A Succinct, User-Friendly Outline of Critical Theory

A succinct but user-friendly outline of critical theory:

The formalist approach (New Criticism)—focuses only on the formal elements (structure, theme, plot, metaphor, language use, etc) to establish an understanding:

àBecause a work of literature aims for organic unity, a goal of interpretation should be

to demonstrate how each element and detail contributes to that unity.

àPatterns of imagery and other repeated details often provide the basis of interpretation.

àA work of literature should be considered as an object independent of the author’s intention or biography as well as any historical or social context.

Structuralism and Semiotics—overlapping somewhat with Formalism, structuralism looks for systemic patterns within the work as well as to which the work belongs. We like to look for and create systems, and language behaves according to systems, so literature should be no different.

àAssumes that because we are all human, all art should reflect universal human experience.

àGenre studies considers the compositional elements of, say, the short story to understand how a particular example of the short story participates in the larger system.

àSemiotics considers how the symbols of a particular text participate in universal sign-system, thus we can interpret individual symbols based on cultural significance.

Post-Modernism (also called Deconstructionist theory)—Challenges the above theories based on the affirmation that we cannot trust the “signifier,” i.e. that which (or who) makes the sign, so we cannot make assumptions about the sign.

àLanguage is unreliable because words lack absolute meaning and may suggest different things to different hearers. Because language is unreliable, anything created by language is doubly so: a narrative created by an unreliable signifier using an unreliable medium.

àSystems and structures are arbitrary and tell us more about the creator of the system than they provide meaningful understanding of what the system attempts to classify. Embracing a system forces us to see texts as part of that system rather than engage with the text more organically.

àThere’s no such thing as objectivity, so there’s no possibility of “truth.”

àSub-text and empty spaces are often more revealing that the text.

Psychoanalytic Criticism—applies psychological theory, usually divided along the Freudian –Jungian fault-line, to analyze character and author motivation and behavior, as well as themes:

àAttempts to discover patterns of behavior central to Freudian and Jungian theory reveal subconscious/unconscious motivations of which characters are not aware.

àClose readings examine not only the manifest meaning of the work, but also the latent meaning—what it really means to the sub/unconscious. Casual accidents, such as mistakes in language, recurring symbols, and seeming coincidences are significant.

àFreud: the Ego is the conscious personality and communicates in language, the Superego (the unconscious mind) monitors and censors desires unacceptable to the ego, and the id (the subconscious mind) contains the dark sexual desires believed destructive if let loose. Freudian theory is concerned with stages of childhood development and repressed emotional and psychological traumas that set the stage for later neuroses. For Freud, sex, incest-wish, and the death-drive motivate all human behavior.

àJung: dreams, symbols, and psychological disorders reveal patterns of archetypal manifestations of the personal and collective unconscious compelling the subject’s progress to individuation, often following images and patterns of myth and the hero’s journey. Our fears and failures are products of our own unknown selves, and recognizing these “possessions” is the key to fulfillment. Sexual imagery represents creative and psychological fertility, not physical urges.

Reader-response criticism—based on the reaction of the reader to the work:

àThe response of the reader is the most important interpretive act. In a sense, the work does not fully exist until read.

àThe reader supplies what the text omits, such as physical appearance, sensory experience, and subjective inference.

àEach reader’s unique response provides insight for interpretation .

àClose reading identifies the author’s expectation of a reader’s response.

àHistory of the work includes the history of the readers’ responses.

Feminist Criticism—focuses on aspects of literature largely ignored by male authors, male readers, or male critics, examining implied expectations of the role of women as expected by individuals or by society:

àAttempts to find language oppostions such as sun/moon, powerful/weak, light/dark, logical/intuitive, calm/hysterical, active/passive, rational/emotional, master/slave,

intellectual/sensitive, dominant/nurturing, etc and illustrate that culturally, the first word in each pair is typically associated with male dominance.

àClose reading exposes patriarchal assumptions, exposing unexpected themes in a work.

àFeatures such as unusual awareness of the female body, maternity, natural cycles, withcraft, madness, the demonic, and disease are important to explore.

àNecessitates a reevaluation of literature written when male dominance was taken for granted.

Political-Economical Criticism—Marxism—focuses on class struggle, exploring the exploitation of the poor by the rich, often focusing on the level of awareness of the issue in the work:

àScrutinizes economic circumstances for signs of economic exploitation

àA literary work reflects the economic social order that produced it, thus writers reflect their class concerns.

àThe text, author, and reader response are worth analyzing because they reveal attitudes toward the bourgeoisie and the proletariat.

àThe study of class struggle reveals itself in literature, often through exaggerations or contradictions of character, description, or language.

Gender Studies and Queer Theory—both explore issues of sexuality and power, focusing on those groups who become “othered” because of gender or gender identification.

àGender studies often considers feminist concerns from a post-structuralist perspective, looking at the patriarchal assumtions inherent in language and symbolism.

àGender roles and relevent to gay and lesbian characters are significant areas for exploration.

àBoth focus on the social narrative that is used to define gender and sexuality.

New Historicism and Cultural Criticism—both understand a work in the cultural, political, sociological, and ideological context, linking the work to the culture of its time:

àEvery work of literature should be read in the context of its own time and author.

àThe assumptions, limitations, aspriations, and values of a social era effects its literature

and therefore becomes part of the meaning of a work, affecting our interpretation of it.

àUnderstanding intellectual trends and scientific, psychological, economic, and political

theories of the time is essential to interpretation.

Post-Colonialism—Combines many theories to understand the effects of imperialism, both on the conqueror and the conquered. This approach looks carefully at the literature of both the colonial power and the marginalized to understand the narrative of hegemony and its effect on those whose land, culture, and identity are appropriated for the pleasure and profit of an empire.