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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. [1] 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). [2] 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. Cite error: Closing </ref> missing for <ref> tag

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External Links

  1. Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; no text was provided for refs named Ref1
  2. 2.0 2.1 "Literary Theory and Schools of Criticism" by Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins. Purdue OWL, <https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/owlprint/722/>.
  3. "Modules on Freud: On Psychosexual Development." by Felluga. Dino.Introductory Guide to Critical Theory.<http://www.cla.purdue.edu/english/theory/psychoanalysis/freud.html>. July 12, 2002. accessed 21 April 2014
  4. The Mind and the Book: A Long Look at Psychoanalytic Literary Criticism by N Holland, Norman. University of Florida, <http://www.clas.ufl.edu/users/nholland/mindbook.htm>.1998. accessed 21 April 2014
  5. Literary Theories: A Sampling of Lenses by Daniel Mesick.Como Park Senior High School, <http://comosr.spps.org/lit_theory>, accessed 21 April 2014
  6. Napikoski, Linda. Feminist Literary Crticism. <http://womenshistory.about.com/od/feminism/a/feminist_criticism.htm>, accessed 21 April 2014
  7. Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins . 2010-04-21. Feminist Criticism (1960s-present).<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/11/>, accessed 21 April 2014
  8. 'Literary Theories: A Sampling of Critical Lenses.' <http://www.mpsaz.org/rmhs/staff/rkcupryk/aa_jr/files/microsoft_word_-_literary_theories.pdf>, accessed 21 April 2014
  9. Allen Brizee, J. Case Tompkins . 2010-04-21. "Marxist Criticism (1930s-present)."<https://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/05/>, accessed 21 April 2014
  10. "Introduction to Modern Literary Theory" by Dr. Kristi Siegel, <http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm>, accessed 22 April 2014