critical theories

Moral Criticism (~360 BC-present)

-If art does not teach morality and ethics, then it is damaging to its audience (Plato)
-The moral value of a work
-The compatibility of a work with current moral codes/beliefs

Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-present)

-How the language, rhythm, harmony, plot, character, thought, diction, song, and spectacle influence the audience's pity and fear or satisfaction with the work (Aristotle)

Formalism (1930s to Present)

-Maintains that a literary work contains certain intrinsic features
-Treats each work as its own distinct piece, free from its environment, era, and even author
-Usage of imagery to develop symbols
-Usage of paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension in the text
-Central or focal passage that can sum up the entirety of the work
-How the rhythms and/or rhyme schemes of a poem contribute to its meaning

Psychoanalytic Theory (Freudian) (1930s to Present)

-People's behavior is affected by their unconscious
-Influenced by childhood stages involving relationships with parents and drives of desire and pleasure where children focus on different parts of the body
-Stages reflect base levels of desire, fear of loss, repression
-The development of defense mechanisms (denial, displacement, projection, regression, fear of intimacy, etc.) suppress conflict in the unconscious

Id, Ego, and Superego

-3 areas of mind that wrestle for dominance during growth
-Id: the location of the drives (libido)
-Ego: one of the major defenses against the power of the drives and the home of the defenses
-Superego: the area of the unconscious that houses Judgment (of self and others) that
forms during childhood as a result of the Oedipus complex

Oedipus Complex

-Children's need for their parents
-The conflict that arises as children mature and realize they are not the absolute focus of their mother's attention
-Boys have a murderous rage against the father with punishment taking place in the form of castration
-Girls have a frustrated rage in which her sexual desire shifts from the mother to the father

Psychoanalytic Theory (Jungian) (1930s to Present)

-All stories and symbols are based on mythic models from mankind's past
-The connection between literature and the "collective unconscious" of the human race
-Jung developed archetypal myths: the Shadow, the Anima, the Animus, and the Spirit
-Beneath the Shadow is the Anima, the feminine side of the male Self, and the Animus, the masculine side of the female Self

Marxist Criticism (1930s to Present)

-Reveals the ways in which our socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience (oppression/profit)
-Concerns itself with class differences, and the implications and complications of the capitalist system
-Historical change is driven by the material realities of the economic base of society, rather than the ideological superstructure of politics, law, philosophy, religion, and art
-There will always be conflict between the upper, middle, and lower (working) classes reflected in literature
-Leads to revolution by oppressed peoples forming the groundwork for a new order of society and economics (socialism)

Reader-Response (1960s to Present)

-Readers' reactions to literature is vital to interpreting the meaning of the text
-Maintains that what a text is cannot be separated from what it does
-The role of the reader cannot be omitted from the understanding of literature
-Readers actively make the meaning they find in literature instead of consuming the meaning presented to them

Structuralism (1920s to Present)

-Maintains that practically everything we do that is specifically human is expressed in language
-Language symbols extend far beyond written or oral communication
-Language exists in patterns, so certain underlying elements are common to all human experiences
-Structural system of classification (i.e. underlying principles that govern buildings' composition)
-Individual item belongs to a particular structural class
(i.e. composition of a building demonstrating underlying principles)

Structuralism (Frye)

-Explores ways in which genres of Western literature fall into his four mythoi
-Theory of modes, or historical criticism (tragic, comic, and thematic
-Theory of symbols, or ethical criticism (literal/descriptive, formal, mythical, and anagogic)
-Theory of myths, or archetypal criticism (comedy, romance, tragedy, irony/satire)
-Theory of genres, or rhetorical criticism (epos, prose, drama, lyric)

Structuralism (Peirce)

-Gave structuralism three important ideas for analyzing the sign systems
-Iconic signs, in which the signifier resembles the thing signified
-Indexes, in which the signifier is a reliable indicator of the presence of the signified (like fire and smoke);
-True symbols, in which the signifier's relation to the thing signified is completely arbitrary and conventional

