What is literary theory?

By Roger Webster
Literature and literary theory
The term literature is frequently used in ways which would
suggest that it is not a problematic concept. We can see
differences emerging regarding this term; such differences are
often clearly observable between academia (academic
institutions) and popular institutions, but also within academia.
The differences are not only cultural but also historical.
Literature has been defined in different ways over the last
hundred years. There are divergent conceptions of literature and
conflicting ideas as to what constitutes a text worthy of study on
a syllabus.
The late XIX century is a good illustration of one of the main
ways in which English (rather than British) academic culture
sought to homogenize and organicize the study of literature. The
English Association (founded in 1907) sought to develop the
study of an English literary culture in educational institutions,
promoting the concept of culture ties to moral improvement
which Matthew Arnold had initiated in the nineteen century.
Arnolds view of culture as the best that is thought and
known in the world was to be implemented through the
medium of literature: the study of the classics and poetry.
Some critics have argued that the study of literature and the
cultural institution of English became substitutes for
established religion, which was showing weakness during that
period. Literature offered a similar kind of experience and it was
important that the state instilled (introduced gradually)
appropriate civilized values.

Rather than viewing literature as a homogeneous body which is

made up of works which have similar characteristics and which
are read in similar ways by different audiences, we could see it
as an area which is, and has been, historically in a state of flux
(flow). As terms, literature and literary have complex and
plural meanings.
Literature can be seen as sites of struggle where meanings are
contested rather than possessing timeless and universal values
and truths as they have sometimes been represented as doing.
Literary theory or theories, offer various ways of thinking about
what the issues might be in attempting any kind of definition for
literature.
Literary theory as an area of knowledge does not offer any easy
solution as to what literature is, or how it should be studied, but
his is not necessarily a negative quality.
Two important concepts arise from literary theory:
1- Literature becomes a problematic and heterogeneous area:
we might perhaps talk about Englishes rather than
English, regarding the ways in which it functions
culturally and historically as a form of writing and
knowledge.
2- The activities associated with the study of literature, from
reading to criticism, need to be constantly reassessed.
The discourse of literary theory is a double edged weapon (arma
de doble filo): on the one hand it can explain some of the
assumptions or values implicit in literature and literary criticism.
On the other hand, we should not let the truths which emerge
from theoretical texts stand unchallenged.

Literary theories tend towards a self-consciousness or selfreflexivity, centred most often around language the language of
the text being studied and the language which is brought to
bear on that text as it is read and interpreted.

Literary criticism and literary theory

Literary criticism has established itself as the main activity
associated with the academic study of literature.
It has been the practice to use terms such as author, character,
reader as if they were unproblematic, as if they are quite
natural aspects of literature and its study. We shouldnt allow
categories which emerge in theoretical approaches to stand
unchallenged either.
It would be helpful to make a distinction between the activities
or practices of literary criticism and literary theory.
Literary criticism involves the reading, interpretation of and
commentary on a specific text which has been designated as
literature. It is practised by professional critics and by students
of literature and circulated in published form in books and
journals, and also by students of literature.
Although criticism is a very broad term which covers various
approaches to and attitudes about literature, there are two
conventions which tend to be inherent in the practice of
criticism:
1- Criticism is secondary to literature itself, that is to say that
it is posterior to the literary text.

2- Critical interpretations seem to assume that the literary

text is unquestionably literature: that literature is a natural,
self-evident category.
However, some of the approaches offer rather different ways of
seeing things:
It is certainly the case that criticism is chronologically posterior
to the texts which it addresses, but this doesnt mean to say
that criticism is dependent on literature in the sense that its only
function is to comment on literary texts in ways which seem to
reflect their content. Rather it can be argued that both literature
and the identification of literary qualities an characteristic such
as tone, character, moral vision and so on, are constructed
primarily through the discourses of literary criticism and do not
have their origins in the literary text a such. There would be no
literature as we understand the term without literary criticism.
On the contrary, the idea that literature had its essential
meaning independent of criticism was fostered by M. Arnold.
This view of the critic as a neutral figure, objectively examining
the literary work is at odds with the view of literature as
experience, a subjective and individual phenomenon, where
feeling counts a great deal.
Literary criticism seems to have little difficulty in assimilating
such contradictory positions. Some literary theorists (Webster
included) suggested to see literature, the literary and the
relationship of literary criticism to these areas rather differently.
They saw a need to say what literature was, to identify the
historical, cultural, formal and linguistic properties which can
allow us to talk about the literary in more specific terms.

We can make a distinction between literary criticism and

literary theory. Criticism involves reading, analysis, explication
and interpretation of texts which are designated literary, then
literary theory should do two things:
1- It ought to provide us with a range of criteria for identifying
literature and an awareness of these criteria should inform
our critical practice.
2- It should make us aware of the methods and procedures
which we employ in the practice of literary criticism, so
that we not only interrogate the text but also the ways in
which we read and interpret it.
Literary theory is concerned with what literature and the
literary are, whereas critical theory is concerned with the
nature of criticism and critical practice.
Literature and experience
Our understanding of a text is determined by our experience of
it, and this will be further determined by our previous
experiences, both literary and non-literary.
Experience contains contradictory ideas: The reality (the world)
is one thing and language another, and we can use language to
reflect the world. Yet, this relationship is complex.
The study of literature has been strongly associated with the
realm of experience and related terms like feeling, emotion. As
such, literary study has tended to be placed in opposition to the
sciences. Theory is often seen as marginal or even irrelevant.
The central issue which a number of theoretical arguments have
exposed is: whose experience are we talking about in this kind

of criticism? Experience is subjective, relative, individually and

historically variable; in the case of literature it is generated by
language, which is a further complication, although perhaps
many critics of the experiential school would either ignore the
language or see it as merely a secondary aspect of, or medium
for, experience. The multiple and problematic aspects of
experience tended to be suppressed in much critical practise.
Experience and theory need not to be opposed to each other:
rather than invalidating the experience of reading, theory can
enhance and liberate it. Theory can lead to a much fuller and
more profound understanding of literary texts and the forms of
experience generated by them.