Literary+Criticism+Notes

Literary Criticism – looking at a text through the “lens” of one particular concern. Reader Response lens – Archetypal criticism – Gender Criticism –
 * How did I like the book? How does it affect me?
 * What we use in grade and middle school. What we do when we read for fun.
 * Meaning is constructed through the reader’s experience of reading
 * Ex.: When I read this it makes me think of my sister, and it really affects me because sometimes I worry about her.
 * Proponents believe that literature has no objective meaning or existence.
 * How does this reflect the deep beliefs and myths of a culture?
 * Archetype means narrative patterns, character types or images which are said to be identifiable in literature, myths, art, religion, social behavior, and dreams.
 * These archetypes are assumed to be universal and deep within us all, so that they evoke a strong response in the reader.
 * The best archetypal pattern is any symbol with deep roots in a culture, such as the forbidden fruit in the Garden of Eden or the poison apple in Snow White.
 * Do people in this text follow traditional, expected gender roles? Are the characters conscious of this in the text?
 * This point of view recognizes that our culture is patriarchal.
 * Men are in power.
 * Men’s power is overt. (open)
 * Women are passive objects.
 * Women’s power is forced to be covert. (hidden)
 * Neither men nor women have options regarding their traditional roles

Privilege and Social Power criticism –
 * Who has the power in any given situation, based on that person’s social standing and ability to cause change?
 * The economic organization of a society determines its attitudes and institutions,
 * i.e., how wealth is produced makes society what it is.
 * Who has the most opportunities in the story?
 * Is power shared? Is it transparent?
 * Focuses on power and money

Psychological lenses – Historical lenses – Ecological lenses –
 * How does this work reveal the mind of the author?
 * Reference to the author’s personality is used to explain and interpret a literary work.
 * Reference to the literary work is made to explain the author.
 * Reading a work is a way of experiencing the consciousness of the author.
 * How does this work reflect the time and place it was written and how has that affected the author?
 * Apply specific historical information (social, political, economic, cultural, and intellectual climate) information to explain the work.
 * Ex.: Faulkner wrote many of his novels during and after WWII, a fact that explains the struggles and feelings of darkness in his works.
 * How does this work reflect the author or culture’s attitude toward land use and awareness of ecological balance?
 * This looks at underlying assumptions of the author and society, as reflected in the text, toward the role of humans in the environment.
 * Ex.: In //One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest//, the government builds a huge dam, sure that they have taken care of the salmon problem and unaware of any other problems they may be causing.

Post-colonial criticism
 * How does this text show the attitudes of the conquering culture and the culture they are ignoring or attempting to overrun? What are the longer-term implications of these attitudes?
 * Successful colonialism depends on a process of “Othering” the people colonized, making the conquered people seem dramatically different and lesser than the colonizers.
 * Literature written by the colonizers often distorts the experiences of the colonized.
 * Literature written by the colonized includes attempts to reclaim culture and identity in the face of colonization.