Semiotics (1920s to Present)

The study of sign systems, a non-linguistic object, or behavior that can be analyzed as if it were a language

Post-Structuralism, Deconstruction, Post-Modernism (1966 to Present)

-Maintains that frameworks and systems are merely fictitious constructs and that they cannot be trusted to develop meaning or to give order
-Holds that there are many truths, that frameworks must bleed, and that structures must become unstable or decentered
-Concerned with power structures or hegemonies and power and how these elements contribute to and/or maintain structures to enforce hierarchy
-Works can contract or undermine themselves
-Works can fulfill or move outside the established conventions of its genre
-Author is displaced, leaving the reader to interpret and develop meaning of a text

New Historicism, Cultural Studies (1980s to Present)

-Reconnects a work with the time period in which it was produced and identifies it with the cultural and political movements of the time
-Every work is a product of the historic moment that created it
-Resists the notion that history is a series of events that have a linear, causal relations
-The understanding of what such historical facts mean is strictly a matter of interpretation, not fact

Post-Colonial Criticism (1990s to Present)

-Looks at issues of power, economics, politics, religion, and culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony
-Questions the role of the Western literary canon and Western history as dominant forms of knowledge making
-Terms "First World," "Second World," "Third World" and "Fourth World" reinforce the dominant positions of Western cultures populating First World status
-Reveals the ways in which race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, and customs combine to form individual identity

Feminist Criticism (1960s to Present)

-Ways in which literature reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women
-Aims to expose misogyny in writing about women, which can take explicit and implicit forms
-Can extend into diverse areas of our culture
-Explains that women are marginalized, defined only by their difference from male norms and values

First Wave Feminism

-Late 1700s-early 1900's
-Highlights the inequalities between the sexes.
-National Universal Suffrage in 1920 with the passing of the Nineteenth Amendment

Second Wave Critcism

-Early 1960s-late 1970s
-Builds more on equal working conditions necessary in America during World War II
-National Organization for Women (NOW), formed in 1966, coheres feminist political activism

Third Wave Feminism

-Early 1990s-present
-Borrows from post-structural and contemporary gender and race theories to expand on marginalized populations' experiences

Gender Studies and Queer Theory (1970s to Present)

-Explores issues of sexuality, power, and marginalized populations in literature and culture
-Posed that in order to counter patriarchy, it was necessary not to think about new texts, but to think about them in radically new ways
-Maintains that cultural definitions of sexuality and what it means to be male and female are constantly changing
-The biology of male/female becomes complex and murky when the physical dualism of sexual genetic structures and bodily parts breaks down

Ecocriticism (1960s to Present)

-The study of the relationship between literature and the physical environment
-Human culture is connected to the physical world, affecting it and affected by it
-Examines ourselves and the world around us, critiquing the way that we represent, interact with, and construct the environment
-Reflects issues of environmental disaster and crises in works
-Relationships between animals and humans

First Wave Ecocriticism

-Taking place throughout the eighties and nineties
-Emphasis on nature writing as an object of study and as a meaningful practice
-Kept the cultural distinction between human and nature, promoting the value of nature
-Speaks for nature

Second Wave Ecocriticism

-Breaking down of some of the long-standing distinctions between the human and the non-human, questioning these very concepts
-Boundaries between the human and the non-human, nature and non-nature are discussed as constructions
-Examines the plight of the poorest of a population who are the victims of pollution and are seen as having less access to "nature" in the traditional sense.

