Literary Theory: An Overview

Henderson

Why study theory?“If literature matters today, it is chiefly

because it seems to many conventional critics one of the few remaining places where, in a divided, fragmented world, a sense of universal value may still be incarnate; and where, in a sordidly material world, a rare glimpse of transcendence can still be attained. Terry Eagleton

Approaching TheoryNone of the theories we will study will be

entirely satisfactory to you.While the theorists themselves cling

steadfastly to their respective approaches, we have the luxury of “window-shopping” lots of ‘em.

Incorporate bits and pieces of differing theories into your own developing philosophies of literature and life.

One last thought before we begin…

Literary theory is not a disembodied set of ideas but a force in institutions. Theory exists in communities of readers and writers, as a discursive practice, inextricably entangled with educational and cultural institutions. Jonathan Culler

Formalism

Russian in origin; emerged in the years immediately preceding the Bolshevik Revolution in 1917, flourished in the 1920s until Stalin shut ‘em up.

Did not take into account feelings, ideas, social realities, etc.

Focused on the objective “parts” of language, like a machine.

FormalismEvaluated literature according to its

use of “devices” -- sound, rhythm, imagery, syntax, meter, rhyme, etc -- and their ability to “estrange” the language.

Estrangement = the ability to draw attention to the language itself and make the everyday seem unfamiliar.

Formalism

“Fine” writing is “strange” writing.Applies linguistics to literature.

Phenomenology

Founded in the wake of WWI by Edmund Husserl.

Rejected the “natural attitude” that we see the world as it really is and that we perceive objects objectively, as something existing outside our consciousness.

Phenomenology

Instead, Husserl believed that our thoughts were inherently related to an object.

“Phenomenological reduction”: we must reduce the external world to the contents of our consciousness alone.

Phenomenology

All realities must be treated as “phenomena”, as they appear in our mind, and that is as absolute as our knowledge can ever be.

Perception is reality, and vice versa.However, phenomenology actually viewed

all this as concrete, not abstract.

Phenomenology

The linguistic revolution of the 20th century is the assertion that readers create meaning based on their reception of the language.

In literature, focus on the essential meaning of the work, not the language or construction.

Phenomenology

When analyzing literature according to this theory, focus on the “reader-response”.

Describe the reader’s progressive movement through a text, analyzing how readers produce meaning by interacting with the text.

Phenomenology

But which is more valid: what the author means, or what the text means to me?

You are free to attach any meaning you want to the text, but what the text authentically “means” must stay within the probabilities of the author’s intentions.

New CriticismOriginated in the United States in the

1930s and 40s. Coincided with a rising emphasis on

science and technology; approaches literature scientifically.

However, in approaching literature this way, the New Critics were hoping to replace religion (wholly rejected as a guiding force in everyday life) with poetry.

New CriticismFocused on the parts with the intention

of understanding the whole.Treated works as self-contained

aesthetic objects rather than social or historical documents.

Approach each work independently, analyzing irony, paradox, ambiguity, connotation, etc.

New CriticismGreat Men approach: literature is

created by extraordinary people, and as we decipher a poem’s meaning, we are trying to search for the author’s original meaning. Every work is essentially autobiographical, a chance for us to obtain a glimpse of a Great Man’s mind.

New Criticism

New Critics rejected the Great Men system of reading.

Asserted that an author’s intention was irrelevant to the text.

Poems must be read without concern for context.

Reduced the poem to a fetish.We are to read the poem with aloof

detachment.

StructuralismAsserts that writing is not a random,

self-contained act or series of devices. Each work -- and all literature as a collective body of work -- is governed by a series of codes, archetypes, myths, and genres that acted as aesthetic “laws”.

Structuralism

Emphasizes that all meaning is relative and contextual.

“Hut” derives its meaning from its placement between “hovel” and “mansion”.

“Terrorist” and “freedom fighter” denote the same object but connote different meanings.

Structuralism

Moves from the particular to the general; commentary focuses on how a work fits into a greater schema.

The aim of structuralism is to arrive at a sense of unity.

Structuralism

In VERY basic terms, structuralism is “happy”! It recognizes the relativity of language but does not despair, and it seeks to critique language anyway. In such criticism, language arrives at something unified and harmonious.

DeconstructionMethod derived from post-

structuralism.Deconstructionists begin with

structuralist theory but then move beyond it and rebel against it.

Deconstruction occurred immediately after – and then alongside – structuralism.

Deconstruction

“There are no facts; only perceptions.”

~ Friedrich Nietzsche

DeconstructionJacques Derrida created the concept and

coined the term deconstruction.Argued that Western culture LOVES

them some binary sets: black vs. white, feminine vs. masculine, etc.

These binary sets imply a hierarchy and mutually exclusive relationships.

Deconstruction erases the boundary between these sets.

Deconstruction

Argues that if language really is relative and arbitrary, and there are no fixed points for reference, then all language and meaning is essentially one hot mess.

We live in a “decentered” universe in which language and meaning have free play.

Deconstruction

Look for shifts and breaks at various levels of the work. Read “against the grain” so that the text “betrays” itself. A deconstructionist triumphantly finds ways in which an author accidentally contradicts himself so that meaning breaks down.

