Literary Theory
A brief class presentation on some schools of literary theory
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
FORMALIST CRITICISM
- Includes New Criticism and Formalism
- Focuses on form and structure
- Avoids consideration of anything outside of text
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MARXIST CRITICISM
- Focuses on economic relationships and the material world
- All human culture is a product of the economic system that creates it
Photo by Vicky Hugheston
GENDERED CRITICISM
- Considers how sexual identity impacts a work (in its creation and in its impact)
- Considers the effects of gender-based roles, definitions, etc.
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PSYCHOLOGICAL CRITICISM
- Uses various forms of psychoanalysis to understand and interpret texts
- Often connected to dream analysis, childhood memories (Freud, Jung, Lacan, etc.)
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HISTORICAL CRITICISM
- Focuses on context of a work
- Most interested in learning how a work impacted its original audience
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DECONSTRUCTIONIST CRITICISM
- Looks for contradictions and instability in a work
- How does a work essentially collapse upon itself?
- Identifies the “dominant” reading, then offers an alternative view
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ECOCRITICISM
- How is the earth portrayed in a work?
- What is the relationship between humans and the natural world?
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