This document provides an overview of various approaches to literary criticism and analysis. It discusses formalist, reader response, new historicist, Marxist, psychoanalytic, archetypal, feminist, existentialist, and postcolonial approaches. For each approach, it outlines key concepts, principles, and advantages and disadvantages. The overall document serves as a primer on different theoretical lenses through which literary works can be examined and interpreted.

1. Literary Theories
The Basics of Criticism

2. The Basic Idea
∗ The point of criticism is to argue your point of view on
a work of literature.
∗ You don’t have to “criticize” a text (but you can)
∗ You do have to analyze a text and support your
assertions with specific evidence from experts and
the text.

3. The Basic Idea
∗ A critical analysis is an in-depth examination of some
aspect of the literary work
∗ you may examine any element of the text: character
development, conflicts, narrative point of view, etc.
∗ Even though it’s an examination of a literary work, it’s
still a persuasive essay

4. The Basic Idea
∗
∗
∗
∗
The goal is to prove something about the work
There must be a point to the discussion.
You must answer the questions Why? or So what?
For example, why is a recurring symbol important? Or,
why is the development of the female characters
significant?

5. The Basic Idea
∗ There are many different approaches we can take to
critical analysis
∗ Literary theories provide a framework for our
discussion of a text
∗ We don’t have to identify the theory we’re using,
though.
∗ We use it as a starting point for our own ideas and
opinions

6. The Basic Idea
Literary criticism has two main functions:
1. To analyze, study, and evaluate works of literature.
2. To form general principles for the examination of
works of literature.

7. New Criticism*
∗ Meaning resides in the text—not in reader,
author, or world
∗ Texts may contain numerous messages, but
must have a unifying central theme created by
the perfect union of all artistic elements.
∗ Texts are artistic creations
∗ Close reading is the basis of new critical
analysis
∗ The methodology for finding meaning is clearcut; the tools are unique to literary analysis
∗ Mantra: “The text itself”
*one type of formalism

8. Formalist Approach
∗ Attempts to discover meaning by close reading of a
work of literature. Focus is on:
∗ Form, organization, and structure
∗ Word choice and language
∗ Multiple meanings
∗ analyzing irony, paradox, imagery, and metaphor
∗ setting, characters, symbols, and point of view.
∗ Considers the work in isolation, disregarding author’s
intent, author’s background, context, and anything
else outside of the work itself.

9. Formalist Approach
Two Major Principles of Formalism
1. A literary text exists independent of any particular
reader and, in a sense, has a fixed meaning.
2. The greatest literary texts are “timeless” and
“universal.”

10. Formalist Approach
∗ intentional fallacy - the false belief that the
meaning or value of a work may be
determined by the author's intention
∗ affective fallacy - the false belief that the
meaning or value of a work may be
determined by its affect on the reader
∗ external form - rhyme scheme, meter, stanza
form, etc.

11. Formalist Approach
Advantages:
∗ can be performed without much research
∗ emphasizes the value of literature apart from its context
∗ virtually all critical approaches must begin here
Disadvantages:
∗ text is seen in isolation
∗ ignores the context of the work
∗ cannot account for allusions
∗ Very difficult to perform on longer works

12. Reader Response Approach
Two important ideas:
1.An individual reader’s interpretation usually changes
over time.
2.Readers from different generations and different time
periods interpret texts differently.

13. Reader-Response Approach
asserts that a great deal of meaning in a text lies with how
the reader responds to it.
 Focuses on the act of reading and how it affects our
perception of meaning in a text (how we feel at the beginning
vs. the end)
 Deals more with the process of creating meaning and
experiencing a text as we read. A text is an experience, not
an object.
 The text is a living thing that lives in the reader’s imagination.
READER + READING SITUATION + TEXT = MEANING

14. Reader Response Approach
Advantages:
∗ recognizes that different people view works
differently and that people's interpretations
change over time.
Disadvantages:
∗ tends to make interpretation too subjective
∗ does not provide adequate criteria for evaluating
one reading in comparison to another

15. New Historicism Approach
∗ New historicist critics view literature as part of
history, and furthermore, as an expression of
forces on history.
∗ New historicism compares literary analysis to
a dynamic circle:
∗ The work tells us something about the surrounding
ideology (slavery, rights of women, etc.)
∗ Study of the ideology tells us something about the
work.

16. New Historicism Approach
∗ New historicism takes two forms:
∗ Analysis of the work in the context in which it was
created
∗ Analysis of the work in the context in which it was
critically evaluated.
∗ New historicists assert that literature “does
not exist outside time and place and cannot
be interpreted without reference to the era in
which it was written” (Kirszner and Mandell
2038).

17. New Historicism Approach
∗ Readers are influenced by their culture, so no
objective reading of a work is possible.
∗ Critics should consider how their own culture affects
their interpretation of the historical influence on a
work.

