English A: Language and
Literature
Reading 1
Miss Dermont
What is literature?
Not just anything using letters
Meaning changes over time
Entertainment or instruction?
Definition: Highly developed use of language in that it is the
stylized manipulation of language for larger effect (purpose)
and/or affect (emotional response)
Not just so-called ¨high art¨
Can also be tv shows, movies, graphic novels, etc
What is literature?
For the most part in this course…
Poetry
Short stories
Novels
Graphic novels
Plays
Films
Nonfiction texts
Historical Literary Study
Greek philosophers Plato and Artistotle debated literature
(poetry and drama)
These philosphers introduced the concept of systematic
literary criticism
Debated philosophical concerns such as ¨truth¨, ¨beauty¨and
¨love¨ and literature as instruction on how to behave in civil
society
18th and 19th century
18th century valued order, reason and appropriateness of
literature
19th century literature begins to focus on the role of intuition
and imagination, evolving better futures (result of political
and social upheavels and revolutions)
19th century associated with Romanticism (beauty of nature,
imaginitive encounters with the world)
19th century Romanticism
The Solitary Reaper by William Wordsworth
Behold her, single in the field,
Yon solitary Highland Lass!
Reaping and singing by herself;
Stop here, or gently pass!
Alone she cuts and binds the grain,
And sings a melancholy strain;
O listen! for the Vale profound
Is overflowing with the sound.
19th Century Romanticism
Late 19th century
Publications of Charles Darwin´s The Origin of Species in
1859 signals change from Romanticism to scientific
determinism of the Victorian era
Science is the answer to all questions
Literary texts became objects of scientific study
New Criticism
20th century
Text itself becomes main focus
Focus on close reading with little to no concern for history,
ideology, politics, or factors outside of the text
Text is self-contained object that exists independently from
outside forces including author
Reader-response criticism
Becomes widely used in 1960s and 70s
¨Moves emphasis of textual analysis from a singular focus on
the text to one where the reader works in concert with a text
to produce an interpretation¨
The reader´s experience affects interpretation allowing for
various readings that change over time and across cultures
Interpretive communities have general trends of
interpretations.
DISCUSS: What is more valuable? New Criticism (focus purely on
text) or Reader-response Criticism (readers experience affects
interpretation)?
Review of Wed. Class
Highly developed use of language in that it is the stylized
manipulation of language for larger effect (purpose) and/or
affect (emotional response)
Poetry, short stories, novels, films, non-fiction, plays, etc.
Literature reflects social and political climate
1700s: Literature values rules, order and appropriateness
1800s: Literature values human experience, imagination and awe
of nature
Early 1900s: New Criticism (focus on pure text)
Later 1900s: Reader response criticism (readers´experiences and
input are important in analyzing a text)
Critical Approaches
Developed throughout 20th century as offsets of readerresponse criticism
Structuralism
Post structuralism
Marxism
Feminism
Post-colonialism
Think of the critical approaches as LENSES through which you
see literature
Structuralism
Ferdinand de Saussure
Before Saussure, it was commonly accepted that each word
was related to a ¨thing¨
Saussaure claims all language is arbitrary and there is no
inherent connection between a word and its referent
We see the world for how it has been organized through our
systems of naming-our language
Poststructuralism
Continuing evolution of arbitrariness of language
Because language is so arbitrary, we must manipulate
language through a complex understanding of differences to
make ourselves understood
Language lacks absolute meaning
More focus on readers´different perspectives
Feminism, Marxism, Postcolonialism
Schools of literary criticism, lenses
Marxist criticism: assumption that all texts contain subtexts
which are extensions of historical and ideological conflict
Root of conflict anchored in social class and economic
differences
Feminist Criticism
Interpreting women´s experience through literature
Challenge patriarchical cultural values
Uncover essential differences between men and women using
literature
Postcolonial Criticism
Approach to texts produces in colonized countries
Offer a perspective on the clashes between cultures and
suggestion for a possibiity of reconciliation or working across
cultures
Critical Lens Activity
Analyze the children´s book you are given using one of the
following critical lenses:
Marxist Criticism
Feminist Criticism
Post-colonial Criticism
You will present your critical lens analysis to the class on Friday.
You will have all of the class on Thursday to prepare your
presentation. Presentations should be approximately 5 minutes
long and all group members should participate.