Literary Theory: A Review

New Criticism: (1930’s to present)

• Originated in reaction to traditional criticism that focused

on matters extraneous from the text
• Eg. Biographical criticism, historical criticism,
psychoanalytical criticism

• Work of art should be regarded as autonomous and

should not be judged by reference to considerations
outside the text

• Texts possess meaning in and of themselves and

therefore analysis should emphasize intrinsic meaning
over extrinsic

• Close reading of text necessary—ambiguities of text after

close reading must be resolved

• Must learn and apply the appropriate literary

conventions (ie. Imagery, motifs, metaphor, symbols,
irony, paradox, structural patterns, choice of point of
view etc…)

• Downfalls:

o some critics of this approach argue that new critic’s

commitment to revealing organic unity blinds them
to parts of text that do not contribute to that unity

o dismissing historical context, biographical context

of text

o sometimes new critics contradict own claims that

meaning is content bound
Traditional historicism: (19c--)

• abuse of this approach lead in part to new criticism—

historical context used to explain and understand literary
text

• assumption made that to know a text one needs to

understand its insertion in a particular moment in time,
as an expression of a writer influenced by their times

• methods—research author’s biographical data as well as

historical works from the time

New historicism: (1970’s to present)

• developed in response to perceived excesses of new

criticism which tended to ignore importance of historical
context of work of art

• new historicism views history sceptically—historical

narrative is inherently subjective

• history includes all of the cultural, social, political,

anthropological discourses

• historical texts are unranked—novel, pamphlet,

magazines

• looking at interconnections among author’s life and

behaviour, written texts, and the belief systems of the
culture

• ability of art of subvert dominant culture gives it political

significance

• does the work consider traditionally marginalized people?

Post-Colonialism:
 • examines the shaping of ideas and values in a particular
kind of culture—culture that has been colonized—
subjected to the rule another or an ‘other’
• cannot assume European culture is superior to some
other culture etc…

• again idea of the oppressed and the oppressor evident in

the theory

Feminist Criticism: (1960’s to present)

• mirrors resists or reinforces patriarchal, male-centred

culture, sterotypes and oppression of women

• can reveal sexist constructions of women and challenge

their inevitability

• can raise consciousness and promote change—can reveal

strengths of women repressed under patriarchy

• focus is to analyze traditional canon of male writers for

sexist stereotyping—focus on women writers especially
those ignored, on their creative processes, language
freed from phallogocentrism

• some areas of commonality:

1. women are oppressed by patriarchal society

2. women are marginalized by patriarchal

society—women are the ‘other’

3. western civilization steeped in patriarchal

ideology—Eve as origin of evil

4. biology determines sex, culture determines

gender

5. feminist activity has ultimate goal to

change the world by prompting gender
equality

6. gender issues play a part in every aspect of

human production and experience
 • gender studies, queer theory express same sort of issues
as feminist theory—influenced by feminist criticism
• distinction between masculine and feminine constantly
changing—more complex and murky…

Marxist Critique: (1930’s to present)

• based on theories of Karl Marx--reflects the material

forces operative at a specific time and promotes or
impedes progress towards socialist utopia

• literature either reveals or mystifies the truth about class

structure, class struggle, political economy and ideology

• can raise consciousness about nature of capitalism and

the plight of the workers

• analyze how a work reveals class structure as a political

construct

• views literature as a port of the material conditions of

culture, not just a reflection of them

• cycle of contradiction, tension, and revolution must

continue—conflict always between upper, middle and
working classes—conflict will be reflected in literature
Psychoanalytic criticism: (1930’s to present)

• application of specific psychological principles to the

study of literature (Freud)

• Freud stated: “creative writing is like dreaming: both

allow wishes or fears to be fulfilled that would otherwise
be suppressed. A desire or a fear too powerful to be
confronted directly can be disguised by the unconscious
and expressed by the author or dreamer”

• may focus on the writer’s psyche, unconscious fantasies

of the author, reader, critic and even fictional characters

• also can be: the study of the creative process, the study
of psychological types and principles, effects of literature
upon its readers

• id, ego, superego, oedipal complex, repression,

suppression of desires, etc…

• can psychoanalyze characters and even reader’s

response to the work

• works on assumption that authors, characters and

readers may be unaware of the reasons for their
behaviour

• suggests personal reasons for writing and reading

literature that has implications for the psychological
health of readers and writers

• Jungian interpretations focus on connection between

literature and “collective unconscious”

• Archetypal concepts and figures: anima, animus, mask,

shadow, nurturing mother, lover
• Archetypal patterns: quest, journey etc…
Archetypal Literary Theory : 1890’s, 1930’s, 1950’s+

• Origins rooted in social anthropology and psychoanalysis

—most popular in 1950’s and 1960’s due to work of
Canadian critic Northrope Frye
• No longer widely practiced
• Ex: death-rebirth myth in primitive religions and modern
religions (comes from anthropology Frazer’s Golden
Bough)
• Ex: collective unconscious theory of Carl Jung—we all
share innate thoughts, feelings, instincts, and memories
that reside in the unconscious

• Northrope Frye’s work on archetypal criticism helped

displace New Criticism as major mode for analyzing
literary texts—had a complexly organized theory:
comedic and tragic with human, animal, vegetation,
mineral and water

• Some archetypal stories: resurrection, rebirth,

reconciliation, the journey or quest, fall of anti-hero

• Some archetypal images are: the child, the hero, the

great mother, the wise man, the wise old woman, the
femme fatale, the trickster, the devil, the mentor, the
ingénue