Download Four Types of Literary Criticism

Four Types of Literary Criticism
Literary criticism is the term given to studies that define, classify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of
literature.
Historical / Biographical Criticism:
Historical / Biographical critics see works as the reflection
of an author's life and times (or of the characters' life and
times). They believe it is necessary to know about the
author and the political, economical, and sociological
context of his times in order to truly understand his works.
Historical Criticism insisted that to understand a literary
piece, we need to understand the author's biography and
social background, ideas circulating at the time, and the
cultural milieu. This school of criticism fell into disfavor as
the New Critics emerged.
New Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by
considering the work within the framework of the
prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. New
Historicists concern themselves with the political function
of literature and with the concept of power, the intricate
means by which cultures produce and reproduce
themselves. These critics focus on revealing the
historically specific model of truth and authority (not a
"truth" but a "cultural construct") reflected in a given work.
In other words, history here is not a mere chronicle of
facts and events, but rather a complex description of
human reality and evolution of preconceived notions.
Literary works may or may not tell us about various factual
aspects of the world from which they emerge, but they will
tell us about prevailing ways of thinking at the time: ideas
of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc. They raise
questions of interest to anthropologists and sociologists.
New Historicism is more "sociohistorical" than it is a
delving into factoids: concerned with ideological products
or cultural constructs which are formations of any era. (It's
not just where would Keats have seen a Grecian urn in
England, but from where he may have absorbed the
definitions of art and beauty.)
So, New Historicists, insisting that ideology manifests itself
in literary productions and discourse, interest themselves
in the interpretive constructions which the members of a
society or culture apply to their experience.
Psychological Criticism
Definition:
Psychological critics view works through the lens of psychology. They look either at the psychological motivations of the
characters or of the authors themselves, although the former is generally considered a more respectable approach. Most
frequently, psychological critics apply Freudian psychology to works, but other approaches (such as a Jungian approach)
also exist.
Psychological Criticism (Freudian Approach):
A Freudian approach often includes pinpointing the
influences of a character's id (the instinctual, pleasure
seeking part of the mind), superego (the part of the mind
that represses the id's impulses) and the ego (the part of
the mind that controls but does not repress the id's
impulses, releasing them in a healthy way). Freudian
critics like to point out the sexual implications of symbols
and imagery, since Freud's believed that all human
behavior is motivated by sexuality. They tend to see
concave images, such as ponds, flowers, cups, and
caves as female symbols; whereas objects that are longer
than they are wide are usually seen as phallic symbols.
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. Freudian critics occasionally discern the presence of
an Oedipus complex (a boy's unconscious rivalry with his
father for the love of his mother) in the male characters of
certain works, such as Hamlet. They may also refer to
Freud's psychology of child development, which includes
the oral stage, the anal stage, and the genital stage.
Psychological Criticism (Jungian Approach):
Jung is also an influential force in myth (archetypal)
criticism. Psychological critics are generally concerned
with his concept of the process of individuation (the
process of discovering what makes one different form
everyone else). Jung labeled three parts of the self:
the shadow, or the darker, unconscious self (usually the
villain in literature); the persona, or a man's social
personality (usually the hero); and the anima, or a man's
"soul image" (usually the heroine). A neurosis occurs
when someone fails to assimilate one of these
unconscious components into his conscious and projects
it on someone else. The persona must be flexible and be
able to balance the components of the psyche.
Feminist Criticism
Feminist literary criticism, arising in conjunction with
sociopolitical feminism, critiques patriarchal language and
literature by exposing how these reflect masculine
ideology. It examines gender politics in works and traces
the subtle construction of masculinity and femininity, and
their relative status, positionings, and marginalizations
within works.
Beyond making us aware of the marginalizing uses of
traditional language (the presumptuousness of the
pronoun "he," or occupational words such as "mailman")
feminists focused on language have noticed a stylistic
difference in women's writing: women tend to use reflexive
constructions more than men (e.g., "She found herself
crying"). They have noticed that women and men tend to
communicate differently: men directed towards solutions,
women towards connecting.
Feminist criticism concern itself with stereotypical
representations of genders. It also may trace the history of
relatively unknown or undervalued women writers,
potentially earning them their rightful place within the
literary canon, and helps create a climate in which
women's creativity may be fully realized and appreciated.
One will frequently hear the term "patriarchy" used among
feminist critics, referring to traditional male-dominated
society. "Marginalization" refers to being forced to the
outskirts of what is considered socially and politically
significant; the female voice was traditionally marginalized,
or discounted altogether.
Archetypal Criticism
Definition:
A archetypal approach to literature assumes that there is a collection of symbols, images, characters,
and motifs (i.e. archetypes) that evokes basically the same response in all people. According to the
psychologist Carl Jung, mankind possesses a "collective unconscious" that contains these
archetypes and that is common to all of humanity. Myth critics identify these archetypal patterns and
discuss how they function in the works. They believe that these archetypes are the source of much of
literature's power.
Some Archetypes
archetypal women - the Good Mother, the Terrible Mother, and the Soul Mate (such as the
Virgin Mary)
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
shadow, persona, and anima
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.