This presentation was prepared for the workshop at HMP Institute of English Training and Research, Gujarat (INDIA). It deals with some important questions for the preparation of UGC NET / SLET examination for the qalification of Lecturer. It also gives brief introduction about some important books on Literary Theory and Criticism

2. We shall discuss…
• Paper II: OT Qs from Literary Theory
• Paper III: Section A:
• Unit IX: Literary Theory and Criticism up
to T.S.Eliot.
• Unit X: Contemporary Theory.
• Section B:
• Elective V – Literary Theory and
Criticism.

3. What should be read ???
• Literary Criticism – its place in the domain of literature?
• If art is criticism of life, criticism is criticism of art.
• Gerard Genet: Metaliterature – literature written to
explain literature - discourse upon discourse.
• Who should be a critic? Should he be a creative
artist/writer?
• Different views: critic should be a poet or a man with
poetic sensibility, aesthetic power, empathy and
understanding?
• Down the centuries we have several good critics who
were themselves creative writers at the same time there
are several great critics who were not creative writers, e.g.
Aristotle.

8. Expected questions from Literary
Theory and Criticism
• Paper 2: This paper will cover 50 OTQ – 2
marks each – so there may be 10 Objective
Type Questions from last two units of
Literary Theory and Criticism.

9. Expected questions from Literary
theory and Criticism
• Paper 3: Section II may have 4 questions of 5
marks, to be answered in up to 30 words each.
• Paper 3: Section III shall have 5 Questions
from Elective V for 12 marks each – to be
answered in up to 200 words. All questions
compulsory if this ‘elective’ is chosen.
• Paper 3: Section IV: 1 Essay type question of
40 marks – to be answered in up to 1000
words.

10. Sample questions: paper II
• Who is the author / which work is written by the
author?
– Who is the writer of ‘An Essay of Dramatic Poesy’?
– ‘Ars Poetica’ is written by……?
• Some well-known lines – oft quoted ones:
• Who said that ‘poetry is a speaking picture’?
• In which critical work does Coleridge write ‘willing
suspension of disbelief’?
• ‘Interpretation is intellect’s revenge upon
imagination’. Who said it?
• ‘Language of poetry is the language of paradox?’

11. • Arrange the following critical works in
chronological order: On the Sublime, Poetics,
Biographia Literaria, Study of Poetry, Tradition
and individual talent.
• Some difficult words or concept:
• What is the meaning of hamartia / peripeteia
/ anagnorisis / catharsis / difference / sign-
signifier-signified / gynocriticism /
phonocentric –logocentric / langue-parole ?

12. Sample Questions: paper III
• Section I: Critique of passage or stanza:
– I.A.Richards’s Practical Criticism.
– Terry Eagleton’s How to Read a Poem?
– A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature.
Q: Give a critique of the poem ‘TO His Coy Mistress’
from five difference approaches?
Historical/Biographical, Moral/Philosophical,
Formalist, Psychological, Myth Criticism, Feminism,
Cultural Study, New Criticism.
Marks: 5 (X 5qs) Words: 30

13. Definitional /seeking particular
information questions:
• Section II: What is the meaning of…..
• Q.1.: What do you mean by campus novel?
• Q.2.: What is Dialogic Criticism? (pg 63 MHA)
• Q.3: What did Barthes have against authors? Did
he think books wrote themselves? (pg 21 short intro-oup)
• 4. Derrida is very hard to read. Why doesn’t
he write more simply? Doesn’t he want to
communicate? (Pg 79-sh int-oup)
• Marks: 5 (x 15qs) Words: 30

14. Definitional /seeking particular
information questions:
• Epic Theatre, Comedy of Menace, Theatre of
Absurd, Dissociation of Sensibility, Feminism,
Cultural study, structuralism, Post-
structuralism
• Marks: 5 (x 15qs) Words: 30

15. Analytical / Evaluative Questions:
• Section III: Qs asked on the major
specializations/electives:
• Q: Explain ‘Poetry is not an expression of
personality but an escape from personality’?
• Q: Explain the term DifferAnce.
• Q: What did Keats mean by ‘negative capability’?
• Q: On what grounds do Modernism and Post
modernism differ? (pg 175 MHA)
• Q: What are Coleridge’s view on fancy and imagination?
• Marks: 12 (X 5 Qs) Words: 200

16. Essay type question:
• Section IV:
• Q: What do you mean by New Historicism? Write
an essay in 1000 words about it.
• A: Introduction
– Basic Principle
– Premises
– Practice – reading the New Historical way
– Stephan Greenblatt’s view point
– New and Old Historicism: Difference
– Influence of other theories. (Courtesy: Sample Booklet, Vallaths)

17. Essay type question:
• Q: Write an essay on Deconstruction.
• A: Saussure’s linguistic model of sign-signifier-signified
– Binary opposition
– Deconstructing Levi Strauss and Saussure
– DifferAnce – differ + defer
– De-centreing the centre
– Theory of supplementarity
– M.H.Abram’s view point
– Lacan’s Otherness of langauge (pg 57 OUP)
– Julia Kristeva’s Strangers to Ourselves (pg 63 OUP)
– Roland Barthes – Death of the Author.
– Foucault’s Discipline and Punishment. (pg 53)
– Read: A Glossary by M.H. Abraham and Intro by V S Seturaman

18. Workshop activity:
• 1. Write in 30 words about Tragic
Hero/Tragedy/Catharsis/Differance/New
Criticism. (5 marks – 4 min)
• 2. Write in 200 words about Feminism/Real
Estimate/Dryden’s view on Shakespeare/Dryden’s
view on Chaucer/Archetypal Criticism/Richards’s
Four types of Meaning/Post
colonialism/Structuralism and Post Structuralism/
Modernism and post modernism.
(12 marks – 10 min)

19. • The following slides attempts to
give a brief introduction to some
books on ‘Literary Theory and
Criticism’.

