LITERARY CRITICISM APPROACHES TO LITERARY CRITICISM

How do we study literature?  FORMALIST:

How do viewpoint and bias affect our perception of
The formalist tradition developed in Russian
reality?
literary criticism in the late nineteenth century and
CRITICAL APPROACHES are different perspectives beginning of the twentieth, especially in the work of
we consider when looking at a piece of literature. the Moscow Linguistic Circle.
They seek to give us answers on the fololowing The most well-known and influential figure
questions: of Russian Formalism was ROMAN JAKOBSON
1. What do we read? (1896-1982) whose work focused on defining the
2. Why do we read? qualities of what he termed ‘poetic language’.
3. How do we read? Jakobson advocated that the poetic function
of language is realised in those communicative acts
Literary criticism is the method used to interpret where the focus is on the message rather than the
any given work of literature. The different schools emotions of the author.
of literary criticism provide us with lenses which
ultimately reveal important aspects of the literary -The formalist approach focuses on the form of the
work. literary text itself.
- the emphasis is on the form of the work, the
“Literary criticism is the study, analysis, and relationship between the parts, the construction of
evaluation of imaginative literature. Everyone who the plot, contrasts between characters, the
expresses an opinion about a book, a song, a play, functions of rhyme, the point of view, and so on.
or a movie is a critic, but not everyone’s opinion is - Russian Formalism and American New Criticism
based upon thought, reflection, analysis, or can be considered as two facets of the same coin.
consistently articulated principles.” -Mark Lund, 96 Both approaches emphasized the analysis of texts
through close readings. Moreover, they rejected the
Impotance of Literary Criticism author’s biography and highlighted instead the
1. Appreciation towards a certain literary piece literariness of the text.
2. Understanding reality and fiction
3. Stimulates emotional response
• “Literary criticism” is the name given to Guide questions:
works written by experts who critique— · How is the work’s structure unified?
analyze—an author’s work. · How do various elements of the work reinforce its
• It does NOT mean “to criticize” as in meaning?
complain or disapprove. · What recurring patterns (repeated or related
• Literary criticism is used by people who want words, images, etc.) can you find? What is the effect
to use an expert’s opinion to support their of these patterns or motifs? Is the structure of the
own ideas. work similar to other well-known stories, fables,
myths, etc.?
 Any piece of text can be read with a number · How does repetition reinforce the theme(s)?
of different sets of “glasses,” meaning you · How does the writer’s diction reveal or reflect the
are looking for different things within the work’s meaning?
text. · What is the effect of the plot, and what parts
specifically produce that effect?
 Literary criticism helps readers understand a · What figures of speech are used? (metaphors,
text in relation to the author, culture, and similes, etc.)
other texts. · Note the writer’s use of paradox, irony, symbol,
plot, characterization, and style of narration.

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· Is there a relationship between the beginning and Thus, there is no single definitive reading of
the end of the story? a text, because the reader is creating, as opposed to
· What tone and mood are created at various parts discovering, absolute meanings in texts.
of the work? This approach is not a rationale for bizarre
· How does the author create tone and mood? meanings or mistaken ones, but an exploration of
What relationship is there between tone and mood the plurality of texts.
and the effect of the story? This kind of strategy calls attention to how
we read and what influences our readings, and
Example: Lion King - The director’s use of colors in what that reveals about ourselves.
the sunset help to show the changing mood of
Simba. Guide questions:
1. How do you feel about what you read?
 READER-RESPONSE APPROACH: 2. What do you think it means?
- The proponent of this approach is
LOUISE ROSENBLATT. He stated that “a  MARXISM:
poem is what the reader lives through - It directs attention to the idea that all language
under the guidance of the text and makes ideological statements about things like
experiences as relevant to the text. class, economics, race, and power, and the function
Reader-response criticism argues that the meaning of literary output is to either support or criticize the
of a text is dependent upon the reader’s response political and economic structures in place.
to it. - emphasizes economic and social condition, mainly
- recognizes reader as an active agent who imparts the status quo
“real existence” to the work and completes its - supported by KARL MARX and FREIDRICH
meaning through interpretation. ENGELS’ social ideology which promotes a classless
- Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects society.
readers’ perceptions of a text - views class relations and social conflict
-Text as an EXPERIENCE, not an object. - Marxist criticism focuses on content and theme
-The text is a living thing that exists in the reader’s rather than form.
imagination
Basically, READER + READING SITUATION + STRENGTH: Provides functional cultural and political
TEXT = MEANING agenda of literature.
Two tenets of reader-response criticism: WEAKNESS: Opens up the possibility of prioritizing
■ A person’s interpretation will likely change content over form, ideological criterion over artistic.
over time, as they have more and more experiences
to bring with them to the text.  FEMINISM:
■ Readers from different periods of time, - JULIA KRISTEVA has been regarded as the
different cultures, and different places will have proponent of Feminism. She proposed the idea of
different interpretations of the same text. multiple sexual identities against the joined code of
“unified feminine language”.
This theory removes the focus from the text - concerned with the role, position, and influence of
and places it on the reader instead, by attempting women in a literary text
to describe what goes on in the reader’s mind - examines the way that the female conciousness is
during the reading of a text. depicted by both male and female authors
Reader-response critics are not interested in - combines several critical methods while focusing
a “correct” interpretation of a text or what the on the questions on how gender affects a literary
author intended. They are interested in the work, writer or reader.
reader’s individual experience with a text.

