LITERARY CRITICISMDIFFERENT WAYS OF LOOKING AT LITERARY TEXTS

TYPES OF CRITICISMIN THIS SLIDESHOW

• Reader’s response

• Formalist

• Structuralist

• Archetypal

• Deconstruction

• Feminist deconstruction

• Post-structural

READER’S RESPONSE

Your response.

Read the book, watch the movie. Respond.

Easy.

READER’S RESPONSE

Good point: Enjoyable

Bad point: Hard to grade.

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.

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.

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?

STRUCTURALISM

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

STRUCTURALISM CONT’D

A question a structuralist critic might ask is:

• How does the story create and resolve dramatic tension?

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

An archetype is like a blue-print or prototype of an idea.

Some archetypes are ancient and are still in use today.

arche

first

type

model

arche

first

type

model

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?

ONE THEORY STATES THAT SIMILARITIES ARISE BECAUSE OF THE COLLECTIVE UNCONSCIOUS

Individual

Collective

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.

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”.

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.

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)

AN EXAMPLE OF AN

ARCHETYPAL THEME

Death and re-birth

This theme is grounded in the cycle of seasons on earth.

EXAMPLES OF

ARCHETYPAL CHARACTERS

Promethean rebel-hero

Earth Mother Goddess

EXAMPLES OF

ARCHETYPAL SYMBOLS

• The sun represents intelligence

• Darkness represents the unknown

AN EXAMPLE OF AN

ARCHETYPAL PLOT STRUCTUREFREYTAG’S PYRAMID

Climax

Beginning End

A DIAGRAM OFTRAGEDY

Beginning

Example:

Greek stories

End

THE STRUCTURE OF TRAGEDYThe 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).

A DIAGRAM OFCOMEDY

Beginning End

Example:

Biblical Stories

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.

THE BIBLEComedy 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.

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?

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.)

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.

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.

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.

TO THE DECONSTRUCTIONIST

WORDS ARE SLIPPERYSignified

(idea)

Author

Signifier: cat (word)

SIGNIFIERS (WORDS)ARE UNRELIABLE

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.

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.

teacherstudent

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?

teacher

student

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.

DECONSTRUCTION ASKS:

What happens when we reverse the power hierarchy of the language?

Refer to the Rousseau passage.

ROUSSEAU ASSERTS THATNATURE IS SUPERIOR TO SOCIETY

naturesociety

REVERSING THE PAIRS:

naturesociety

A deconstructionist asks what happens when we reverse the power order?

The deconstructive critic might ask how is nature subordinate to society?

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.

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?

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?

FEMINISTDECONSTRUCTION 101Is 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?

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?

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.

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.

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

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.

THE END