Literary CRITICISM

1. Literary CRITICISM Scope & Nature

2. DEFINITION … Literary criticism is the study, discussion, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Literary criticism is the evaluation of literary works. This includes the classification by genre, analysis of structure, and judgement of value." Beckson & Ganz Ok, that's a bit better …

3. In my own words … • Literary criticismis an attempt to evaluate and understand the creative writing, the literature of an author. Literature includes plays, essays, novels, poetry, and short stories. Literary criticism is a description, analysis, evaluation, or interpretation of a particular literary work or an author's writings as a whole. Literary criticism is usually expressed in the form of a critical essay. In-depth book reviews are also sometimes viewed as literary criticism.

4. Why do we use literary criticism? • Literary criticism is the act of interpreting literature.  • Authors present us with work that can have multiple meanings, expecting us to consider thoughtfully--to interpret.   Writers and critics build on each others' understanding of a work of literature in a kind of dialog.  Noted authors often have a body of criticism attached to their work.  Critics evaluate and debate the ideas of fellow critics.   Good criticism can help us develop a better understanding of a work.  It can help us develop a point of view about a work, whether or not we agree with the opinions of the critic.  • As you work with literary criticism in your writing it is important that you incorporate your own reactions and points of view.  

5. Why Is Criticism Important for Students? • As a reader of literature, you may find the views of others very helpful in developing your own interpretations. When you write an essay about literature, you will also find criticism helpful for supporting your points. But criticism should never be a substitute for your own original views--only in very rare cases would an assignment require you to summarize a critical work without including your interpretation of the literature. Besides being useful, good literary criticism can be fun in itself, like listening to and participating in a lively discussion among friends. By reading the critic, you add yet another point of view to yours and the author's.

6. To further explain … Literary criticism helps us to understand what is important about the text • its structure • its context: social, economic, historical • what is written • how the text manipulates the reader

7. And there's more … • Literary criticism helps us to understand the relationship between authors, readers, and texts • The act of literary criticism ultimately enhances the enjoyment of our reading of the literary work

8. Practical criticism • Practical criticism is that exercise in which you are given a poem, or a passage of prose, or sometimes an extract from a play, that you have not seen before and are asked to write a critical analysis of it. Usually you are not told who wrote the poem or passage, and usually, too, you are not given any indication of what you might look for or say

9. YOU'RE GOING TO STUDY FIVE PARADIGMS … • Formalism • Traditional/Historical • Feminism • Psychoanalytic • Archetypal/Mythical

10. To criticize a piece of prose, you should: • 1-Read it carefully.2- Get the idea of the passage (to know if the writer succeeds or not in conveying it).3-Study the style (to know whether the style suitable to the idea or not).a) Study the vocabulary, find out the words; the parts of speech; verbs (action-static), nouns, adjectives ….etc.b) Monosyllabic words (one syllable words), multi syllabic words or foreign sources.c) The word order of the sentence, in most cases the writer makes a change in the order by which he means something, for emphasis for example.

11. Cont'd … • d) The structure of the sentence: simple, compound, complex.e) The structure of the passage (parallelism, contrast, comparison, examples).f) Types of the sentence : statement ( declarative , descriptive ) , interrogative ( normal question , rhetoric question ) , imperative .4-Get to know the subjectivity (point of view) or objectivity of the writer (universality of his ideas).5-Get to know the gender of the writing whether masculine (direct , sometimes crude , sometimes pompous , concrete and not emotional ) OR feminine (more emotional and observational , less forceful ) .

12. The Purpose of Criticism: Literary criticism has at least three purposes. • (1)To help us solve a problem in the reading. • (2) To help us choose the better of two conflicting readings. • (3) To enable us to form judgments about literature.

13. FOLLOW THIS PROCESS Know & present the following information: • Key person(s) who influenced the theory • Background information about the theory • Tenets (main points) about the theory accompanied by compelling facts • Key words associated with the theory & definitions • Strengths of the theory • Weaknesses of the theory • Create a one-page handout highlighting the key components • TACK: T the explanation of the theory; A the interpretation of the selection of literature; C the presentation of the creative component; K the demonstration of each student that he/she has grasped the information/