Types of Literary Criticism: Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, by Louis

Types of Literary Criticism
Since ancient times, readers have debated and critiqued

literature from a variety of perspectives. Some have looked
at a story or play from a moral stance, considering how
values are represented in a text. Another critic might
evaluate a poem in terms of its form. Recent critics have
looked at literature to see what it might be saying about
our lives in society, our political or power relations, gender
roles, or sexuality. Below I have summarized some types
of literary criticism you might consider when reading or
writing about literature. If you're interested in knowing
more, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab or OWL or read
Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, by Louis
Tyson.
The Gavilan library website offers resources for students
conducting research on literature. (You will need a
Gavilan library card to access this information and can
apply for a card in person or online.) The library also has a
helpful website on Academic Research Guidelines that
will help you identify legitmate sources for your research
and avoid plagiarism. See me, a librarian, and/or a writing
assistant at the Gavilan Writing Center for help with
writing about literature.
* Moral Criticism, Dramatic Construction (~360 BC-
present)
* Formalism, New Criticism, Neo-Aristotelian Criticism
(1930s-present)
* Psychoanalytic Criticism, Jungian Criticism(1930s-
present)
* Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)
* Reader-Response Criticism (1960s-present)
* Structuralism/Semiotics (1920s-present)
* Post-Structuralism/Deconstruction (1966-present)
* New Historicism/Cultural Studies (1980s-present)
* Post-Colonial Criticism (1990s-present)
* Feminist Criticism (1960s-present)
* Gender/Queer Studies (1970s-present)
Sociological criticism: Like historical criticism,
sociological criticism examines literature in the cultural,
economic, and political context in which it is written or
received. This type of criticism may analyze the social
content of a literary work—the cultural, economic, or
political values a particular text implicitly or explicitly
expresses.
Reader-response criticism: This type of criticism
attempts to describe what happens in the reader’s mind
while interpreting a text. A reader-response critic might
also explore the impact of a particular text on his or her
own ideas or values. For example, one might reflect on
how a particular character seems admirable or unlikable
and why. One might reflect on how one’s religious,
culture, or social values affect readings. It also overlaps
with gender criticism in exploring how men and women
may read the same text with different assumptions.
Gender criticism: This type of criticism examines how
sexual identity influences the creation and reception of
literary works. Gender studies originated during the
feminist movement, when critics began investigating the
unexamined assumptions around gender in a piece of
literature. Feminist critics explored how an author’s
gender might—consciously or unconsciously—affect his
or her writing. These critics may also explore how images
of men or women in literature might reflect or reject the
social norms around gender in a particular society.
Mythological criticism: Mythological critics explore the
universal patterns underlying a literary work. This type of
criticism draws on the insights of anthropology, history,
psychology, and comparative religion to explore how a
text uses myths and symbols drawn from different cultures
and epochs. A central concept in mythological criticism is
the archetype, a symbol, character, situation, or image that
evokes a deep universal response. For example, critic
Joseph Campbell, in his books like The Hero with a
Thousand Faces, demonstrates how similar mythic
characters and situations, like the hero’s journey, appear in
virtually every culture.
Biographical criticism: Biographical critics explore how
understanding an author’s life can help readers more
thoroughly comprehend the literary work. Note:
biographical critics are not concerned with simply
describing the author’s life but instead with interpreting
the literary work using the insights provided by knowledge
of the author’s life.
New Historicism: New historicist critics look at the
impact of the politics, ideologies, and social customs of the
author’s world on the themes, images, and
characterizations of a text. This type of critic considers the
historical events or conditions during which the work was
written.
Psychoanalytic criticism: This type of criticism views the
themes, conflicts, and characterizations of a work
primarily as a reflection of the needs, emotions, states of
mind, or subconscious desires of the author.
Formalist criticism: Formalist critics look closely at the
work itself, analyzing the various elements of the work as
a way of explicating or interpreting a text.

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Types of Literary Criticism

Since ancient times, readers have debated and critiqued

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