18. Marxist Approach
∗ Karl Marx perceived human history
to have consisted of a series of
struggles between classes--between
the oppressed and the oppressing
∗ Bourgeoisie - “the haves”
∗ Proletariat - “the have-nots”
∗ Marx thought that materialism was
the ultimate driving force in history

19. Marxist Approach
Marxist Beliefs
∗Value is based on labor
∗The working class will eventually overthrow the
capitalist middle class
∗In the meantime, the middle class exploits the working
class
∗Most institutions—religious, legal, educational, and
governmental—are corrupted by middle-class capitalists
∗ “Religion is the opiate of the masses”

20. Marxist Approach
∗ The successful working class will then establish a
communist society
∗ In this ideal the labor, the means of production, and
the profits are shared by all
∗ This system is an attempt at complete social and
economic equality
∗ It’s a great theory but doesn’t work in reality

21. Marxist Approach
Examines literature to see how it reflects
1. The way in which dominant groups (typically, the
majority) exploit the subordinate groups (typically,
the minority)
2. The way in which people become alienated from one
another through power, money, and politics
Look for evidence of oppressive ideologies of the
dominant social group; look for uses and abuses of
power

22. Marxist Approach
∗ commodities: possessions that give power
∗
∗
∗
∗
∗
land and money
social position
knowledge, or even a person
Texts are commodities, not timeless works of art
Truths are socially constructed
Look for what commodities bring power and why
within a work of literature

23. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
Lacanian
Sigmund Freud
Joseph Lacan (French)

24. Psychoanalytic Approach
∗ views works through the lens of psychology
∗ looks either at the psychological motivations of the
characters or of the authors themselves
∗ most frequently applies Freudian psychology to
works, but other approaches also exist.

25. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian

26. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
Model of the Psyche
∗ the id: the instinctual, pleasure seeking part of the
mind
∗ the superego: the part of the mind that represses the
id's impulses
∗ the ego: the part of the mind that controls but does
not repress the id's impulses, releasing them in a
healthy way

27. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian

28. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
Basic Concepts
∗All actions are influenced by the unconscious.
∗Human beings must repress many of their desires to
live peacefully with others.
∗Repressed desires often surface in the unconscious,
motivating actions.

29. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
Recognizes symbols that are linked to sexual pleasure
∗ Female (Yonic): concave images, such as ponds,
flowers, cups, and caves, images of sustenance,
fertility or fecundity (gardens, food)
∗ Male (Phallic): if it stands up or goes off, objects that
are longer than they are wide
∗ dancing, riding, and flying are associated with sexual
pleasure
∗ water is usually associated with birth, the female
principle, the maternal, the womb, and the death
wish.

30. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
The Core Issues
∗Fear of intimacy
∗Fear of abandonment
∗Fear of betrayal
∗Low self-esteem
∗Insecure or unstable sense of self
∗Oedipal fixation or Oedipal complex

31. Psychoanalytic Approach
Freudian
∗ Oedipus complex: a boy's unconscious rivalry with his
father for the love of his mother
∗ Electra complex: a girl’s unconscious rivalry with her
mother for the love of her father (a.k.a. “daddy
issues”)

32. Psychoanalytic Approach
Based on
Based on
Language
Language
Development
Development
Lacanian
Model of the Psyche
∗Imaginary - a preverbal/verbal stage in which a child (around 6-18 months of age) begins to
develop a sense of separateness from her mother as well as other people and objects; however,
the child's sense of sense is still incomplete.
∗Symbolic - the stage marking a child's entrance into language (the ability to understand and
generate symbols); in contrast to the imaginary stage, largely focused on the mother, the
symbolic stage shifts attention to the father who, in Lacanian theory, represents cultural norms,
laws, language, and power (the symbol of power is the phallus--an arguably "gender-neutral"
term).
∗Real - an unattainable stage representing all that a person is not and does not have. Both Lacan
and his critics argue whether the real order represents the period before the imaginary order
when a child is completely fulfilled--without need or lack, or if the real order follows the symbolic
order and represents our "perennial lack" (because we cannot return to the state of wholeness
that existed before language).
We know only what we have words for.

33. Archetypal Approach
∗ based on the theories of psychologist Carl Jung, a
disciple of Freud
∗ Collective Unconscious: there are certain basic and
central images and experiences that are inherent in
the human psyche

34. Archetypal Approach
∗ assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images,
characters, and motifs (i.e. archetypes) that evokes
basically the same response in all people regardless of
culture
∗ Concerned with enduring patterns and how they are
reflected in literature
∗ asserts that these archetypes are the source of much
of literature's power.

35. Some Archetypes
∗ archetypal women - the Good Wife/Mother, the Terrible Mother, the
Virgin (often a Damsel in Distress), and the Fallen Woman.
∗ water - creation, birth-death-resurrection, purification, redemption,
fertility, growth
∗ garden - paradise (Eden), innocence, fertility
∗ desert - spiritual emptiness, death, hopelessness
∗ red - blood, sacrifice, passion, disorder
∗ green - growth, fertility
∗ black - chaos, death, evil
∗ serpent - evil, sensuality, mystery, wisdom, destruction
∗ seven - perfection
∗ hero archetype - The hero is involved in a quest (in which he
overcomes obstacles). He experiences initiation (involving a
separation, transformation, and return), and finally he serves as a
scapegoat, that is, he dies to atone.

