Literary theory

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Introduction

According to the Collins English Dictionary, literary theory is defined as "the systematic analysis and study of literature using general principles". A common misconception about literary theory is that it is focused on the meaning of a work of literature, whereas the actual study involves the tools by which people attempt to understand literature. With different schools of theory critics of different literary works can focus on those works through different aspects they consider the most important(for example a Marxist theory may focus on how characters in a story react to an economic situation). Critics use more than one school of literary theory when analyzing a work.

Types of Literary Theory

Archetypal/Myth Criticism

Archetypal/Myth critics, such as C.G. Jung and Joseph Campbell, view the genres and individual plot patterns of literature, including highly sophisticated and realistic works, as recurrences of certain archetypes and essential mythic formulae. Archetypes are "repeated types of experience in lives of ancient ancestors which inherited the collective unconscious of the human race and are expressed in myths, dreams, religion, and private fantasies, also in the work of literature." - C.G. Jung

Examples of Archetypes: the sun, the moon, circles, colors, Wise Old Man, the Great Mother, etc. Another archetype would be the color white, signifies death and is associated with innocence.

Psychoanalytic Criticism

Psychoanalytic criticism, is one of the initial approaches within the school of literary criticism. This concept is used by critics to analyze the unconsciousness of the mind; which consists of desires, fears, enjoyments or anything that causes human to be driven without knowledge of their actions. Psychoanalytic method was originally constructed by Sigmund Freud when he was studying patients in an asylum.

The Introductory Guide to Critical Theory says, Freud began his researches into the workings of the human mind in 1881, after a century during which Europe and America saw the reform of the insane asylum and an ever-increasing interest in "abnormal" psychological states, especially the issue of "nervous diseases" (which was the first phenomenon that Freud studied, examining the nervous system of fish while gaining his medical degree at the University of Vienna from 1873 to 1881).

Holland says, the psychoanalytic literary critic's primary job is to foreground that psychological element in what he or she says about books. In other words, the psychoanalytic critics should be interpreting their own, if you will, counter-transference to the text or whatever else they are describing.

For example if the literary critic wants to apply the psychoanalytic approach to a specific piece of work or literature, the theory is applied directly with the following the concepts:

1. Consider the author’s personality to explain and interpret a text
2. What psychological theories are present in the characters (Oedipal complex, obsessive compulsive, sexual repression, denial, guilt)?
3. What repressed material is expressed in imagery or symbols?

The literary critic will then be able to exhibit to the reader the images that are needed to properly interpret and grasp the message of the writer.

Feminist Criticism

Feminist Criticism is the analysis of the thoughts on feminism, feminist theory, or feminist politics. Authors use this to change the way literature portrays woman characters. Feminist theory has raised questions towards society. It asks if the world values male characters over females or if they feel that females are not as strong as males. When feminist criticism began is focused on politics of women authorship and the representation of woman’s conditions in literature. Currently, feminist criticism focuses on certain aspects of society with women; such as education, politics, and the work force.

Feminist Writers:

• Mary Wollstonecraft
• Julia Kristeva
• Elaine Showalter

Marxist Criticism

In literature, Marxist criticism focuses on money and power. It was founded on the ideals of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. The story lines are usually affected or influenced by the economy or social classes. This criticism usually exposes the way a socioeconomic system is the ultimate source of our experience. The notions of Marxism places emphasis on the convergence between the dominant and repressed classes. Also, Marxism encourages art to imitate what is often termed an "objective" reality. Contemporary Marxism is more general in its desired goal and views art as simultaneously reflective and autonomous to the era in which it was produced.

Marxist Authors:

• Karl Marx
• Leon Trotsky
• Georg Lukács

New Criticism

New Criticism is a literary movement beginning in he late 1920's and 1930's. This movement derived from the reaction to traditional criticism that new critics believe were considered highly important, such as the biography or psychology of the author or the work's relations to the history of literature. The notion of New Criticism is that a work of literary art should be considered autonomous so that it is not judged, or stereotyped, by reference to considerations beyond the work.

Major New Criticism Figures:

• I. A. Richards
• T. S. Eliot
• Cleanth Brooks
• David Daiches
• William Empson

External Links

• http://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/literary-theory - The Collins English Dictionary's definition page for Literary Theory.