ROLAND BARTHES “THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR” Barthes opens with a quote from Balzac’s novel Sarrasine where the author offers a description of a “castrato disguised as a woman” (142): This was woman herself‚ with her sudden fears‚ her irrational whims‚ her instinctive worries‚ her impetuous boldness‚ her fussings‚ and her delicious sensibility. (Qts. in Barthes‚ 142) Stereotypes aside‚ Barthes’ concern here is with “W ho is speaking thus” (142) in the novel: the “hero of the story” (142)? “Balzac
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direction of New Criticism. New Criticism emerged as a response to the traditional approaches which believed that the function of criticism is not to find meanings but to discover the historical context of the text. It was widely felt that New Criticism put the literary criticism on the right track‚ which maintained that the chief function of criticism is to specify meanings. New Critics located meanings in the text. Reader Response theory emerged mostly as a reaction against the New Criticism after 1968
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5 Psychoanalytic criticism Introduction Psychoanalytic criticism is a form of literary criticism which uses some of the techniques of psychoanalysis in the interpretation of literature. Psychoanalysis itself is a form of therapy which aims to cure mental disorders ’hy investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the mind’ (as the Concise Oxford Dictionary puts it). The classic method of doing this is to get the patient to talk freely‚ in such a way that the repressed
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The Complex Thesis Statement for Literary Criticism A Good thesis is: • Argumentative & Controversial. It makes a case. This is the biggest difference between a thesis and a topic – a topic is something like “Huck Finn deals with the issue of slavery.” A thesis makes a specific case; it tries to prove something. It has to be possible for an intelligent person to disagree with your thesis. If everyone agrees on first sight‚ it is too obvious – descriptive. A good thesis argues for a
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‘In place of a hermeneutics we need an erotics of art’. Discuss ways of approaching a text by referring to Susan Sontag’s ‘Against Interpretation’. There are many ways of approaching a text and interpretation is the most important and controversial way to explore a text. A hermeneutics and an erotics of art‚ which are the types of interpretation‚ will be explored in this essay to discuss ways of approaching a text. Besides‚ ‘Against Interpretation’ will be a main reference in this essay. ‘In
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piece is not simply the work of a person. It is of an author fixed in time‚ space and his environment. Taine‚ the French man‚ said that literature is the consequence of the moment‚ the race‚ and the milieu. Edmund Wilson traces sociological criticism to the eighteenth century study of Homer’s epics. The study focused on the social conditions of the poet’s period. Literary works are seen as social documents presenting the material condition and the ethos of a given period. Literature mirrors
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Beowulf: Cultural Criticism The epic poem “Beowulf” is a representation of how mankind has adopted a hypocritical mindset that allows themselves to kill and commit evil‚ while at the same time persecuting other groups for doing the same. Throughout the text itself‚ the Danes are known as a warrior race that controls and conquers other nations through violence and destruction‚ but they tell themselves that it is for the greater good and god has given them the right to do so. Though this is a fictional
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(2002)‚ 386–407. Steen‚ Gerard/Gibbs‚ Raymond W.: „Questions about Metaphor in Literature“. In: European Journal for English Studies 8‚3 (2004)‚ 337–354. Tsur‚ Reuven (1998) EVENT STRUCTURE – Metaphor and Reductionism (an exercise in functional criticism). (29.9.2008).
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The use of literary criticisms is essential in helping to deeper understand what an author was actually trying to say. There are several literary criticisms used to breakdown works. New Historicism has been informed through different kinds of criticism‚ including psychoanalytic criticism‚ feminist criticism‚ and especially deconstruction. This allows self identifying new historicists to be seen as feminist‚ Marxist‚ or deconstructionist. New Historicism is a literary criticism that allows us to connect
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audience to celebrate rebelliousness for the sake of rebellion and immorality as an acceptable form of happiness. The radical changes that took place in the films of the seventies still has heavy influence in film making and particularly in film criticism today. There are still and will always be plenty of films made that remain true to classical mythic structure where white hats prevail and black hats do not. Current examples of such mythic structure can be
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