Literary Theory_Quiz

Classical Literary Theory

• Founded by Plato, Aristotle, and Horace
• Poetry was the primary literary genre
• Plato criticised poetry, viewing it as irrational and disconnected from reality, believing it stemmed from inspiration rather than knowledge. He advocated banning it.
• Aristotle, Plato's student, believed poetry reflected life, was the highest form of art, and provided moral education.
• Horace agreed with Aristotle, emphasizing poetry's dual function of delight and instruction. He also advised imitation of great writers.

Medieval Literary Theory

• Heavily influenced by Christianity
• Focused on interpreting religious texts (Bible, New Testament) and Christian myths.
• Followed Horace's principle of delight and instruction, primarily praising Christ and religious concepts.
• Literature was deeply religious and didactic.

Renaissance Literary Theory (16th-18th Centuries)

• Renewed interest in classical writers (Homer, Aristotle, Virgil) and Latin classics.
• Growth of national literature in vernacular languages (English).
• Debate emerged between valuing ancient (classical) and modern (vernacular) literature.
• Supporters of the Classics stressed classical genres (tragedy, epic) and Latin language.
• Others, like Philip Sidney, championed vernacular English and national literature.
• Shift towards valuing vernacular and contemporary texts over classical ones.

Romantic Literary Theory (Late 18th-Early 19th Centuries)

• Emphasized individual experience, feelings, and emotions, influenced by Immanuel Kant's emphasis on knowledge through experience.
• Contrast to the neoclassical emphasis on tradition, intellect, and reason.
• Wordsworth and Coleridge focused on emotion-based poetry, while neoclassicals prioritized perfection.
• Influenced by the French Revolution's ideals of liberty, equality, and fraternity.
• Coleridge saw poetry as a product of imagination, not imitation of classics.
• Development of lyrical and some epic poetry, highlighting historical events.

Marxist Literary Theory (19th Century)

• Developed by Karl Marx.
• Focuses on societal class conflict, especially between the proletariat (working class) and bourgeoisie (owners).
• Believes capitalism, with state ownership, can lead to a free society without exploitation.
• Society is divided into base (production, labor) and superstructure (culture, law, education, etc.).
• Ruling class controls superstructure, shaping dominant ideology through cultural institutions (hegemony).
• Art and culture reflect and propagate dominant ideology, but can also challenge it.

Psychoanalytic Literary Theory

• Explores the conscious and unconscious mind to understand texts.
• Freud: Dreams represent suppressed desires and unconscious wishes.
• Jung: Universal symbols in the unconscious have hidden meanings.
• Influenced modern and postmodern theory.
• Bloom: New artists' desire to surpass predecessors is subconscious.
• Feminist critics like Cixous explored "écriture féminine", challenging patriarchal structures and valuing women's voices/stories.
• Freud's Oedipus complex: Sons detach from mothers, challenging fathers. Electra complex: Daughters' rivalry with mothers, affection for fathers.

Formalist Literary Theory (Early 20th Century)

• Departure from subjective theories focusing on feelings and reader responses.
• New Criticism: Found meaning in close readings of texts, emphasizing form and structure, rejecting influence of author's life and context.
• Russian Formalism: Focused on "literariness" (devices, structure, style) to understand a text.
• Both schools focused on the text itself, prioritizing form over context and intent.

Hermeneutics and Reception Theory

• Reception Theory: Meaning isn't static; a text's understanding evolves with readers' perceptions, emotions, and cultural context over time.
• Hermeneutics: Aims to discover the original meaning of a text's relevance to today's readers.

Structuralist Literary Theory

• Meaning is contextual, dependent on relationships between elements within a system.
• Uses "binary opposites" (e.g., good/evil, hot/cold) to highlight how meaning depends on comparison.
• Understanding a culture requires analyzing its entire system, not just one part.

Post-Structuralist and Deconstructionist Theory

• Deconstruction: (Derrida) Western philosophy prioritized 'presence' (universal truths), neglecting differences. Deconstruction seeks how texts' binary oppositions expose internal contradictions and expose power dynamics.
• Post-Structuralism: Asserts meaning isn't fixed within structure or a text; meaning is complex, and the author or dominant cultural constructs aren't necessarily the source.

Feminist Literary Theory

• Examines masculine literary stereotypes and female marginalization in literature.
• Studies female creativity, literary traditions, and themes.
• Critiques societal impact on female lives and literature.
• Illustrative works: Showalter, Gilbert and Gubar, Fetterley.

New Historicism

• Explores how texts reflect and shape the values/ideas of their historical context.
• Literary texts are products of their cultures, not just individual expression.

Cultural Studies

• Interdisciplinary approach considering sociology, history, etc to define and understand a text.
• Examines texts within broader cultural contexts, highlighting their influence with culture and the time period when written.

Queer Theory

• Critiques heterosexual norms by challenging the binary gender division.
• Analyzes alternative sexualities and identities which are marginalised.
• Argues for broader understanding of gender which is not restricted by gendered categories.

Test your knowledge on the major literary movements from the Mediaeval period to the Romantic era. This quiz covers significant events, key figures, and core theories that shaped literature. Examine how classical literature contrasts with modern vernacular, and delve into the philosophical influences on Romantic theory.