Deconstruction

In very basic terms, deconstruction reveals anxieties about language and seeks to find disunity in the text that reflects disunity in our existence.

More on structuralism and deconstruction in another power point!

Psychoanalysis

Established by everybody’s favorite phallus-obsessed psychiatrist.

Focuses on a meta-language in which the reader seeks out “what’s really going on” in the text.

Modernism

Parallel movements in fine arts: Dadaism, Cubism, Surrealism.

In literature, a rejection of traditional realism in favor of experimentation.

“High modernism”, 1910-1930.

Modernism

New emphasis on impressionism and subjectivity; HOW we see it is more important than WHAT we see.

Movement away from devices that convey objectivity, such as omniscient 3rd person narration, clear-cut moral conclusions.

An affinity for fragmented forms

Modernism

Attitude is self-conscious and nostalgic.Through its fragmentation, celebrates a

by-gone era when circumstances precipitated continuity in form and style.

Laments its own fragmentation; in simplest terms, modernism is “sad”.

Postmodernism

In simplest terms, is “happy”.Is not a subsequent, chronological step;

co-existed with modernism and demonstrates a shift in attitude.

While modernism was ascetic (hence ugly box-shaped houses), postmodernism did not distinguish between “high” culture and pop culture. Celebrated gaudiness.

PostmodernismBaudrillard examined a “hyperreality”, or the

“loss of the real”. (Martin Scorsese capitalized on this concept in Gangs of New York.)

Pervasive influences of TV, film, other media have blurred the lines between reality and illusion, surface and depth.

In terms of semiotics, a sign is recognized as such, with an unclear connection to the reality of the signified. Ex: Disneyland IS reality.

Postmodernism

Focus on intertextuality -- the close relationship between several works, seen through allusion, parody, etc.

Focus on irony.

New HistoricismConduct a parallel reading of literary and

historical texts from the same period; puts both forms on equal footing

Rejects the more traditional approach of using historical texts as a backdrop for literature.

Culture is not simply a reflection of the economic and political system, but it cannot be independent from those systems.

Postcolonialism

Undermines the “universal” standard for judging the greatness of literature, as “universal” inevitably leads to dead-European/white-male perspective.

An effect of Orientalism was to place everything “other” in an inferior position. At the same time, the East became the repository for the West’s hidden self…

Postcolonialism

…projected human cruelty, indulgence, laziness, and sensuality onto the “Orient”.

At the same time, the West was fascinated by the East and perceived it as exotic, mystical, and seductive.

Postcolonialism

Phases of postcolonialism writing:ADOPT: begin with an unquestioning

acceptance of European models.ADAPT: adapt Western form to Eastern

subject matter.ADEPT: reject Western forms and

return to more “native”pre-colonial forms.

Marxist criticism

Some basic tenets of Marxism:Founded by Karl Marx and Friedrich

EngelsConsidered themselves “Communists”

instead of “Marxist” in particular.Supported state ownership vs. private

ownership.

Marxist criticismIs a materialist theory: looks for concrete,

observable facts to determine the limits of reality, as opposed to…

Idealist philosophy: believes in another, spiritual world, as part of reality.

Progress comes about through class struggle. History should be measured this way instead of as a series of dynasties or as a progression toward sovereignty.

Marxist criticism

Base: material means of production, distribution, exchange.

Superstructure: “cultural” world of arts, religion, law, etc.

Economic determinism: the belief that the base dictates the nature of the superstructure.

Marxist criticism

Individual genius doesn’t really exist: artists and their works are formed by their social contexts.

The Soviets hijacked Marxism; Lenin insisted that literature must be an instrument of the Party.

All literature became propaganda; literary complexity couldn’t rise above an Uncle Tom’s Cabin level.

Marxist criticism

Modern adaptations of Marxism:Althusser identifies repressive structures:

institutions like law courts, police forces, etc. that impose state control by external force.

State ideological structures: maintain state control through political parties, schools, churches, and the arts

Marxist criticism

Hegemony: internalized form of social control that make certain views seem “natural”, invisible, the way things are.

Makes us feel like free agents with the ability to choose and determine our lives.

Feminist theory

Rethink the canon, “rediscover” feminine texts.

Challenge literary representations of “other”.

Seek out patriarchy in literature: politically and socially aimed connotations that perpetuate a male outlook on the world.

Feminist theory

Feminine phase: women writers imitated dominant male artistic form and style

Feminist phase: radical and separatist positions dominate women’s writing.

Female phase: focuses on female writing and the female experience.

Feminist theory

“Male” language is prose: more linear, didactic, structured.

“Female” language is poetry: more fluid, flexible, changing.

Men read and write through symbolism; women read and write through semiotics.

Feminism + Psychoanalysis

Redefines Freud’s penis envy.Feminist critics argue that the envy isn’t

for the organ itself (or even the symbolic nature of it) but for the varieties of power it represents (the semiotics).

Sexual identity is a cultural construct. Female is biological; feminine is social.

Lesbian/Gay CriticismAt this point, lesbian criticism is simply an

extension of feminist criticism.Gay criticism, commonly called “queer

theory”, looks for gay episodes in mainstream works; redefining cults of friendship in literature. (Look at WWI poetry again.)

Metaphorically “gay” reading of literature connotes any blurring of social boundaries.

Guess what…

It’s over!!