Literary Criticism

1. Literary Criticism Different Ways of Looking at Literary Texts

2. Types of criticismin this slideshow • Reader’s response • Formalist • Structuralist • Archetypal • Deconstruction • Feminist deconstruction • Post-structural

3. Reader’s Response Your response. Read the book, watch the movie. Respond. Easy.

4. Reader’s Response • Good point: Enjoyable • Bad point: Hard to grade.

5. Formalist • Literary science. • The text is the evidence. • Your interpretations are strictly limited to the evidence that the text provides. • It’s formal because it • removes “you” from the • equation.

6. Formalist • Good point: we look to authors as wiser people who can teach us. We interpret what they say in order to learn. • Bad point: authors can be biased and prejudiced. They support power structures that have been harmful to females, racial minorities, and other groups.

7. Formalism cont’d • The following are some questions a formalist critic might ask: • What is the theme of the poem or play or novel? • How are symbols used to express the theme? • How are certain characters undercut with irony?

8. Structuralism • It is structural because it looks at the structure of a text and also the shared structures of a variety of texts.

9. Structuralism Cont’d • A question a structuralist critic might ask is: • How does the story create and resolve dramatic tension?

10. Structuralism cont’d • Structural criticism also includes archetypal criticism. • These critics look for certain structures, called archetypes, that exist throughout literature. • theme archetypes • character archetypes • symbolic archetypes • plot archetypes

11. An archetype is like a blue-print or prototype of an idea. • Some archetypes are ancient and are still in use today.

12. Archetypal criticismthe original structures • If you ask a group of people to create an alternate universe, fill it with imaginary people, and tell a story about them, they will all do it the same way, or at least in a similar way. • Why?

13. One theory states that similarities arise Because of the collective unconscious Individual Collective

14. Carl Jung (1875-1961) • In his famous work, Carl Jung suggested that our conscious minds are individual, but our unconscious minds share many elements; it is therefore a “collective” unconscious.

15. The unconscious mindand archetypes • Carl Jung called archetypes “primordial images.” (Images left over from our primitive past.) • They are “psychic residue” of repeated patterns of experience in the lives of our very ancient ancestors. • This psychic residue survives in the “collective unconscious”.

16. Archetype v. Stereotype • Let’s puttJung, the collective unconscious, and psychic residue aside for a moment think of an archetype simply as an original example – one which has spawned many copies. • Hamlet is the archetype of the “tortured poet”. • James Bond is the archetype of the suave killer. • Dracula is the archetype of the, well, suave monster.

17. stereotype • A stereotype on the other hand is an over-simplified model of a type of person (and sometimes of places and ideas.) • Stereotypes are negative: groups within a culture develop them in order to mock other groups. • There are racial and gender stereotypes. There are stereotypes for types of people: jock, nerd, blondes)

18. An example of anarchetypal theme • Death and re-birth • This theme is grounded in the cycle of seasons on earth.

19. examples of archetypal characters • Promethean rebel-hero • Earth Mother Goddess

20. Examples of archetypal symbols • The sun represents intelligence • Darkness represents the unknown

21. An example of anarchetypal plot structure • FREYTAG’S PYRAMID • Climax • Beginning End

22. A diagram oftragedy • Beginning • Example: • Greek stories • End

23. The structure of Tragedy • The structure of a tragedy requires that the hero make a choice with noble intentions, only to find that the choice brings about a “reversal” of his/her fortune. • When the hero begins to realize that his destruction is at hand (recognition scene) the audience is moved emotionally (experiences pathos).

24. A diagram ofcomedy BeginningEnd Example: Biblical Stories

25. Side-point about Comedy: • The Ancient Greeks invented comedy. • Plot conflicts usually revolved around the generation gap (i.e. the younger generation’s views about life and love come into conflict with the older generation’s) • After countless funny episodes of misunderstandings and arguments, the members of the younger generation find love, the members of the older accept changing times and bless the relationships, and sometimes renew their own vows or find love of their own.

26. The Bible • Comedy as a term has become associated with stories that offer the U shaped plot, stories that are not necessarily funny but are restorative. • Biblical stories are not comedies in the modern sense. They are not funny; they are restorative. • The protagonists move from a good position, experience hell (figuratively or literally), and then are restored to a good place. • The pattern of life according to Jews and Christians.

27. A biblical example: • Refer to The Prodigal Son story. • Consider how the story develops and resolves dramatic tension: • 1. Is there a reversal of fortune? • 2. Is there a recognition scene? • 3. How is the story similar to or different from a Greek tragedy?

