This document provides an overview of literary theory and the major theories that have influenced the study of literature. It discusses theorists like Marx, Freud, Nietzsche and Darwin who shaped modern thought. Some key theories mentioned include formalism, structuralism, reader-response theory, poststructuralism, feminism and queer theory. The document also addresses what literary theory is used for, such as providing better understanding, interpretation and appreciation of texts, culture and different perspectives.

1. Literary Theories: An Introduction
Baya Bensalah

2. “Theory is a pugnacious critique of
common-sense notions”
(Culler. J.)

3. “Theory designates works
that have effects beyond
their original field, that
succeed in challenging and
reorienting thinking in fields
other than those to which
they apparently belong.”
(Culler. J.)

4. Marx, Freud and Nietzsche The four thinkers
who influenced
the Modern Era
and Modern
Literature the
most:

5. “It is not the strongest species that survive,
nor the most intelligent, but the ones most
responsive to change.”
O
n
T
h
e
o
r
i
g
i
n
o
f
S
p
e
c
i
e
s
Charles Darwin
(1809-1882)

6. "The history of all hitherto
existing society is the history of
class struggles".
M
A
R
X
C
I
S
M

7. “Hence the ways of men part: if you wish to
strive for peace of soul and pleasure, then
believe; if you wish to be a devotee of truth,
then inquire..."
T
h
e
o
r
y
o
f
t
h
e
W
i
l
l

8. “The mind is like an iceberg, it floats
with one-seventh of its bulk above
water.”
P
s
y
c
h
o
a
n
a
l
y
s
i
s
Sigmund Freud
(1856 -1939)

9. There are two
types of
theories:

10. The
Literary
Work in its
Milieu
Figures of speech,
patterns, stylistic
devices, Narrative
structure…

11. In using theories,
we want to
answer some
questions…

12. What is a text?
What is meaning?
What do words mean?
What is an author?
What is a reader?
What is a narrator?
What is a character?
How does a text relate to its era?
This is why...

13. “There is no uniquely valid way to
classify theories of poetry; that
classification is best which best serves
the purpose in hand.” (Abrams) [1]

14. Most theories highlight
one of these
four elements …

15. WORLD
TEXT

16. Therefore, they are
classified into four
categories:

17. mimetic
theories
objective theories

18. mime t i c t h e o r i e s
Art "holds the mirror
up to nature."

19. "Art is a human activity … that one person
consciously, by certain external signs, conveys to
others feelings he has experienced, and other people
are affected by these feelings and live them over in
themselves.“ Tolstoy

21. Text
“Art for art's sake"

22. An example…

23. Memory in the
Flesh
(Ahlam Mostaghanemi)
Is the text about…

24. Feminism?
Gender Studies?
Postcolonialism?
Cultural Studies?

25. Does the work
Mimetic Approach
tackle
gender issues in
society?

26. Does the work
raise
awareness to
gender issues?
Pragmatic Approach

27. Does the author
express her
experience of
being a woman?
Expressive Approach

28. Do the linguistic
features of the
work display
écriture féminine?
Objective Approach

29. Prominent
Theories

30. Hermeneutics
(360 B.C.- P)
Schleiermacher, Heidegger, Gadamer (Modern
Hermeneutics)
Marxism
(1840’s-P) Marx and Engles + Althusser
(1970’s)
Psychoanalysis
(1890s-P)
(Freud and Lacan)
Formalism
(1900’s-1970’s)
Jakobson, Vinokur, Brik, Eikhenbaum,
Shklovsky
Structuralism
(1950’s-1980’s)
(Levis-Straus, Jakobson, Genette,
Barthes)
New Criticism
(1940’s- 1970’s)
Ransom, Wimsatt, Beardsley,Eliot
Russian Formalism
(1920’s-70’s)
(Shklovsky, Eichenbaum, Bakhtin, Jakobson)
Semiotics
(1920’s-1950’s)
(de Saussure, Propp, Giemas,
Shklovsky)
Poststructuralism
1966-P
Postmodernism
(1950’s-P)
Baudrillard, Lyotard
Reader-response
(1960’s-P) Husserl, Heidegger, Jauss,
Iser, Fish
Cultural-studies
(1990’s-P)
Stuart Hall, Gramsci,
New-historicism
(1980’s-P)
Foucault, Greenblatt,
Postcolonialism
(1990s.P) Memmi, Camus,
Fanon, Said, Bhabha
Feminism
de Beauvoir, Showalter, Kristeva,
Cixous
New Aestheticism
(1990s-P) Bridle, Sterling
Queer Theory
(1990’s) Edelman, Sedgwick
Gender Studies
(1990’s) Butler
Deconstruction
(1966-P) Derrida, de Man

31. Why do we
need
Literary
theories?

32. Better
understanding
Interpretation Appreciation
of texts

33. Better
Understanding,
Interpretation
and
Appreciation
of your
world and culture.

34. Better
Understanding,
Interpretation and
Appreciation
of the
world and
culture of
the ‘other’

35. [1] Like Aristotle in Poetics, Abrams uses the term “poetry” to refer to all literary productions:
poetry, drama, and prose.
References
Culler, Jonathan. Literary Theory: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford
University Press, 1997.
Abrams, M. H. Doing Things With Texts: Essays in Criticism and Critical Theory . W W
Norton & Co Inc 1989