tradition.

COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUSNESS (TRADITION)

Jung’s concept: the unconscious mind shared by all humans, containing inherited archetypes, myths, and symbols.

COLLECTIVE SUPER-EGO (CIVILIZATION)

Represents the moral and cultural rules of society, shaping behavior through norms, traditions, and laws.

AUTONOMOUS COMPLEX

A cluster of emotions, memories, and ideas in the unconscious that gains independence and influences thoughts or actions outside conscious control.

ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM

A literary approach that interprets texts through universal symbols, myths, and archetypes found across cultures (hero, mother, trickster).

MEDIATRIX   

A female figure, often in literature, serving as an intermediary between two worlds: sacred and profane, reality and imagination, nature and culture.

FEMININE STAGE 1

A phase in feminist literature focused on exploring female consciousness, interiority, and psychological identity.

FEMINIST STAGE 2

A phase that openly challenges patriarchy, demands equality, criticizes oppression, and promotes female voice and agency.

FEMALE STAGE 3

A stage where women writers reject imitation of men’s styles and develop their own authentic, personal, and feminine writing voice.

ARTISTIC INTEGRITY

The ability of artists or writers to stay true to their creative vision and values, despite external pressures such as censorship or commercial demand.

DISSECTION

In literature, it means breaking down a text into its parts to analyze structure, meaning, and technique.

ARTICULATION

The ability to clearly express thoughts, emotions, or experiences in language—central to literary expression.

DEATH OF THE AUTHOR

Roland Barthes’s idea that once a text is written, the author’s intentions and identity should not control its interpretation; meaning is created by the reader.

LITERARINESS

What makes a text “literary”: its use of language, symbolism, artistry, complexity, and ability to evoke imagination.

DOUBLE CRITIQUE

A concept in postcolonial and feminist theory where a work critiques two systems at once—such as patriarchy and colonialism, or nationalism and sexism.

CULTURAL CRITICISM

Analyzing literature as a product of culture, examining how texts reflect and shape ideologies, identities, and social structures.

PLAY OF SUBSTITUTIONS

A poststructuralist concept suggesting meaning is not fixed; it constantly shifts through language, replacing one signifier with another.

FEMININE EMANCIPATION/IDENTITY       

The process through which women gain autonomy, voice, agency, and self-definition—especially through literature, culture, and expression.