Literary Critical Theory Interpretive Strategies

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Literary Critical TheoryInterpretive Strategies

• Kim Romero
• Jack Britt High School

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Historicism and New Historicism

• considers the literary work in light of what
  really happened during the period reflected
• insists that to understand a piece, we need to
  understand the authors biography and social
  background, ideas circulating at the time, and
  the cultural milieu

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Historicism and New Historicism

• finds significance in the ways a particular work
  resembles or differs from other works of its
  period and/or genre
• New Historicists concern themselves with the
  political function of literature and the concept
  of power
• the complex means by which societies produce and
  reproduce themselves

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Historicism and New Historicism

• focus on revealing the historically specific
  model of truth and authority reflected in a given
  work
• involves impressively extensive research

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How to use Historicism

• research the time period of the setting of the
  novel
• research the time period of the publication of
  the novel
• make notes of similarities you find between the
  historical information and the information that
  appears in the novel

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How to use Historicism

• while reading
• make notes about characters who may be models of
  historical figures
• make notes about places that may be models of
  historical places
• make notes about rules, laws, policies that may
  have historical counterparts
• draw conclusions about the authors purpose

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New Criticism or Formalist

• examines the relationships between a texts ideas
  and its form
• look for patterns of sound, imagery, narrative
  structure, point of view, and other techniques
• insist that the meaning of a text should not be
  confused with the authors intentions nor the
  texts affective dimensionits effects on the
  reader

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How to use

• notice literary elements (theme, setting, plot,
  mood, characterization, figurative language) and
  how they interact to create meaning.
• notice any irony, sarcasm, parody and how it is
  created

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How to use Formalism

• while reading
• make note of figurative language and its purpose
• make note of instances of irony, sarcasm, satire
  or parody
• draw conclusions about the authors purpose
• a triple entry journal would be good for this

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Archetypal Criticism

• traces cultural and psychological myths that
  shape the meaning of texts.
• certain literary archetypes determine the
  structure and function of individual literary
  works
• literature imitates the total dream of
  humankind

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Common Archetypes

• Characters
• heros journey
• death
• shadow evil inside the hero, temptation,
  conflict, obstacles in the journey
• mother and father relationships
• wise old man
• love interest
• sidekick

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Common Archetypes

• Themes
• good vs. evil or light vs. dark
• misfit in society
• interpretation of dreams
• dead returning to life or advising the living

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Common Archetypes

• Images
• watermystery of creation birth-death-resurrectio
  n purification and redemption fertility and
  growth
• seamother of life spiritual mystery and
  infinity death and rebirth timelessness and
  eternity the unconscious
• riversdeath and rebirth (baptism) flowing of
  time into eternity transitional phases of the
  life cycle incarnations of deities

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Common Archetypes

• Images
• Sun (fire and sky)creative energy law in
  nature consciousnes (thinking, enlightenment,
  wisdom, spiritual vision) father principle (moon
  and earth)
• rising sunbirth creation enlightenment
• setting sundeath

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Common Archetypes

• Images
• Colors
• redblood sacrifice violent passion disorder
• greengrowth sensation hope fertility in
  negative context may be associated with death and
  decay
• blackdarkness primal wisdom death melancholy
• whitepositivelight purity innocence
  negativedeath terror supernatural

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Common Archetypes

• Images
• serpentenergy evil corruption sensuality
• Woman
• good mother
• terrible motherwitch promiscuous woman
• soul mate

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Common Motifs or Patterns

• creation
• immortality
• hero
• quest
• initiation
• sacrificial scapegoat

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How to Use Archetypal Criticism

• Look for patterns, images, motifs that are common
  to literature
• Research common archetypes in literature
• use information from Northrop Frye or Carl Jung
• While reading
• keep notes of images, patterns, motifs
• draw conclusions about the representation of
  archetypes in the work

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Psychoanalytic

• argues that unresolved and sometimes unconscious
  ambivalences in the authors own life may affect
  a literary work
• the literary work is a manifestation of the
  authors own neuroses
• focuses on apparent dilemmas and conflicts in a
  work and attempt to read an authors own family
  life and traumas into the actions of their
  characters

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How to use Psychoanalytic Criticism

• Research the authors biography
• Research Sigmund Freuds Interpretation of Dreams
• While reading
• keep notes of character actions, attitudes and
  events in the story that resemble events in the
  authors biography
• draw conclusions about events or attitudes
  represented in the authors biography and those
  that appear in the novel

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Feminist

• critiques patriarchal language and literature by
  exposing how a work reflects masculine ideology
• examines gender politics in works and traces the
  subtle construction of masculinity and femininity
• examines the position, status and portrayal of
  females in the literary work

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How to use Feminist Criticism

• While reading
• note the way females are presented
• note language used to distinguish the genders
• note the politics between genders
• note the status of women
• Draw conclusions about the representation of the
  genders

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Marxist

• argues that literature reflects social
  institutions and that it is a social institution
  itself
• literature participates in the series of
  struggles between oppressed and oppressing
  classes which makes up human history

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Marxist

• focuses on the distribution of resources,
  materialism, class conflict, or the authors
  analysis of class relations
• examines how some works attempt to shore up an
  oppressive social order or how they idealize
  social conflict out of existence
• examines how others offer an alternative
  collective life or propose a utopian vision as a
  solution

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How to use Marxist Criticism

• while reading
• note social institutions
• note social classes
• note methods of oppression
• note methods of overcoming oppression
• note methods of distributing resources,
  materials, etc.
• note class conflict
• draw conclusions about authors analysis of class
  relations

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Reader-Response

• insists that all literature is a structure of
  experience and therefore focuses on finding
  meaning in the act of reading itself
• examines how the reader joins with the author to
  help the text mean
• determines what kind of reader or what community
  of readers the work implies and helps to create

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How to use Reader Response

• While reading
• keep a response journal or log
• note what appeals to you about the novel
• note what you dislike about the novel
• note what type of readers would like this book