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Guide questions: - uses in-depth character analysis to understand
1. How are women portrayed in the work? As interior motives of the characters.
stereotypes? As individuals?
2. How is the woman's point of view considered? 3 types:
3. Is the male superiority implied in the text? 1. Psychoanalytic
4. In what way is the work affected because it was 2. Trauma
written by a woman? 3. Cognitive

STRENGTH: Enriches a reading by showing  STRUCTURALIST:

awareness of the complexity a human interaction. - Founded by FERDINAND DE SAUSSURE
WEAKNESS: Ultimately culturally criticism. - Order or structure, in everything.. is
everything…
 GENDER APPROACH (QUEER - Everything is organized in structural
THEORY) patterns, society, culture, language,
- a contemporary approach to gender criticism was literature, and even behavior.
introduced by JUDITH BUTLER who who suggests - Literary texts are compose of signs that
that gender is not the result of nature but is socially make up their hidden logic
constructed.
- examines how sexual identity influences the Structuralists believe that codes, signs, and
creation and reception of literary works rules govern all human social and cultural practices,
- seek to correct imbalance by battling patriarchal including communication.
attitudes In structuralism, the study of language is
- is a relatively recent and evolving school of evident including the phonology, morphology,
criticism syntax, semantics, etc. In formalism, the focus is on
- questions and problematizes the issues of gender the elements of fiction/poetry, while in
identity and sexual orientation in literary texts. structuralsim, the focus is on the use or structure of
-it examines how sexual identity influences the the language.
creation and reception of literary works.
- to many queer theorists, gender is not a fixed IDEA= SIGNIFIER (word) + SIGNIFIED (concept/
identity that shapes actions and thoughts, but meaning)
rather a “role” that is “performed”.
 POST-STRUCTURALIST
 PSYCHOLOGICAL:
- uses psychoanalytic theories, especially those of - was initiated by JACQUES DERRIDA in the late
SIGMUND FREUD and JACQUES LACAN, to 1960's.
understand more fully the text, the reader, and the - begins with the assumptions that the world is
writer. unknownable and language is unstable and
- the basis of this approach is the idea of the unfaithful.
existence of a human consciousness – those - assumes that language refers only to itself rather
impulses, desires, and feelings about which a than that to an extra textual reality.
person is unaware but which influence emotions or - is an approach to understanding the relationship
behavior. between text and meaning
- the text is seen as a reflection of the author’s mind - asserts multiple conflicting interpretations to a
and personality. text.
- views characters in Literature as a reflection of the - - takes apart the logic of language in which authors
author her/himself make their claims.
- also focuses on the hidden motivation of the - bases interpretation on the philosophical, political
literary characters or social implications of the use of language in a
text rather than on the author's intentions.
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-Literature can have no singular meaning. - two opposing concepts
-Sees the works of literature as interconnected Deconstructionism uses binary oppositions
network of derived meanings. to look at what is not in a story.
- sees “reality’ as being much more fragmented, There is a dominant and an oppressed or
diverse, tenuous and culture-specific than non-dominant.
structuralism. Ex:
-The reader replaces the author as primary subject nature and culture speech and writing
of inquiry. mind and body inside and ouside
-Post structuralists examine other sources for
meaning. To deconstruct an opposition is to explore
the tensions and contradictions between the
A post structuralist critic must be able to hierarchical in the text and its other meaning.
utilize a variety of perspective to create a
multifaceted interpretation of the text, even if Language is all of these things because meaning is
these interpretations conflict with each other. largely generated by oposition:
“Hot” means something in opposition to “cold”, but
Structuralism vs Post Structuralism a hot day may be 90 degrees whereas a hot oven is
Similarities: atleast 400degrees and a hot item may be at any
1. emphasis on language temperature.
2. belief that all cultural systems can be represented
as coded systems of meaning rather than direct STRENGTH: Debunks the idea of the arbitraries of
transactions with reality. the verbal sign and loosens up language from
concepts and referents.
 DECONSTRUCTIONISM WEAKNESS: Views that the “meaning” of the text
-JACQUES DERRIDA bears only accidental relationship to the author's
-also a form of Post structuralism conscious intentions.
-questions traditional assumptions DIFFERENCES
-it is a philosophy of meaning; free play
of meaning. To identify the meaning STRUCTURALISM POST STRUCTURALISM
and true meaning of words is 1. Derives from Linguistics 1. Derives from Philosophy
deconstruction.
2. Able to find reliable 2. Questions notions and
-Language always empowers us. Words conclusion assumptions
control us. We do not go beyond words.
3. Systematic and complete 3. Puns (play of words)
-Deconstruction looks at the ambiguities
in signifiers, and states that there can 4. Language is the linguistic 4. Language is threat and
be many different signified meanings for medium. reality is textual

