LITERARY THEORY &

CRITICISM: Unit 1

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

SYLLABUS

• Classical philosophers – Aristotle, Plato and Longinus

• Psycholinguistics Psychoanalysis

• Marxism

• Feminism - Gender Theories (LGTB)

• Formalism, Structuralism & Post-structuralism (Deconstruction)

• Postmodernism

• Cultural studies

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

ROADMAP

Session 1. Classical philosophers – Aristotle, Plato and Longinus

Session 2. Formalism, Structuralism & Post-structuralism

Session 3. Marxism

Session 4. Psychoanalysis

Session 5. Gender Theories

Session 6. Revision

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

WHAT’S

LITERARY THEORY

• Systematic study (analysis) of literary texts through

varied critical approaches/ methods/ techniques.

• Different theories regarding literary writings have

been derived at different points in time by different

scholars during different literary eras/ movements.

CLASSICAL PHILOSOPHERS

Aristotle Plato Longinus

SocratesPythagorasLITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

Plotinus

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

ARISTOTELIAN PRECEPTS

• In his Poetics (335 BCE), Greek philosopher Aristotle

(384 BC – 322 BC) lays out the precepts for

(traditional) dramatic form.

• Plot & Sub-plot (with sub-characters)

• Cause & Effect (Karma)

• 3 Unities: Unity of Time, Place & Action Why?

• Plot: Exposition - Complication – Crisis – Climax/Resolution

• Catharsis: the purging of emotions.

What creates cathartic experience?

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

PLATONIC DIALOGUES

• Platonic Realism – the ‘dialogues’ (didactics)

(The Ion, The Symposium, The Republic,

The Laws): a new genre (non-fiction).

What are the present-day equivalents?

• In his Republic (380 BC), Plato (424 – 348 BC) warns

against art forms (drama and poetry) as having the

ability to corrupt an ‘ideal’ republic.

• Suggests that literature should create social morality.

• Influenced literary critics during Renaissance and 19th

century; while contemporary theorists take an opposite

perspective, esp. Marxists, arguing that literature is a

liberating force.

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

PLATONIC DIALOGUES

Objections to literature on 3 grounds:

Education

“[…] if we mean our future guardians to regard the habit of quarrelling

among themselves as of all things the basest, no word should be said to

them of the wars in the heaven, or of the plots and fighting of the gods

against one another, for they are not true [...]”

Philosophy

“The imitator or maker of the image knows nothing of true existence; he

knows appearance only.” (Theory of Forms)

Morality

“The imitative poet who aims at being popular […] will prefer the

passionate and fitful temper […] because he awakens and nourishes and

strengthen the feelings and impairs the reason […]”

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

PLATO v/s ARISTOTLE

Aristotle Plato

Mimesis:

imitation of action

Mimesis:

imitation of imitation

Aesthetics Morals

Form Content

Macro-art Micro-art

Mirroring reality Creating reality (v/s truth)

- Two disparate notions of art based upon the same fundamental

assumption: Mimesis (v/s Diegesis)

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

LONGINUS:

On The Sublime

• Ambiguity of the author.

• First treatise on style: prescriptions for ‘sublimity’.

• Imagination, Emotions (avoidance of inferior emotions) &

Sensuousness (use of words).

• Purpose of writing: introduce, delight & persuade.

Greatness of writing: sublimity (above the ordinary).

• The Sublime contains literary exemplars from around 50

authors, spanning over 1000 years. Longinus critically

appraises the writing styles of the authors.

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1

LONGINUS: On The Sublime

Sources of the sublime:

- Nobility of thought

- Capacity for experiencing strong emotions

- Appropriate use of figures of speech

- Refined diction (dignified word arrangement)

- Elaborate composition (form)

Effects of the sublime:

- Eased rationality ("the Sublime leads the listeners not to

persuasion, but to ecstasy: for what is wonderful always goes

together with a sense of dismay…).

- Alienation: identification with the creative process.

- Deep emotional experiences.

LITERARY THEORY & CRITICISM

Unit 1 – THE END

LONGINUS: On The Sublime

• Not a momentary evasion from reality but a reflection

of the soul of the artist poured into the work.

Sources of the sublime

inborn sources acquired sources

"aspiration to vigorous concepts" rhetorical devices

"strong & enthusiastic passion" choice of lexicon

"dignified & high composition“

• Truth, Innate Goodness & Beauty

(Satyam, Shivam and Sundaram)