28. Structuralismarchetypal criticism • Good points: Patterns in literature reveal the nature of a culture and a structure of a people’s mind • Bad point: It reveals the mind of only those who are allowed to write and publish. (i.e. a culture’s mythology is biased.)

29. Structuralismarchetypal criticism • 2nd Good point: A knowledge of structure gives one greater insight into any particular work of art, because one sees how it fits in. • 2nd Bad point: It reduces each work of art to one simple design.

30. Deconstructive criticism • We live in a deconstructive age. • The deconstructive critic seeks NOT to learn from the author’s wisdom, • BUT INSTEAD to reveal the inconsistencies and contradictions in the author’s words.

31. Deconstruction CONT’D • Deconstruction did not originate as a form of literary criticism. • It began as a criticism of language itself and of any system of signs (signifiers) that we use to communicate our thoughts.

32. To the DeconstructionistWords are slippery • Signified • (idea) • Author • Signifier: cat • (word)

33. Signifiers (words)are unreliable

34. Deconstruction CONT’D • There is no standard, objective form of cat of which we all think when we read or hear the word cat. • There are only infinite varieties of cats. • According to deconstructionists, the word cat is, therefore, meaningless.

35. To the deconstructionist words suggest power • Deconstructionists also look at common word pairs, often words that are opposites, and suggest that one word in the pair has been designated by the culture as dominant. teacher student

36. Reversing the pairs • A deconstructionist asks what happens when we reverse the power order? • The deconstructive critic might ask how teachers are subordinate to students? student teacher

37. Teacher / studentquestion • teachers were once students themselves • teachers need students in order to be teachers • The term teacher contains within it the concept of student. And the two turn out to be mutually dependent. • Also, each era will re-define what a teacher is and what a student is. Any statement that uses these words is limited by the definition of the era.

38. Deconstruction asks: • What happens when we reverse the power hierarchy of the language? • Refer to the Rousseau passage.

39. Rousseau asserts thatnature is superior to society • nature society

40. Reversing the pairs: • nature A deconstructionist asks what happens when we reverse the power order? society The deconstructive critic might ask how is nature subordinate to society?

41. The nature/society question • The origins of society is found in a state of nature. It grew out of nature. • Therefore society contains within it aspects of the concept of nature. (And also therefore, the two turn out to be mutually dependent.) • The idea of “nature” grew out of a civilized mind. Whatever we think of as “nature” has come through the filter of a mind raised in society. • Also, each era will re-define what “nature” and “society” mean. Any statement that uses these words is limited by the definition of the era.

42. Deconstruction as literary criticism • Deconstruction seeks to find • biases, • prejudices, • and value judgments • that are implied through sub-text. • The deconstructive critic is guided by one main question: • Who has the power?

43. Forms of literary Deconstruction • Feminist Deconstruction: who has the power, men or women? • Marxist Deconstruction: who has the power, • rich or poor? • Racial Deconstruction: who has the power, • black or white?

44. FeministDeconstruction 101 • Is the hero a man? • Does the woman only aid the man on his journey? • Does the woman have a voice? • Does the woman have an objective of her own? Or is she subordinate to the male hero’? • Does the woman have a personality or is she a stereotype? • Did a man write and publish the book? Were women allowed to write and publish at that time? • Does the school system seek out new female voices in literature, or is it stuck in the male dominated past?

45. Faq’s re:Feminist deconstruction • Q: If men have the hero’s journey, what do women have? • A: Variety. Step outside the mono-myth and look around. • Q: Is every view-point outside the mono-myth a feminist viewpoint? • A: Yes • Q: How do you come up with a female hero? • A: Come up with something new • Q: Is Katniss a feminist hero? • Q: Or is she just a Greek hero repackaged with a female anatomy?

46. Good Point: • Literary deconstruction rescues our literary heritage from its affluent, white-male tunnel vision. • Bad Point: Deconstruction robs every word and therefore every narrative of any meaning whatsoever.

47. post-structuralism • Post-structuralism goes hand-in-hand with deconstruction • However, it is used more often to describe the art (almost like a genre) than to describe the form of literary criticism • Post-structural artists are self-conscious about the very structure they are working within. They are deconstructing themselves.

48. post-structuralism • Examples • Meta-fiction (referring to the process of writing while writing) • Corrupting the classic plot structures in order to frustrate the audience, provoke them to think, or produce some other emotional effect

49. post-structuralism • Good Point: rejecting established structures opens the road for innovation and creativity. Post-structural art also expresses the angst (and hope) of living in a universe without underlying meaning. • Bad Point: Post-structural art often seeks NOT to satisfy the audience or even entertain them. Its self-conscious approach often strikes the audience as pretentious and annoying.

50. The end