Post on 17-Mar-2018
Liza DeeEve Lee
Sophie Marion
Historical and Biographical Lenses
Definition Historical approach to literary criticism…
How does the work reflects the author’s time? Must be truly placed in historical context Should consider various types of history (social,
economic, political, intellectual, etc.) to understand the text
Biographical approach to literary criticism… How does the work reflects the author’s life? Should analyze the work against the author’s life for
meaning Should not take into account irrelevant facts
Questions Considered Historical approach:
What events concurrently occurred in history? How did history affect the author’s views/opinions? How did history affect content, style, language, and tone? Did the author alter historical events? How? Why?
Biographical approach: What biographical facts are included in the text? Have any facts been changed? How? Why? What does the text tell us about the author’s life? Do these insights increase or diminish our understanding of his/her
life? Does the author consider his/her life as typical or significant?
AdvantagesGives information about the
author and the time periodThe ability to make comparisonsMay approach a text from
numerous perspectives and schemaCultureDiscourseIdeology
• Equating the work's content with the author's life (or the character with the author
• Less-than-credible sources of information, particularly works that tend to be highly speculative or controversial unless verified by several sources.
• No history can be truly objective or comprehensive because history is constantly written and rewritten
• Loss of the ability to be creative in analyzation
Disadvantages
Where/How to Apply This Lens In YOUR Life
Viewing ArtAnalyzing Literature based on the Publication
Date and/or AuthorReading PeriodicalsEnglish and History ClassesScreenwriting
Examples The Scarlet Letter
To Kill A Mockingbird
A Thousand Splendid Suns and The Kite Runner
In television: Mad Men
The Diary of Anne Frank
English class My Pet Virus
Shawn Decker’s life The Scarlett Letter
Historical context (1850)History class
Lincoln’s Inaugural Address Historical context of the time period (1861) Lincoln’s point of view
Hammurabi’s Code Historical context of the time period (1792 B.C.) Hammurabi’s philosophy as a leader
CI (Social studies) Columns
Point of view on the issue Paul Krugman and the Bush tax cuts
Uses
An example where you can apply the historical lenses – Boardwalk Empire
Boardwalk Empire Trailer #1 (HBO). YouTube. 20 Sept. 2010. Web. 18 Oct. 2010. <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDyKgRCjf_U>.