Pastoral Ecocriticism

-Focuses on the dichotomy between urban and rural life
-General idealization of the nature and the rural and the demonization of the urban
-Classic Pastoral: appreciation of nature as a place for human relaxation and reflection
-Romantic Pastoral: a period after the Industrial Revolution that saw "rural independence" as desirable against the expansion of the urban -
American Pastoralism: emphasizes agrarianism and represents land as a resource to be cultivated, with farmland often creating a boundary between the urban and the wilderness

Wilderness Ecocritcism

-Examines the ways in which wilderness is constructed, valued, and engaged
-Old World wilderness displays wilderness as a place beyond the borders of civilization, treated as a threat
-New World wilderness applies the pastoral trope of the "retreat" to wilderness itself, seeing wilderness as a place to find sanctuary

Ecofeminism

-Analyzes the interconnection between the oppression of women and nature
-Examines hierarchical, gendered relationships, in which the land is often equated with the feminine, seen as fertile resources and the property of man
-First Camp reverses the patriarchal domination of man over woman and nature; women are inherently closer to nature biologically, spiritually, and emotionally
-Second Camp maintains that there is no such thing as a "feminine essence" that would make women more likely to connect with nature

Critical Race Theory (1970s to Present)

-Examines the appearance of race and racism across dominant cultural modes of expression
-Traces racism in America through the nation's legacy of slavery, the Civil Rights Movement, and recent events
-Confronts the beliefs and practices that enable racism to persist while also challenging these practices in order to seek liberation from systemic racism
-Emphasizes the importance of examining and attempting to understand the socio-cultural forces that shape how we and others perceive, experience, and respond to racism
-Persistent racism problematically denies individuals many of the constitutional freedoms they are otherwise promised in the United States' governing documents
-Understands how race interacts with other identities like gender and class

White Privilege

-Refers to the various social, political, and economic advantages white individuals experience in contrast to non-white citizens based on their racial membership
-Discusses dominant culture's tendency to normalize white individuals' experiences and ignore the experiences of non-whites

Microaggressions

The minute, often unconscious, daily instances of prejudice that collectively contribute to racism and the subordination of racialized individuals by dominant culture

Institutionalized racism

-The systemic ways dominant society restricts a racialized individual or group's access to opportunities
-Deeply imbedded in legal institutions, absorbed into American culture to such a degree that they are often invisible or easily overlooked.

Social construction

-The systemic ways dominant society restricts a racialized individual or group's access to opportunities
-Deeply imbedded in legal institutions, absorbed into American culture to such a degree that they are often invisible or easily overlooked.

Intersectionality and anti-essentialism

-The notion that one aspect of an individual's identity does not necessarily determine other categories of membership
-It is impossible to predict an individual's identity, beliefs, or values based on categories like race, gender, sexuality, religion, nationality
-Recognizes that individuals are capable of claiming membership to a variety of different categories and belief systems regardless of the identities outsiders attempt to impose upon them.

Critical Disabilities Studies (1990s to Present)

-Disability in political, aesthetic, ethical, and cultural contexts, among others
-Examines works to understand how representations of disability and "normal" bodies change throughout history, including the ways both are defined within the limits of historical or cultural situations
-Investigates images and descriptions of disability, prejudice against people with disabilities (ableism), and the ways narrative relates to disability
-Many races, classes, ethnicities, and other parts of identity have been classified as or associated with disabilities in the past

Social model

-Distinguishes between impairment and disability
-"Impairment" refers to a physical limitation
-"Disability" refers to social exclusion
-Stresses that we live in a disabling society in which we have failed to account for the diversity of bodies that live in the world
-Useful for creating a group identity, spreading knowledge about disability, and promoting activism
-The way we understand the body is based on socially constructed terms, ideas, and narratives;

Normality

-Theory or idea based on "the average man,"
-Disguises the drastic differences among individuals in a society.
-Literature ideologically emphasizes the universal quality of the central character whose normativity encourages us to identify with him or he
-"Normate" describes those who are unmarked by the stigmas of disability, framing disability as a minority discourse
-"Normate" highlights assumptions about the body in politics, rhetoric, literature, and other areas, including the erasure of cultural and bodily differences

Narrative Prosthesis

-The ways narrative uses disability as a device of characterization or metaphor, but fails to further develop disability as a complex point of view
-Used to mark characters as "unique," and it is sometimes what prompts a narrative in the first place
-Works that feature disability prominently often uses it as a symbol or for comparative purposes
-Stories often revolve around disability yet erase it simultaneously