1 / 11

LITERARY CRITICISM

LITERARY CRITICISM. Internal and External. Biographical. Focus on author’s background Seek connections between author and writing Make connections between writer’s life and characters, events, and themes. Historical. Sometimes referenced – Sociological

landen
Download Presentation

LITERARY CRITICISM

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. LITERARY CRITICISM Internal and External

  2. Biographical • Focus on author’s background • Seek connections between author and writing • Make connections between writer’s life and characters, events, and themes

  3. Historical • Sometimes referenced – Sociological • Relationship between history/culture and literature • Focus on history, politics, economics, social • Examines social and intellectual currents in era work was created • Premise – writers are influenced by the times in which they live and write.

  4. Psychological • Based on work of Sigmund Freud (1856-1939) • Explores motivation of characters & symbolic meanings of events • Theory – impulses/feelings motivate behavior • Caused revisit of classic • Emphasis on one’s conflicts, anxieties, and frustrations Keys • Unconscious mind is pre-eminent • Psyche – id, ego, superego • Dreams – unconscious mind – symbols of one’s desires • Traces behavior to sexual • Neurosis is closely related to creativity

  5. Feminist • The presentation of women • 1960s &’70s – revisit and seek out women writers • Places literature in social context with emphasis on gender issues • Analyzes various roles demanded of or denied women and impact • Premise – all previous criticism – patriarchial – must be re-examined • Led to reassessment of all minorities

  6. Mythological/Archetypal • Archetype – original pattern • Symbols – colors, water, circle • Characters – hero, outcast, scapegoat, Savior • Situations – initiation, quest, war, stranded • Universal experiences • Myths - symbols of universal beliefs, customs • Addresses fundamental issues of mankind • Recurrent patterns = universal meanings • Images, situations, characters – response • Carl Jung – similarities in unconscious of all humans

  7. Archetypes

  8. Reader/Response • Focus on reader – not work • Interpretation greatly affected by reader’s background • Work is not fixed – open to reinterpretation • Reader creates meaning instead of discovering it

  9. Deconstructionist • Emphasis on ambiguities • Discovering – variety of interpretations – contradictory • Masters thesis type of material

  10. FORMALIST • What you will do for most impromptus • Focus on elements of literature • Considers a piece – separate from writer or its time • Intense look at relationship between form and meaning • All value is in text itself • Unifying patterns of a work • Began 1940s (New Critics)

  11. The END

More Related