Transcript AN OVERVIEW OF SOME 'CRITICAL APPROACHES' FOR …

AN OVERVIEW OF SOME
'CRITICAL APPROACHES'
FOR LITERARY ESSAYS
How do we think about
what we read?
NOTE: Literary essays MUST maintain a focus on the primary
text(s) being examined.
Do not misinterpret the prompts below as license to discuss
matters only loosely connected with the literature itself -they are merely 'prompts' to help you discover a critical
'lens' or 'filter' to view it through, to help you come up with
your own focused 'reading' and analysis of it.
The list below is merely provided to help you 'think outside of
the box' — there are many other valid perspectives from
which you can examine and analyze specific works.
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Whatever you do, remember that a literary
essay always focuses on an analysis of the
literary text itself. Do not let your
enthusiasm for external things linked to the
text cause your paper to lose its literary
focus!!! Also, your analysis should be well
supported by clear references to the text
(carefully chosen quotations and
paraphrasing specific examples to prove
the points being made).
CULTURAL CRITICISM
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The focus here is upon the uniqueness of, or the
complex interrelations between, the customs and
institutions within the social group(s) depicted in a
literary work.
Suggestion: Determine if there are cultural elements
in your text(s) that might be worthy of exploration
regarding underlying tensions between various
cultural groups, or in the case of strong, underlying
cultural elements that affect such narrative elements
as characterization, plot, or theme.
Relevant background research is essential here.
NEW HISTORICISM
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Similar to 'cultural criticism,' this approach
to literature views the work in the context of
the historical and political ideas,
conventions, and attitudes of the specific
period in which it was written. It examines
the social, political, and intellectual climate
within which every writer has to work, and
which his or her writing often reflects to
some degree.
NEW HISTORICISM
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Suggestion: If this sounds like an appealing
approach to you, be sure you can set aside your own
assumptions and associations that will interfere with
the frame of reference from which the work derives
its form and meaning. Your goal here is to make the
work more accessible to modern readers by
reconstructing the historically relevant and
appropriate background during which it was written,
all the while keeping the focus of your analysis upon
the literary text itself.
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Relevant background research is essential here.
NEW HISTORICISM
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want to know what impact cultural or societal
influences have on a text when it is written
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look at the relationship between economic,
social, political, and aesthetic (appreciation of
beauty) concerns which overlap
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specifically, the description of forms of power
and how it works at any given time in history
NEW HISTORICISM
Questions to ask when reading:
 What are the relations of power suggested by
the text?
 How is power operating explicitly or implicitly?
What might threaten power?
 How do those in authority attempt to contain,
co-opt, or appropriate attempts to subvert that
authority?
 What historical or cultural events illuminate the
text?
MARXIST CRITICISM
Naturally, Marxist criticism is based
upon the economic and cultural theory
of Karl Marx. It is similar to historical
criticism, but narrows the focus of the
analysis even further (see below).
MARXIST CRITICISM
Suggestion: Look for ways in which the text(s) might
be analyzed in terms of:
 the evolving history of humanity in terms of its basic
economic organization;
 historical changes in the power relations of social
classes and the various conflicts between economic,
political and/or social elements of society; or
 human consciousness in any era as represented by
an ideology (a set of concepts, beliefs, values, and
ways of thinking, through which human beings
perceive, and then explain, what they take to be
reality).
Relevant background research is essential here.
MARXIST CRITICISM
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has a keen interest in the role of economic
systems and their role in legitimizing specific
types of social hierarchies
focus on celebrating texts that address the
interests and needs of the disenfranchised
groups, particularly the "working class"
tend to read text as an allegory depicting the
history of class conflict and/or changes in
modes of production
MARXIST CRITICISM
Questions to ask when reading:
 What are life's conflicting forces? What threatens order?
What restores order?
 Are characters from all social levels equally sketched?
What values, attributes, qualities, attitudes are associated
with these social levels? Who do you identify with?
 Is there a class of virtuous people? What makes them
so?
 What social class is the author affiliated with? Does this
influence the representation of characters?
 Who has the power to govern and what is that power
based on?
ARCHETYPAL CRITICISM
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'Archetypes' refers to those symbols, themes, settings, or
character-types that recur in different times and places in myths,
literature, dreams, and rituals, so often or so prominently, as to
suggest that they embody some essential element of 'universal'
(or archetypal) human experience.
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Suggestion: Look for recurrent symbols, common themes,
mythical settings, or stock characters in the works you are
considering analyzing, to determine if archetypal criticism is a
possibility. For example: are there epic elements of a quest by
a hero who returns much the wiser? does a 'trickster' type
character offer the hero a 'boon' giving him or her special powers
or knowledge? does the plot in any way parallel those of wellknown fairy tales or fables? is there a clear polarization of the
forces of good versus evil? etc.
FEMINIST & GENDER CRITICISM
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Feminist criticism has only been around since the
late 1960s and attempts to analyze literature in terms
of the gender roles or stereotypes found therein. The
generalized assumption underlying such criticism is
that civilization has been historically 'patriarchal' (i.e.
'ruled by the father' -- therefore, male-centered and
controlled).
Suggestion: Look for ways in which your text(s) may
be analyzed in terms of whether they do or do not do
justice to female points of view, concerns, and values
-- OR, seek out ways in which stereotypical images
of women occur and analyze this element.
FEMINIST & GENDER CRITICISM
GENDER CRITICISM:
 This approach is similar to a feminist
critical approach, but does not limit
itself to the feminine perspective.
Instead, it opens up elements of
meaning in the text in terms of male
and female gender stereotypes, the
tensions between them, and issues
related to human sexuality.
FEMINIST & GENDER CRITICISM
feminists want to question representations of gender,
recover ignored works, and celebrate texts that challenge
patriarchy or subvert traditional representations of
gender.
Three types:
 humanist feminists: gender is irrelevant, we are all
humans
 essentialist feminists: men and women are different, but
attributes and qualities of women should be celebrated
vs. devalued
 social constructionist feminists: there is nothing natural
about gender; identity, sexuality and roles are created by
specific cultures.
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FEMINIST & GENDER CRITICISM
Questions when reading:
 What roles are most often assigned to women
and men?
 What attributes are tied to certain behaviours
or types of women/men?
 How and why do female/male characters
succeed/fail?
 What kind of reward do they receive?
 How are femininity and masculinity defined?