1. LITERATURE:TEXT AND CONTEXT
-Text not written nor read in a vacuum
-Reader or Writer influence by the context in
which the read or write – these factors known as
-The context of interpretation and
-The context of composition
Literature? Texts that do more than simply
entertain…deeper meaning and carefully crafted
stylistic devices
-We create and accept scenarios we know are not
true…the suspension of disbelief
2. LITERATURE:TEXT AND CONTEXT
How should we approach Literature?
• Three different ways:
• Reader Response-focus on the reader
• Formalism-focus on text’what you see is what
you get’
• Historical-biographical- focus on context in
which the work was written
3. LITERATURE:TEXT AND CONTEXT
• 1.Reader-Response Criticism:
• What text means to you. Based on your own
context i.e. pers history, culture, surroundings.
You must be free of all preconceived notions
of the text/writer
• 2. Formalism:
• Analysis of text free from all personal
experience or feelings that might affect the
way we interpret the text
4. LITERATURE: TEXT AND CONTEXT
• 3. Historical-Biographical criticism
• Must have an understanding of the historical
and biographical background of the text if we
are to understand its wider implications &
significance
5. TRADITIONS OF LIT CRIT
• A text can be looked at through 3 different
lenses or ideological frameworks:
• 1. Psychoanalytical Lit Crit
• Based on ideas of Freud – stories as the
expression of the subconscious…stories reveal
internal conflicts of the author; characters
embody suppressed emotions. Our hidden
fears and anxieties can be found through a
text’s symbolism etc
6. TRADITIONS OF LIT CRIT
• 2. Social/Marxist approach-look at stories in
an effort to understand how ruling majorities
oppress suffering minorities.
• -the study of how characters embody this
oppression e.g. study of the tensions between
men and women or rich and poor.
• Marxist theory is a branch of social lit theory
i.e. the history of a society as a constant
struggle between social classes
7. TRADITIONS OF LIT CRIT
• 3. Feminist Lit Crit
• Understanding of gender equality
• -Ideals to promote female writing and also the
portrayal of women in society
• Raising awareness of gender bias in language
and style
