Different approaches to literary criticism

Literary criticism is an attempt to understand literature and what it means. There are many types, or "schools" of criticism, and they all attempt to do the same thing, but in very different ways. One of the first Western critics was Aristotle. In his work, Poetics, he attempted to define some characteristics of literature and to determine which characteristics were common to which types of literature. Poetics was essentially a work of classification, a kind of cookbook that identifies the main ingredients of a great story. He defined the elements of tragedy, comedy, and the like. Most of his observations dealt with poetry and theatre, but can be applied to other genres and forms as well. Other critics, such as Northrop Frye have been more interested in the interpretation of literature. What does it all mean? What are the roles of both the reader and the writer in creating meaning? Is there a kind of key that helps us understand a work of literature, or do meanings very from reader to reader or across time?

Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists.

Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry from literary theory, or conversely from book reviewing, is a matter of some controversy. For example, the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism draws no distinction between literary theory and literary criticism, and almost always uses them together to describe the same concept. Some critics consider literary criticism a practical application of literary theory, as criticism always deals directly with a literary work, albeit from a theoretical point of view.

Modern literary criticism is often published in essay or book form. Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals, and more popular critics publish their criticism in broadly circulating periodicals such as the New York Times Book Review, the New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, The Nation, and The New Yorker.

Lit-re is not science. If a work of a scientist may become out-dated, a work of lit-re does not undergo these metamorphisms. If a work was written several centuries ago it doesn’t make it not interesting. There are cases when a writer is disregarded by his contemporaries.

Approaches

1) the first approach to any work of lit-re is the approach to fiction as any narration, pure and simple. Selection of events to explain what happened to this or that character. A succession of events given by a write to explain this or that character. The book can be rich in events or contain few events but your criticism of the work from thus perspective shouldn’t take into consideration not only the number of events but also who is the story-teller: the author, one of the characters, a mixture of the first two or several characters telling the same story from different perspectives).

2) Deals with a work of art as any exhibition of character. In this respect we criticize a work of art from the point of view of interrelations that exist b-n the characters. Describes the world in which the characters live, meticulous, true to experience (Dickens)

3) You can approach a book as an exhibition of manners. We criticize from a point of view of society, that is described. Scott “Ivanhoe”

4) We can approach a book from the point of view of a certain philosophy of life. Lawrence – advocated the truth of blood, falsehood of brain

5) Biographical approach. (the influence of the author’s biography) approach (Joyce, “a painful case”)(why the author accepted this ideal life, what influenced him, what his ideas were, how they changed in the cause of time)

6) Esthetic appr. This is the approach that deals with the author’s style. Style is a set of devices. (deals with the author style. Style should be viewed as a set of devises and as the personal style of the author). What makes the author unique? How different is he to his contemporaries, those who preceded or followed him?

7) Psychological approach (kinds of conflicts, why people behave in this or that way).

8) Historical approach.

Date: 2016-01-05; view: 3256