Classical Philosophers: Aristotle, Plato and Longinus

1. LITERARY THEORY &
CRITICISM: Unit 1

2. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
SYLLABUS
• Classical philosophers – Aristotle, Plato and Longinus
• Psycholinguistics Psychoanalysis
• Marxism
• Feminism - Gender Theories (LGTB)
• Formalism, Structuralism & Post-structuralism (Deconstruction)
• Postmodernism
• Cultural studies

3. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
ROADMAP
Session 1. Classical philosophers – Aristotle, Plato and Longinus
Session 2. Formalism, Structuralism & Post-structuralism
Session 3. Marxism
Session 4. Psychoanalysis
Session 5. Gender Theories
Session 6. Revision

4. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
WHAT’S
LITERARY THEORY
• Systematic study (analysis) of literary texts through
varied critical approaches/ methods/ techniques.
• Different theories regarding literary writings have
been derived at different points in time by different
scholars during different literary eras/ movements.

5. CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHERS
Aristotle Plato Longinus
SocratesPythagoras
LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
Plotinus

6. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
ARISTOTELIAN PRECEPTS
• In his Poetics (335 BCE), Greek philosopher Aristotle
(384 BC – 322 BC) lays out the precepts for
(traditional) dramatic form.
• Plot & Sub-plot (with sub-characters)
• Cause & Effect (Karma)
• 3 Unities: Unity of Time, Place & Action Why?
• Plot: Exposition - Complication – Crisis – Climax/Resolution
• Catharsis: the purging of emotions.
What creates cathartic experience?

7. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
PLATONIC DIALOGUES
• Platonic Realism – the ‘dialogues’ (didactics)
(The Ion, The Symposium, The Republic,
The Laws): a new genre (non-fiction).
What are the present-day equivalents?
• In his Republic (380 BC), Plato (424 – 348 BC) warns
against art forms (drama and poetry) as having the
ability to corrupt an ‘ideal’ republic.
• Suggests that literature should create social morality.
• Influenced literary critics during Renaissance and 19th
century; while contemporary theorists take an opposite
perspective, esp. Marxists, arguing that literature is a
liberating force.

8. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
PLATONIC DIALOGUES
Objections to literature on 3 grounds:
 Education
“[…] if we mean our future guardians to regard the habit of quarrelling
among themselves as of all things the basest, no word should be said to
them of the wars in the heaven, or of the plots and fighting of the gods
against one another, for they are not true [...]”
 Philosophy
“The imitator or maker of the image knows nothing of true existence; he
knows appearance only.” (Theory of Forms)
 Morality
“The imitative poet who aims at being popular […] will prefer the
passionate and fitful temper […] because he awakens and nourishes and
strengthen the feelings and impairs the reason […]”

9. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
PLATO v/s ARISTOTLE
Aristotle Plato
Mimesis:
imitation of action
Mimesis:
imitation of imitation
Aesthetics Morals
Form Content
Macro-art Micro-art
Mirroring reality Creating reality (v/s truth)
- Two disparate notions of art based upon the same fundamental
assumption: Mimesis (v/s Diegesis)

10. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
LONGINUS:
On The Sublime
• Ambiguity of the author.
• First treatise on style: prescriptions for ‘sublimity’.
• Imagination, Emotions (avoidance of inferior emotions) &
Sensuousness (use of words).
• Purpose of writing: introduce, delight & persuade.
Greatness of writing: sublimity (above the ordinary).
• The Sublime contains literary exemplars from around 50
authors, spanning over 1000 years. Longinus critically
appraises the writing styles of the authors.

11. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1
LONGINUS: On The Sublime
Sources of the sublime:
- Nobility of thought
- Capacity for experiencing strong emotions
- Appropriate use of figures of speech
- Refined diction (dignified word arrangement)
- Elaborate composition (form)
Effects of the sublime:
- Eased rationality ("the Sublime leads the listeners not to
persuasion, but to ecstasy: for what is wonderful always goes
together with a sense of dismay…).
- Alienation: identification with the creative process.
- Deep emotional experiences.

12. LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM
Unit 1 – THE END
LONGINUS: On The Sublime
• Not a momentary evasion from reality but a reflection
of the soul of the artist poured into the work.
Sources of the sublime
inborn sources acquired sources
"aspiration to vigorous concepts" rhetorical devices
"strong & enthusiastic passion" choice of lexicon
"dignified & high composition“
• Truth, Innate Goodness & Beauty
(Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram)