Critical Approaches to Literature

Literary Theory
Literary Approach

A translation should not be considered a linguistic endeavor but a literary one.

Language has an “energy” this is manifested through words, which are the result of experiencing a culture. The
charge is what gives it strength and ultimately.

 “Literary criticism” is the name given to works written by experts who critique—analyze—an author’s
work.

 It does NOT mean “to criticize” as in complain or disapprove.

 Literary criticism is often referred to as a “secondary source”.

 Literary criticism is often referred to as a “secondary source”, because it is used to analyze your primary
work—the work or text (novel) you are reading.

 Literary criticism is used by people who want to use an expert’s opinion to support their own ideas.

 Remember, literary criticism is used by readers to analyze, NOT by authors to write.

 Therefore, when you begin to analyze your novel, you’ll make use of expert, reliable literary criticism to
support your opinion—your thesis—which you will develop for your paper.

Critical Approaches to the Study of Literature

Critical Approaches are different perspectives we consider when looking at a piece of literature.

They seek to give us answers to these questions, in addition to aiding us in interpreting literature.

1. What do we read?

2. Why do we read?

3. How do we read?

Critical Approaches to Consider

1. The Reader-Response Approach
Reader-Response Criticism asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how the reader
responds to it.

Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our perception of meaning in a text

Deals more with the process of creating meaning and experiencing a text as we read. A text is an
experience, not an object.

The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s imagination.

READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

2 Important Ideas in Reader-Response

1. An individual reader’s interpretation usually changes over time.
2. Readers from different generations and different time periods interpret texts differently.

2. The Formalist Approach

Formalist Criticism emphasizes the form of a literary work to determine its meaning, focusing on literary
elements and how they work to create meaning. Examines a text as independent from its time period,
social setting, and author’s background. A text is an independent entity.

Focuses on close readings of texts and analysis of the effects of literary elements and techniques on the text.

Two Major Principles of Formalism

1. A literary text exists independent of any particular reader and, in a sense, has a fixed meaning.
2. The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and “universal.”

A Formalist Reading of “The Three Little Pigs”

What does the wolf symbolize?

Notice the consonance/rhyme of “I’ll huff and I’ll puff…”

 How does the story foreshadow the final fate of the pigs?

What does the wolf’s dialogue tell us about his character?

3. The Psychological/ Psychoanalytic Approach

Psychological Criticism views a text as a revelation of its author’s mind and personality. It is based on the work
of Sigmund Freud. Also focuses on the hidden motivations of literary characters

Looks at literary characters as a reflection of the writer

 What governs human behavior?

 Id – the animal nature that says, “Do what feels good.”
 Ego – the reality-based part of your personality that makes decisions to satisfy the Id and
Superego
 Superego – the socialized “conscience” that tells you what’s right or fair

 Oedipus Complex – Every boy has the unconscious desire to please his mother; consequently, sons are
afraid of their fathers, and fathers are threatened by their sons.
 Elektra Complex – Every daughter has the unconscious desire to please her father; consequently,
daughters are deeply afraid of their mothers, and mothers are deeply threatened by their daughters.

A Psychological Reading of Macbeth

Macbeth kills King Duncan because he unconsciously recognizes the king as a father-figure. Hence, Duncan is a
rival for power and the affections of the people.

In the latter acts of the play, Macbeth has indulged his id so often that his ego has lost the ability to restrain it.

3. The Sociological Approach

Sociological criticism argues that social contexts (the social environment) must be considered when
analyzing a text. Focuses on the values of a society and how those views are reflected in a text Emphasizes
the economic, political, and cultural issues within literary texts

Core Belief: Literature is a reflection of its society.

4A. The Marxist Approach

Marxist Criticism emphasizes economic and social conditions. It is based on the political theory of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels.

Concerned with understanding the role of power, politics, and money in literary texts

Marxist Criticism examines literature to see how it reflects

1. The way in which dominant groups (typically, the majority) exploit the subordinate groups
(typically, the minority)
2. The way in which people become alienated from one another through power, money, and politics

For example: Are the rich always good or bad? Are the poor always good or bad?

