Transcript Literary Theory - Hart County Schools

Literary Theory
"Poetry, the workings of genius itself,
which…has been called Inspiration, and
held to be mysterious and inscrutable, is no
longer without its scientific exposition. The
building of the lofty rhyme is like any other
masonry or bricklaying: we have theories of
its rise, height, decline and fall…”
Thomas Carlyle, "Signs of the Times” 1829
"Literary criticism can be no more than a
reasoned account of the feeling produced upon
the critic by the book he is criticizing. Criticism
can never be a science: it is, in the first place,
much too personal, and in the second, it is
concerned with values that science ignores.
The touchstone is emotion, not reason. We
judge a work of art by its effect on our sincere
and vital emotion, and nothing else. All the
critical twiddle-twaddle about style and form, all
this pseudoscientific classifying and analyzing
of books in an imitation-botanical fashion, is
mere impertinence and mostly dull jargon"
D.H. Lawrence, "Phoenix” 1936
What makes this literary?
• Did Emily Dickens wake up one day and
say “I am going to write a classic”?
• Is Harry Potter a classic? Author Stephen
King? Charlaine Harris? John Grisham?
• Some texts are born literary, some achieve
literariness, and
some have
literariness
thrust upon them.
Star Trek Video
What makes this literary?
• Literary theory is:
 The tools we use to
attempt to understand
a text in a logical
manner
• Critcism is:
 The analysis,
description, or
interpretation of a
literary work
• Theories provide the
rationale, or defense,
for the focus of the
criticism
New Criticism theory
• An objective, scientific
study of motifs,
devices, and
techniques to explain
the meaning
• The text is viewed
independent from its
history, author and the
reader
• How do paradox,
tensions, ambiguities
unify the work
• One correct
interpretation
New Criticism questions
• What conflicts can you see in the text?
• What idea unifies the work, resolving these
ambiguities?
• What elements like imagery, symbolism and
setting work together to support this resolution?
Marxism theory
• “People for the most
part… don’t know how to
think, they only learn
words by heart.” – John
Lenin
• Created by Karl Marx
• Believes that history and
culture are largely a
reflection of the struggle
between economic
classes
• Literature reflects the
beliefs and attitudes of
the dominating
culture/class
Some Marxist questions…
• What social classes
do the characters
represent?
• How do characters
from different
classes interact or
conflict?
• How do characters
overcome
oppression?
New Historicism theory
• Examines work in
cultural and
historical context
of both the work
AND the author
• Uses multiple
texts including
music,
Harper Lee…
•grew up in a small town
newspapers and
•was the youngest of four children
•was the daughter of a lawyer who
advertisements
owned part of newspaper and was
member of Alabama state legislature from time period
•was a tomboy
30s stewardess
•What language/ characters/
events present in the work
reflect the current events of
the author’s day?
•How does the literary text
function as part of a
continuum with other
historical/cultural texts from
the same period?
Reader Response theory
• Readers create the meaning of a text through
their own values and experiences
• Readers don’t passively absorb the material
they read; YOU are constantly judging and
analyzing the text as you read
• Types of response:
 Initial emotional response
 Interpretive
 Analysis
 Questions
 Summary
 Arguing with author (believability of text)
 Intertextuality
 Rethinking one part of text after reading another.
Some Reader Response
questions
• What does the text
have to do with you
personally?
• How does the text
agree or clash with
your world view?
• What images and
events in the story
are you already
conditioned to
approve or
disapprove?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wr3r25LQ4pE