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Literary Criticism
LESSON 01 – INTRODUCTION
PREPARED BY MR. JONATHAN M. AYSON
1 Literary Theory 2

 Literary theory, or theories, can offer various ways of

defining literature. Literary theory does not offer any
easy solutions as to what literature is, or what its
study should be, but this should not be taken as a
negative feature.
 Literary theory intends to explain or demystify some
of the assumptions or values implicit in literature and
literary criticism.
2 Literary Criticism and 3
Literary Theory
 Literary criticism involves the reading, interpretation,
and commentary of a specific text or texts which
have been designated as literature.
 Two conventions or assumptions which tend to be
inherent in its practice are: (a) that criticism is
secondary to literature itself and dependent on it:
criticism is posterior to the literary texts and (b) that
critical interpretations or judgments seem to assume
that the literary text which they are addressing is
unquestionably literature: that literature is a natural,
self-evident category.
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 Literary criticism involves the reading, analysis,
explication, and interpretation of texts which are
designated literary, then literary theory should do
two things: (a) it ought to provide us with a range of
criteria for identifying literature in the first place, and
an awareness of these criteria should inform our
critical practice and (b) 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 the text.
 Literary criticism is best understood as an
application of a theory to specific texts (praxis-
theory put into practice)
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 Literary theory also addresses questions of what
makes literary language literary, as well as the
structures of literary language and literary texts, and
how these work.
 Literary theory is concerned also with the study of
the function of the literary text in social and cultural
terms, which in turn leads to a consideration of its
value.
3 Developments in Literary/Critical Theory
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and the practice of Literary Criticism
 Most criticism prior to the 1950’s could be described
author-centered.
 In the 1940’s and 1950’s a number of critics argued
that attention should be focused primarily on the
literary work or text and not the author: they
suggested the critic’s main concern was with the
language and form of the text being read not with
the author.
 More recently, a number of theorists have
introduced a particular area of literary theory
usually known as “reader theory” or “reception
theory”: focusing on the reader as the central figure
in the reading and critical process.
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The contemporary literary theory stresses the

following:
 Critic-tourist guide
 Literary pieces-places you want to visit because you
find them fascinating/interesting
 Critical/Literary-tourist agency
 The question to ask in contemporary literary criticism
is no longer: Is the text good?-this is text-oriented
rather: The text is good for who?-reader-oriented
 In contemporary literary theory, one assumes that
the author is dead (Roland Barthes).
4 Literary Theory and 8
Literature Teaching
How can literary theory inform our teaching of
literature?
 Recognize that readers make something of the text,
create something in the process of reading and
what they create depends not only on the text itself
but also on who the readers are and what they
bring with them to the reading.
 Invite students to confront the text as openly and
directly as possible, so that they might be more likely
to find their own unique responses to it.
 Ask students to sense their own questions, to stay
alert so they may find their own ways into the text.
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 Have them to take a point of view within a work
and fill in its “empty” spaces.
 Ask them to reflect upon the many conspicuous
silences in literary text.
 Carefully direct reading/writing assignment to lead
students to re-see a literary work so they may reflect
on and write about how they read and make
meaning of a literary text.
 Make use of literary theories to formulate thought-
provoking and challenging questions.
 Expose students to different readings of a literary
text.
5 A Survey of 10
the Literary Theories
Classical Theory
This theory is premised on the idea that literature is an
imitation of life. It mirrors life, the reality that we know.
It is interested in looking at literature based on:
 Mimesis (Plato) – Mimesis is the Greek word for
imitation. We try to see whether a piece of work is
mimetic. If it is, what is imitated? How is the imitation
done?
 Function (Horace) – Function refers to whether a
piece of literature seeks to entertain or to teach.
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 Style (Longinus) – Style refers to whether a piece of
literature was written in a low, middle or high style.
 Catharsis (Aristotle) – Catharsis refers to purgation,
purification, classification, or structural. The idea of
catharsis relates, too, to a purging of negative
emotions, like pity and fear.
 Censorship (Plato) – Censorship is an issue here since
what is literature might not be good for the readers.
References 12

Cruz, I. ed. (1990). Readings in contemporary criticism.

Manila: DLSU.

Montealegre, A. (2003). Applying literary theories in

the major genres. Manila: Philippine Normal
University.

Selden, R. (1993). Contemporary literary theory.

London: Harvester Wheatsheaf.