Theoretical Approaches To

Literature
Name:
- Muhammad Asbiq Afkar Alamsyah (1202040075)
- Nurul Kusumaningrum (1202040096)
- Puja Hasna Aripah (1202040099)
- Rayi Ghalib Panut (1202040105)
 Theoretical Approaches To Literature
As with the classification systems of genres and text types, the approaches to literary texts are characterized by a number of
divergent methodologies. The following sections show that literary interpretations always reflect a particular institutional,
cultural, and historical background. The various trends in textual studies are represented either by consecutive schools or
parallel ones, which at times compete with each other. On the one hand, the various scholarly approaches to literary texts
partly overlap; on the other, they differ in their theoretical foundations.
Because this is a follow-up material from the discussion by the previous group regarding the four main approaches in
theoretical approaches to literature. So, in this discussion we will only discuss the last two points of the theoretical
approach to literature, namely:
1. Reader - Oriented Approach
2. Context - Oriented Approach
 Reader Oriented Approach

Reader-oriented approach developed in the 1960s called reception theory, reader-response

theory, or aesthetic of reception. Reception theory is obviously opposed to a new criticism’s
dogma of affective fallacy, which demands an interpretation free of subjective contribution
by readers. These approaches assume that a text creates certain expectations in the reader in
every phase or of reading. These expectations are then either fulfilled ar left fulfilled.
Edgar Alan Poe’s The Murders in the Rue Morgue is one of the example of this
approach. It guides reader’s imagination and expectation in different directions.
Three main terms in reader-oriented approaches:
a. Reception Theory
reception theory is obviously opposed to new criticism’s dogma of affective
fallacy, which demands an interpretation free of subjective contributions by the
reader. Reader-centered approaches examine the readership of a text and
investigate why, where, and when it is read. They also examine certain reading
practices of social, ethnic, or national groups. They aim at revealing certain
mechanisms which are employed in the transformation of the visual signs on paper
into a coherent, meaningful text in the mind of the reader.
b. Reception History
A further aspect which is closely connected with this movement is the investigation of the
reception of texts by a particular readership. In reception history sales figures are examined
together with reviews in newspapers and magazines.
c. Reader Response Criticism
Reader-response criticism emphasizes the reader as much as the text. It seeks to understand how
a given reader comes together with a given literary work to produce a unique reading.
 Context Oriented Approach

This term refers to heterogeneous group of schools and methodologies which do not regard
literary texts as self-contained, independent work of art but try to place them within a larger
context. It is divided into two parts, they are Literary History and Marxist Literary Theory.
Marxist Literary theory is based on the writing of Karl Marx (1818-1883). It examine the
conditions of production in certain literary periods and their influence on the literary texts of
the times.
Type of Context Oriented Approach:
a. New Historicism
One of the latest developments in the field of contextual approaches has been new
historicism, which arose in the US in the 1980s. It builds on post-structuralism and
deconstruction, with their focus on text and discourse, but adds a historical dimension to
the discussion of literary texts.
Typical questions involved in historical criticism include the following:

• How (and how accurately) does the work reflect the historical period in which it was
written?
• What specific historical events influenced the author?
• How important is the work’s historical context to understanding it?
• How does the work represent an interpretation of its time and culture? (New Historicism)
b. Feminist Literary Theory and Gender Theory
The most productive and, at the same time, most revolutionary movement of the younger theories of
literary criticism in general and the contextual approaches in particular is Feminist Literary Theory.
Feminist literary theory born on the movement of people especially woman which has strongly
establish academic discipline. Feminist literary theory starts with the assumption that “gender
difference” is an aspect which has been neglected in traditional literary criticism and, therefore,
argues that traditional domain of literary criticism have to be re-examined from a gender-oriented
perspective.
Typical questions involved in this approach include the following:

• How does the work portray the lives of women?

• How are female characters portrayed? How are the relationships between men and women
portrayed? Does this reinforce sexual and gender stereotypes or challenge them?
• How does the specific language of a literary work reflect gender or sexual stereotypes?
Thank you!!!