Literary Lenses

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Literary Lenses

• Whats the point?

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Tool for Analysis

• As a student, we ask you to analyze
• Analysis requires
• understanding
• interpretation
• evaluation

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Literary Lenses

• Literary Theories
• Critical Theories
• Literary Approaches
• Critical Approaches
• Interpretive Methods
• All names mean the same thing a way of reading
  with a particular focus

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Literary Lenses

• Formalist
• New Critical (New Criticism)
• Historical
• Archetypal/Mythological
• Feminist
• Marxist (Sociological)
• Psychological

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More Literary Lenses

• New Historical
• Biographical
• Reader-Response
• Deconstructionist
• Theres more. . .

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Reader-Response Theory

• Transactional experience of reading
• Reader makes meaning based on his/her own
  experiences and knowledge
• Emphasis on connections to the readers world
• Unconcerned with authors intent

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Reader-Response Theory

• CAPT
• Rejects the notion that a single correct
  reading exists for a literary work
• Not all readings are permissible (meaning is
  based on logical, text-based interpretations)

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What do you see through the reader-response
lens?
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What is your analysis?

• Using the reader-response approach,
• what do you think about this
• advertisement?

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Feminist Theory

• Also called Gender Criticism
• Examines how sexual identity influences the
  interpretation of literary works
• Central precept that patriarchal attitudes have
  resulted in literature full of male-produced
  assumptions

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Feminist Theory

• Examines how images of men and women reflect or
  reject the social forces that feed inequality
• Attempts to combat attitudes by questioning

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Archetypal Criticism

• Also called Mythological Criticism
• Emphasizes the recurrent universal patterns
  underlying most literary works
• The Archetype
• Views literature in a broad context

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Common Female Archetypes

• THE EARTH MOTHER. Symbolic of fruition,
  abundance, and fertility this character offers
  spiritual and emotional nourishment to those with
  whom she comes in contact
• THE TEMPTRESS. Characterized by sensuous beauty
• THE PLATONIC IDEA. This woman is a source of
  inspiration and a spiritual idea
• THE UNFAITHFUL WIFE. A woman, married to a man
  she sees as a dull and unimaginative, is
  physically attracted to a more virile and
  desirable man

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Historical Criticism

• Seeks to understand a literary work by
  investigating the social, cultural, and
  intellectual context that produced it (includes
  the authors biographical information)
• Key goal is to understand the effect of a
  literary work upon its original audience

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New Critical Approach

• Also called Formalist Criticism New Criticism
• Regards literature as a unique form of human
  knowledge that needs to be examined on its own
  terms
• Work itself
• Elements of form style, structure, tone,
  imagery, symbolism, etc

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New Critical Approach

• Primary goal is to determine how literary
  elements work together with content to shape an
  effect on the reader
• AP Literature (college professors love this
  approach)

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Psychological Approach

• Uses the study of the mind and behavior to view a
  character (or sometimes the author)
• Asks
• Why is the character feeling this way?
• Why is the character acting this way?
• What is motivating these things?

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Psychological Approach

• Is Holden normal?
• Is there a disconnect between reality and the
  world he imagines?
• Whats the problem?
• How is Holden dealing with it?