a single signifier. Metaphorical base of words

LOGOCENTRISM- the belief that there is an ultimate

reality or center of truth that can be served as the
 POST-MODERNISM:
basis for all our thoughts and actions.
- tends to conceptualize the world as
We live in a logo centric world. We want to being impossible to strictly define or
believe that everything is grounded. understand.
-Centers God, reason, origin, being, essence, - Supported by French Philospher JEAN
truth, humanity, beginning, end, and self. FRANCOIS LYOTARD.
- came to prominence after World War II.
BINARY OPPOSITIONS - is a form of literature which is marked,
- the most important part of Deconstructionism both stylistically and ideology, by

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 reliance on such literary conventions as  METAFICTION
fragmentation, paradox, unreliable - the act of writing about writing or
narrators, often unrealistic and making readers aware of the fictional
downright impossible plots, games, nature of the very fiction they are
parody, paranoia, dark humor and
reading.
authorial self-reference.
- rejection of outright meanings in the
 TEMPORAL DISTORTION
novels, stories, and poems. It highlights
the possibility of multiple meanings or a
- the use of non-linear timelines and
complete lack of meaning within a single narrative techniques in a story.
literary work.
- We have reached the period wherein  MINIMALISM
there are no standards. Postmodernism - the use of characters and events which
wants to destroy the standards. are decidedly common and non-
- Writing styles of the unreliable narrators exceptional characters.
does not follow the formalistic concept.
ex: - free verse poems
-stories without conflict  MAXIMALISM
( no pattern, fragmented ) - disorganized, lengthy, highly detailed
writing.

STYLISTIC TECHNIQUES USED IN  MAGIC REALISM

POSTMODERNISM - the introduction of impossible or
unrealistic events into a narrative that is
 PASTICHE otherwise realistic.
 INTERTEXTUALITY
 METAFICTION  FACTION
 TEMPORAL DISTORTION - the mixing of actual historical events
 MINIMALISM with fictional events without clearly
 MAXIMALISM defining what is factual and what is
 MAGIC REALISM fictional.
 FACTION
 READER INVOLVEMENT
 READER INVOLVEMENT
- often through direct address to the
reader and the open acknowledgement
 PASTICHE of the fictional nature of the events
- the taking of various ideas from previous being described.
writings and literary styles and pasting them
together to make new styles.

 INTERTEXTUALITY
- the acknowledgement of previous
literary works within another literary
work.

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