Explores the power struggles of those who are minorities in dominant culture.

Examines who has/does not have power, how they attained it/why they don’t have it, and what
they do with it/how they are manipulated by it.

4B. The Feminist Approach

Feminist Criticism is concerned with the role, position, and influence of women in a literary text.

Asserts that most “literature” throughout time has been written by men, for men.

Examines the way that the female consciousness is depicted by both male and female writers.

4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism

1. Western civilization is patriarchal.
2. The concepts of gender are mainly cultural ideas created by patriarchal societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has been gender-biased.
 A Feminist Reading of Cinderella
As a single, young woman, Cinderella is without means or opportunity because she is unattached to a father or
a husband.

It is only through the magic of a fairy godmother that she can be made presentable and meet the prince AND
he is the only means of her escaping her plight.

What skills does she have? She is beautiful, can sing well, and is kind. These are highlighted as the desirable
qualities in a woman (hence, her UGLY, UNTALENTED, stepsisters who are portrayed as undesirable).

5. The Biographical Approach

Biographical Criticism argues that we must take an author’s life and background into account when we study a
text.

Three Benefits:
1. Facts about an author’s experience can help a reader decide how to interpret a text.
2. A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing a writer’s struggles or difficulties in creating that text.
3. A reader can understand a writer’s preoccupation by studying the way they apply and modify their own
life experiences in their works.

A Biographical Reading of To Build a Fire

by Jack London

London grew up in poverty and lived on the streets of San Francisco so he likely had a negative view of city life.
We also know that he found peace and “breathing room” in Alaska.

The settings and circumstances in “To Build a Fire” reflect the feelings above. (ie.-the Naturalist idea that
nature is indifferent = effects of his early life on him and setting = his love of Alaska/the wilderness)

6. The New Historicist Approach

New Historicist Criticism argues that every literary work is a product of its time and its world.

New Historicism:

1. Provides background information necessary to understand how literary texts were perceived in their time.

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

New historicist critics often compare the language in contemporary documents and literary texts to reveal
cultural assumptions and values in the text.

Historical/Cultural Reading of Disney’s Sleeping Beauty (1959)

What can Sleeping Beauty reveal about 1950s society?

How do Prince Phillip’s lines and the “Sword of Truth” reflect the ideals of 1950s Americans?

Mythological Criticism

 This stance is not about mythology.

 It is about the universal elements of human life that are common in all cultures.
 Like ancient mythology, literature is a window to creating meaning for human life.

 In other words, stories make us feel like our lives are more significant.

 Central to mythological theory are archetypes.

 Remember, archetypes are those universal elements present in the literature of all cultures.

 Mythological Criticism seeks to understand how the story constructs meaning in the human existence
through archetypes.
 For example, note the ways texts have examined betrayal.

Common Archetypes

The Hero = Beowulf, Spiderman, Luke Skywalker, Braveheart

The Outcast = Macbeth’s clown, Lord of the Flies, Cain

The Quest = LOTR, Star Wars, Beowulf

Sacrificial King = Jesus, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe, LOTR

Evil Personified = Wicked Witch of the West, the Devil, the Emperor in SW

Narratological Criticism

concerns itself with the structure of narrative; how events are constructed and through what point of view

-considers the narrator not necessarily as a person, but more as a window through which one sees a
constructed reality

Example

Upon Seeing an Orange

 Gender Theory – What possibilities are available to a woman who eats this orange? To a man?

 Formalism – What shape and diameter is the orange?

 Marxist Theory – Who owns this orange? Who gets to eat it?

 Postcolonial Theory – Who owns the orange? Who took it away?

 Reader Response Theory – What does the orange taste like? What does the orange remind the reader of?

 Psychological/Psychoanalytical – I want this orange now! Will I get in trouble if I eat it?

Jennifer Surbano
Charize Anne Mendoza
BSED II English
Discussant