36. Archetypal Approach
Advantages:
∗ provides a universalistic approach to literature
and identifies a reason why certain literature may
survive the test of time
∗ it works well with works that are highly symbolic
Disadvantages:
∗ literature may become a vehicle for archetypes
∗ can easily become a list of symbols without much
analysis

37. Feminist Approach
Context and Terminology
∗female (biological)
∗feminine (socio-cultural)
∗Feminist (political)
≠
≠
∗feminism ≠ gender studies
- political vs academic context and terminology
- focus on women vs focus on gendered experience of
being human

38. Feminist Approach
 Concerned with the role, position, and influence of
women in a literary text.
 Asserts that most “literature” throughout time has been
written by men, for men.
 The male experience is the “norm” against which the woman or
“other” experience is measured – the woman is “otherized”
thus women assume male values and ways of perceiving,
feeling, and acting.
 Examines the way that the female consciousness is
depicted by both male and female writers.
 may argue that gender determines everything, or just the
opposite: that all gender differences are imposed by
society, and gender determines nothing

39. Feminist Approach
4 Basic Principles of Feminist Criticism
1. Western civilization is patriarchal.
2. The concepts of gender are mainly cultural ideas
created by patriarchal societies.
3. Patriarchal ideals pervade “literature.”
4. Most “literature” through time has been genderbiased.

40. Stages of Female Identity
∗ Feminine: the female accepts the definitions and roles
male authorities have created for her
∗ Feminist: rebels against male authority and
intentionally challenges all male definitions and roles
∗ Female: no longer concerned with male definitions or
restrictions; defines her own voice and values

41. Moral / Philosophical Approach
∗ asserts that the larger purpose of literature is to teach
morality and to probe philosophical issues
∗ authors intend to instruct the audience in some way

42. Moral / Philosophical Approach
Existentialism
∗ Existentialism involves the attempt to make meaning
in a chaotic world.
∗ Sartre argued, "man makes himself."
∗ As a form of literary criticism, existentialism seeks to
analyze literary works, with special emphasis on the
struggle to define meaning and identity in the face of
alienation and isolation.

43. Moral / Philosophical Approach
Existentialism
∗ Absurd - a term used to describe existence--a world without inherent
meaning or truth.
∗ Authenticity - to make choices based on an individual code of ethics
(commitment) rather than because of societal pressures. A choice
made just because "it's what people do" would be considered
inauthentic.
∗ "Leap of faith" - although Kierkegaard acknowledged that religion was
inherently unknowable and filled with risks, faith required an act of
commitment (the "leap of faith"); the commitment to Christianity
would also lessen the despair of an absurd world.

44. Moral / Philosophical Approach
Existentialism
∗ views each person as an isolated being who is cast into an alien universe,
and conceives the world as possessing no inherent human truth, value,
or meaning.
∗ A person's life, then, as it moves from the nothingness from which it
came toward the nothingness where it must end, defines an existence
which is both anguished and absurd
∗ In a world without sense, all choices are possible, a situation which Sartre
viewed as human beings central dilemma: "Man [woman] is condemned
to be free.“
∗ In contrast to atheist existentialism, Søren Kierkegaard theorized that
belief in God (given that we are provided with no proof or assurance)
required a conscious choice or "leap of faith."

45. Moral / Philosophical Approach:
Advantages:
∗ useful for works which do present an obvious moral philosophy
∗ useful when considering the themes of works
∗ does not view literature merely as "art" isolated from all moral
implications
∗ recognizes that literature can affect readers and that the
message of a work is important.
Disadvantages:
∗ such an approach can be too "judgmental"
∗ Some believe literature should be judged primarily (if not solely)
on its artistic merits, not its moral or philosophical content.

46. POSTCOLONIALISM
 Meaning resides in text, history, and ideology
 Literature is a political tool—those in power decide
what is “art”
 Truth is relative
Study the author’s (and reader’s) life & times; locate tensions
between conflicting cultures; explore the “double consciousness”
of colonized & postcolonized writers; observe how colonizers
“refashion” the colonized;

47. Territorialism
∗ Possessions (objects of desire) are metaphors for who we are or
how we wish to be perceived—aspects of the “self.”
∗ Possessions may be tangible or intangible (my car or my idea, e.g.)
∗ They occupy mental space: cognitive, affective, and conative.
∗ These spaces strongly resemble territories—with rights of
ownership, markers, boundaries, rules of “in” and “out,” defensive
strategies, etc.
∗ Look for territorial behaviors; determine the “object(s) of desire”;
what aspect of self is in play? Who owns the object? Who wants it?
Why? Identify the territorial act: acquisition, management, or
defense? How does this information improve our understanding
of the text?