QUESTIONS TO ASK WHEN READING Formalist/New Criticism: New Criticism is directed against the prevailing concern of critics with the lives and psychology of authors, with social background, and with literary history. 1. A poem should be treated as primarily poetry and should be regarded as an independent and self-sufficient object. The text is a world onto itself. Of particular interest to the formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers. How does the work use imagery to develop its own symbols? What is the quality of the work's organic unity "...the working together of all the parts to make an inseparable whole..." (Tyson 121)? In other words, does how the work is put together reflect what it is? How do paradox, irony, ambiguity, and tension work in the text? What does the form of the work say about its content? Is there a central or focal passage that can be said to sum up the entirety of the work? How do the rhythms and/or rhyme schemes of a poem contribute to the meaning or effect of the piece? How are words, figures of speech and symbols being used? Reader Response This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind of a reader. It attempts “to describe what happens in the reader’s mind while interpreting a text” Proponents believe that literature has no objective meaning or existence. People bring their own thoughts, moods. and experiences to whatever text they are reading and get out of it whatever they happen to based on their own expectations and ideas How does the interaction of text and reader create meaning? How do I feel when I read the text? What is my movement of thought and feeling? How might we interpret a literary text to show that the reader's response is, or is analogous to, the topic of the story? Deconstructionist Criticism: This approach “rejects the traditional assumption that language can accurately represent reality.” Other goals of deconstructionists include (1) challenging the notion of authors’ “ownership” of texts they create (and their ability to control the meaning of their texts) - AKA THE DEATH OF THE AUTHOR AND BIRTH/CENTRALITY OF THE READER and (2) focusing on how language is used to achieve power, as when they try to understand how a some interpretations of a literary work come to be regarded as “truth.” New Historicism Historical Criticism: Using this theory requires that you apply to a text specific historical information about the time during which an author wrote. History, in this case, refers to the social, political, economic, cultural, and/or intellectual climate of the time. For example, William Faulkner wrote many of his novels and stories during and after World War II, which helps to explain the feelings of darkness, defeat, and struggle that pervade much of his work. This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.” A key goal for historical critics is to understand the effect of a literary work upon its original readers. What language/characters/events present in the work reflect the current events of the author’s day? How are events' interpretation and presentation a product of the culture of the author? How does this portrayal criticize the leading political figures or movements of the day? How does the literary text function as part of a continuum with other historical/cultural texts from the same period...? Archetypal/Mythological/Freudian or Jung (collective unconscious)/Psychological: Archetypal Criticism: In criticism, "archetype" signifies narrative designs, character types, or images that are said to be identifiable in a wide variety of works of literature, as well as in myths, dreams, and even ritualized modes of social behavior. This approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works.” Psych Tends to employ: The psychological study of a particular artist, usually noting how an author’s biographical circumstances affect or influence their motivations and/or behavior. OR The analysis of fictional characters using the language and methods of psychology. What connections can we make between elements of the text and the archetypes? How do the characters in the text mirror the archetypal figures? (Great Mother or nurturing Mother, Whore, destroying Crone, Lover, Destroying Angel) How does the text mirror the archetypal narrative patterns? (Quest, Night-Sea-Journey) How does the protagonist reflect the hero of myth? Does the “hero” embark on a journey in either a physical or spiritual sense? How are id/ego/superego at work in the decisions of characters? Marxist Whom does it benefit if the work or effort is accepted/successful/believed, etc.? What is the social class of the author? Which class does the work claim to represent? What values does it reinforce? What values does it subvert? How do characters from different classes interact or conflict? Post Colonial / Culture Studies / Race Theory How does the literary text, explicitly or allegorically, represent various aspects of colonial oppression? What does the text reveal about the problematics of post-colonial identity, including the relationship between personal and cultural identity and such issues as double consciousness and hybridity? What does the text reveal about the operations of cultural difference - the ways in which race, religion, class, gender, sexual orientation, cultural beliefs, and customs combine to form individual identity - in shaping our perceptions of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live? How does the text respond to or comment upon the characters, themes, or assumptions of a canonized (colonialist) work? What types of texts and other cultural artifacts reflect dominant culture’s perceptions of race? How can we accurately reflect the experiences of victims of racism? Feminist/Queer Theory This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works.” How is the relationship between men and women portrayed? What constitutes masculinity and femininity? What are the power relationships between men and women? Do characters take on traits from opposite genders? How so? How does this change others’ reactions to them? What does the work reveal about the operations (economically, politically, socially, or psychologically) of patriarchy? What sort of support (if any) is given to elements or characters who question the masculine/feminine binary? What happens to those elements/characters? How does the literary text illustrate the problematics of sexuality and sexual "identity," that is the ways in which human sexuality does not fall neatly into the separate categories defined by the words homosexual and heterosexual?
