literary criticism approaches
10 Literary Criticism approach
An Overview of Approaches
The Three-fold Purpose of Criticism:
To help us solve a problem in the reading.
To help us sift between and resolve conflicting readings.
To enable us craft interpretative, yet scholarly judgments about literature.
1. Historical / Biographical Approach: Historical / Biographical critics see works as the reflection of an author’s life and times (or of the characters’ life and times). H/B approach deems it necessary to know about the author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his times in order to truly understand the work(s).
Advantages: This approach works well for some works--like those of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Milton-which are obviously political in nature. It also is necessary to take a historical approach in order to place allusions in their proper classical, political, or biblical background.
Disadvantages: New Critics refer to the historical / biographical critic’s belief that the meaning or value of a work may be determined by the author’s intention as “the intentional fallacy.” Thus, art is reduced to the level of biography rather than universal.
A Checklist of Historical Critical Questions:
When was the work written? When was it published? How was it received by the critics and public and why?
What does the work’s reception reveal about the standards of taste and value during the time it was published and reviewed?
What social attitudes and cultural practices related to the action of the word were prevalent during the time the work was written and published?
What kinds of power relationships does the word describe, reflect, or embody?
How do the power relationships reflected in the literary work manifest themselves in the cultural practices and social institutions prevalent during the time the work was written and published?
To what extent can we understand the past as it is reflected in the literary work? To what extent does the
work
An Overview of Approaches
The Three-fold Purpose of Criticism:
To help us solve a problem in the reading.
To help us sift between and resolve conflicting readings.
To enable us craft interpretative, yet scholarly judgments about literature.
1. Historical / Biographical Approach: Historical / Biographical critics see works as the reflection of an author’s life and times (or of the characters’ life and times). H/B approach deems it necessary to know about the author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his times in order to truly understand the work(s).
Advantages: This approach works well for some works--like those of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Milton-which are obviously political in nature. It also is necessary to take a historical approach in order to place allusions in their proper classical, political, or biblical background.
Disadvantages: New Critics refer to the historical / biographical critic’s belief that the meaning or value of a work may be determined by the author’s intention as “the intentional fallacy.” Thus, art is reduced to the level of biography rather than universal.
A Checklist of Historical Critical Questions:
When was the work written? When was it published? How was it received by the critics and public and why?
What does the work’s reception reveal about the standards of taste and value during the time it was published and reviewed?
What social attitudes and cultural practices related to the action of the word were prevalent during the time the work was written and published?
What kinds of power relationships does the word describe, reflect, or embody?
How do the power relationships reflected in the literary work manifest themselves in the cultural practices and social institutions prevalent during the time the work was written and published?
To what extent can we understand the past as it is reflected in the literary work? To what extent does the
work