Frankenstein by Mary Shelley.
Chelsea Knutson, Annette Ekstrom,
Andrew Street, and Alex Houle.
History of New Criticism
New Criticism was used in the 1940’s by
Americans to attack standard notion of
“expressive realism”.
The romantic fallacy that literature is the
efflux of a noble soul.
The goal is not the pursuit of sincerity, but
subtlety, unity, and integrity .
New Criticism Occurred
Partially in Response To:
• Biographical Criticism that understood art
primarily as a reflection of the author's life
(sometimes to the point that the texts
themselves weren't even read!).
• Competition for dollars and students from
sciences in academia.
• New forms of mass literature and literacy, an
increasingly consumerist society and the
increasingly visible role of commerce, mass
media, and advertising in people's lives.
Who created it?
• New Criticism was created by
T.S. Eliot.
• He also created The School of
New Criticism and the Canon.
• Eliot is considered by some to
be one of the greatest literary
critics of the 20th century.
• New Criticism introduced the
idea that the value of a work of
art must be viewed in the
context of the artist's previous
works, a “simultaneous order”
of works.
Ideas of New Criticism
•
Also important to New Criticism was the idea—of an “objective
correlative,” which shows a connection among the words of the
text and events, states of mind, and experiences. This notion
concedes that a poem means what it says, but suggests that
there can be a non-subjective judgment based on different
readers’ different—but perhaps corollary—interpretations of a
work.
•
New Critics followed in Eliot’s foot steps in regard to his
“‘classical’ ideals and his religious thought, Eliot’s attention to
the poetry and drama of the early seventeenth century, his
deprecation of the Romantics (especially Shelley), his
proposition that good poems constitute ‘not a turning loose of
emotion but an escape from emotion‘, and his insistence that
‘poets…at present must be difficult.’”
•
New Criticism tends to emphasize the text as something
complete with in itself, written for its own sake, unified in its
form and not dependent on its relation to the author's life or
intent, history, or anything else. The formal and technical
properties of work of art.
New Criticism in Frankenstein
•
In Mary Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein, instances
of New Criticism appear everywhere.
•
Victor Frankenstein is the narrator of
Frankenstein.
•
Victor Frankenstein describes his surroundings
differently depending on his mood and feelings
at the time.
•
Victor goes into depth describing nature, life,
death, people, and his feelings. He paints an
image in your head as you read.
Supporting details:
Lightning Storm:
Victor is amazing and in awe. His mood is
uplifting.
“… the thunder burst at once with
frightful loudness from various quarters of
the heavens.”
“… on a sudden I beheld a stream of fire
issue from an old and beautiful oak,…”
“It was not splintered by the shock, but
entirely reduced to thin ribbons of wood. I
never beheld anything so utterly
destroyed.”
Rainy morning in Ingolstadt:
Victor is feeling guilty, afraid, and worthless.
“…although drenched by the rain which
poured from a black and comfortless sky.”
“…bodily exercise to ease the load that
weighed upon my mind.”
“My heart palpitated in the sickness of fear,
and I hurried on with irregular steps, not
daring to look about me.”
“Like one, on a lonesome road who,
Both walk in fear and dread,
And, having once turned round, walked on,
And turns no more his head;
Because he knows a frightful fiend
Doth close behind him tread.”
New Criticism has left a
permanent mark on the
history of literary
criticism, and is worthy
not only of serious
study, but also deep
respect.