20. Modern literary criticism and theory
By Rafey Habib
• Written in concise and clear language, this book offers an historical overview of
literary criticism and theory throughout the twentieth century along with a close
analysis of some of the most important and commonly taught texts from the
period.
Provides an accessible introduction to modern literary theory and criticism
• Places various modes of criticism within their historical and intellectual contexts
• Offers close readings of some of the major critical texts of the period
• Explores the works of a diverse group of 20th-century writers, including Babbitt,
Woolf, Bakhtin, Heidegger, Lacan, Derrida, Judith Butler, Zizek, Nussbaum, Negri
and Hardt
• Covers formalism, psychoanalysis, structuralism, deconstruction, Marxism,
feminism, reader-response criticism, historicism, gender studies, cultural studies,
and film theory

21. The Cambridge history of literary
criticism
• This volume in The Cambridge History of Literary
Criticism brings together a wide range of highly
informative essays on developments in literary
criticism and theory during the twentieth century. The
main focus is on historical, philosophical and
sociocultural approaches to literature and it offers both
authoritative treatments of the topics under review
and a lively sense of engagement and dialogue among
the contributors. It has a full bibliographical apparatus
and provides an invaluable resource for readers who
are seeking to orient themselves in this complex and
often bewildering field.

22. Literary theory
By Terry Eagleton
• This classic work is designed to cover all of the
major movements in literary studies in this
century. Noted for its clear, engaging style and
unpretentious treatment, Literary Theory has
become the introduction of choice for anyone
interested in learning about the world of
contemporary literary thought. The second
edition contains a major new survey chapter that
addresses developments in cultural theory since
the book's original publication in 1983, including
feminist theory, postmodernism, and
poststructuralism.

23. After Theory
By Terry Eagleton
• For anyone forced to wrestle with the likes of Derrida and Foucault during
their college days, Terry Eagleton needs no introduction. His clear and
accessible primer on literary theory was (and is) an indispensable guide to
the post-modern era in the humanities. Now Eagleton argues that the
golden age of cultural theory has ended, and with characteristic wit and
verve, he traces its rise and fall from structuralism to post-colonial studies
and beyond. In a new era of globalization and terrorism, Eagleton warns,
the bundle of ideas known as post-modernism is essentially toothless.In
this eloquent synthesis of a lifetime of learning, Eagleton challenges
contemporary intellectuals to engage with a range of vital topics-love, evil,
death, morality, religion, and revolution-that they've ignored over the past
thirty years. Lively and provocative, Eagleton's latest will engage readers
inside and outside the academy who are eager for a more holistic and
humane way of quot;readingquot; the world.quot;A rare opportunity to enjoy the art of
cultural and social diagnosis at its purest! Eagleton offers a unique
combination of theoretical stringency and acerbic common-sense
witticism, of critical historical reflection and the ability to ask the 'big'
metaphysical questions.quot;-Slavoj Zizek

24. Critical Approaches To Literature
By Daiches, David
• Critical Approaches To Literature Is An
Examination Of The Different Ways In Which
Literature Has Been Explained And Evaluated
From The Time Of Plato To Modern Times. In
The First Part Dr Daiches Examines The
Philosophical Foundations Of Criticism, Then
Moves On To Consider Aspects Of Practical
Criticism. In The Last Section, The Book
Explores The Relationship Between Criticism
And Other Interrelated Spheres Of Learning.

25. How to read a poem
By Terry Eagleton
• Lucid, entertaining and full of insight, How To Read A Poem is designed
to banish the intimidation that too often attends the subject of poetry,
and in doing so to bring it into the personal possession of the students
and the general reader.
• Offers a detailed examination of poetic form and its relation to content.
* Takes a wide range of poems from the Renaissance to the present day
and submits them to brilliantly illuminating closes analysis.
* Discusses the work of major poets, including John Milton, Alexander
Pope, John Keats, Christina Rossetti, Emily Dickinson, W.B. Yeats, Robert
Frost, W.H.Auden, Seamus Heaney, Derek Mahon, and many more.
* Includes a helpful glossary of poetic terms.

26. Practical criticism
By Ivor Armstrong Richards, Richard (INT) Hoggart
• Linguist, critic, poet, and psychologist, I. A. Richards
(1893-1979) was one of the great polymaths of the
twentieth century. He is best known, however, as one
of the founders of modern literary critical theory.
Richards revolutionized criticism by turning away from
biographical and historical readings as well as from the
aesthetic impressionism. Seeking a more exacting
approach, he analyzed literary texts as syntactical
structures that could be broken down into smaller
interacting verbal units of meaning. Practical Criticism,
first published in 1929, remains a landmark and classic
volume in demonstrating this method.

27. Web Resources:
• www.reference.com
• www.wikipedia.com
• www.dilipbarad.com/tell
• www.wikieducator.org/user:Dilipbarad