Lesson 3 Notes_0.pdf

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES Critical Approaches to Literature Critical Approaches - are different perspectives we consider when looking at a piece of literature. They seek us to give answers to these questions, in addition to aiding us in interpreting lit...

ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES Critical Approaches to Literature Critical Approaches - are different perspectives we consider when looking at a piece of literature. They seek us to give answers to these questions, in addition to aiding us in interpreting literature: ✓ What do we read? ✓ Why do we read? ✓ How do we read? 1. Reader Response Criticism Focuses on the reader or audience and his or her experience of a literary work. Examines the significance of the series of interpretations the reader undergoes in the reading process. The role of the reader is essential to the meaning of a text, for only in reading experience does the literary work come alive. Three important questions need to be asked: 1. How do I respond to this work? 2. How does the text shape my response? 3. How might other readers respond? 2. Feminist Criticism Focuses on female representation in literature, paying attention to female points of view, concerns, and values. Studies the male-dominated canon in order to understand how men have used culture to further their domination of women. Three underlying assumptions in this approach: o Western Society is pervasively patriarchal, male centered and controlled, and is organized in such a way as to subordinate women; o The concept of gender is socially constructed, not biologically determined; o Patriarchal ideology pervades those writings which have been considered “great works of literature”. 3. Queer Theory An academic term for any analysis of texts which uncovers a homosexual or lesbian interpretation of the text. Combined area of gay and lesbian studies and criticism, including studies of variations in biological sex, gender identity, and sexual desires.  ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES GENDER - describes the societal attitudes and behaviors expected of and associated with the two sexes. GENDER IDENTITY - refers to the degree to which an individual sees herself or himself as feminine or masculine based on society‘s definitions of appropriate gender roles. 4. Marxist Criticism Focuses on how literary works are products of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era. Aims to explain literature in relation to society – that literature can only be properly understood within a larger framework of social reality. It looks at how literature functions in relation to other aspects of the superstructure, particularly other articulations of ideology. Philosophy of Karl Marx – whoever owns the means of production in a society (the factories) controlled the society (culture). 5. Psychological Criticism Focuses on a work of literature primarily as an expression, in fictional form, of the state of mind and the structure of personality of the individual author. A literary text is related to its author’s mental and emotional traits. Furthest extension is Psychoanalytic Criticism, emphasis on phallic symbols, wombs, breasts, etc. It encourages the reader/critic to be creative in speculating about the character’s or author’s motivations, drives, fears, or desires. 6. Archetypical/Mythical Mythological Criticism Emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works.” Repeating narrative, designs, patterns of action, character types, or images which are said to be identifiable in a wide variety of literary works, myths, dreams, and even ritualized modes of behavior. Dominant images or patterns of human experience are identified in the text: the changing of seasons, the cycle of birth, death and rebirth, the heroic quest, or immortality. Combining the insights from anthropology, psychology, history, and comparative religion, mythological criticism.  ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES 7. Historical Criticism Focuses on examining a text primarily in relation to the historical and cultural conditions of its production, and later critical interpretations. The critic – the person trying to understand any work of literature--looks beyond the literature itself to the broader historical and cultural events that might influence the author whose work is being considered. The historical approach, then, usually helps the critic and readers to understand all of the events and forces that might affect the author as he or she is composing the work, and this gives us a more comprehensive understanding to the work itself. 8. Cultural Criticism Examines how different religions, ethnicities, class identifications, political beliefs, and views affect the ways in which texts are created and interpreted. Being included or excluded from the dominant culture changes the way one may view the text.