2016/02/08
Monday8February2016
SummaryofCri�calApproachestoFic�on
2.30p.m.
TheNewCri�cism,BiographicalCri�cism
2.45p.m.
NewHistoricism,Reader-ResponseCri�cism
3.00p.m.
GenderStudies,SociologicalCri�cism
3.15p.m.
MythologicalCri�cism,Ecocri�cism
3.30p.m.
PsychologicalCri�cism,Postmodernism
Cri�calApproachestoFic�on
Charters
May
FormalistCri�cism
TheNewCri�cism
BiographicalCri�cism
BiographicalCri�cism
HistoricalCri�cism
NewHistoricism
Reader-ResponseCri�cism
Reader-ResponseCri�cism
GenderCri�cism
GenderStudies
SociologicalCri�cism
CulturalCri�cism
MythologicalCri�cism
Ecocri�cism
PsychologicalCri�cism
PoststructuralistCri�cism
GroupWork
Divideintogroupsof3or4.
Chooseonerepresenta�vefromyourgrouptoactasspeaker.
Sendyourspeakertothefrontoftheroomtoreceivea“Cri�cal
ApproachestoFic�on”card.
EachcardhasadifferentCri�calApproachtoFic�onwri�enonit.
Ingroups,discusshowacri�cmightapplytheCri�calApproachonyour
cardtoOates’s“WhereAreYouGoing,WhereHaveYouBeen.”
Brainstormathesisstatementandthreesub-argumentsthatmightform
thebasisofacri�calessayonOates’sshortstory.
In15minutes,wewillreconveneasaclass,andeachspeakerwillpresent
itsgroup’sconclusions.
Postmodernism
TheNewCri�cisminaNutshell
isalsoknownasFormalism,since
itisconcernedwiththeformal
elementsoffic�on
concernsitselfexclusivelywith
thetext,subjec�ngittoatextual
analysis,orclosereading,to
revealtheelementsoffic�on
ignoreswhotheauthoris,the
�meperiodduringwhichthe
workwaswri�en,theemo�onal
impactithasonthereader,and
anythingelseotherthanthetext
contendsthatliteratureis
essen�allyamoralandapoli�cal
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2016/02/08
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
… the writer of prose is committed to
recreating the world through
language, and should not be
distracted from this task by even the
most attractive of temptations. The
opposite of language is silence;
silence for human beings is death….
The use of language is all we have to
pit against death and silence.
Joyce Carol Oates. National Book
Awards Speech. 1975. Qtd. in
Charters, ed. 1616-17. Print.
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
borninLockport,NewYork,
oneofthreechildreninaRoman
Catholicfamily
studiedatSyracuseUniversity
andtheUniversityofWisconsin,
earninganMAinEnglish
oneofAmerica’smostprolific
authors,haswri�ennumerous
booksofshortstories,poems,
andliterarycri�cism
based“WhereAreYouGoing,
WhereHaveYouBeen”(1966)on
atruecrimestoryshesawinLife
magazine(Charters,ed.964-65)
BiographicalCri�cisminaNutshell
enablesthereadertounderstand
howawriteradaptedreal-life
situa�ons,places,andeventsin
hisorherwork
aidsthereaderingauginghowa
writer’sworkevolvedinresponse
tocrisesandissuesinhisorher
life
allowsthereadertolearnabout
theaudienceoraudiencesfor
whichawriterwishedtodirect
hisorherwork
NewHistoricisminaNutshell
seeshistoryastext
contendsthathistoryisneither
morenorlessthanthesumofthe
textsrecordedaboutit
assertsthatliteratureisthusjust
anothertextthat,when
combinedwithother
contemporaneoustexts
(adver�sements,newspapers,
biographies,etc.),adduptoan
understandingofagiven
historicalperiod
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2016/02/08
4DonMoser(1932-2013)
CharlesHowardSchmid(1942-1975)
“ThePiedPiperofTucson”
Whether the juries in the two trials
decide that Charles Howard Schmid
Jr. did or did not brutally murder
Alleen Rowe, Gretchen Fritz, and
Wendy Fritz has from the beginning
seemed of almost secondary
importance to the people of Tucson.
They are not indifferent. But what
disturbs them … are the revelations
about Tucson itself that have
followed on the disclosure of the
crimes.
Don Moser. “The Pied Piper of
Tucson.” 1966. Qtd. in Charters,
ed. 1623. Print.
Reader-ResponseCri�cisminaNutshell
contendsthatthereader,in
reading,createsatext’smeaning
postulatesthatdifferentpeople
mayinterpretthesametextin
differentways,andthatthese
differentinterpreta�onsareall
poten�allyvalid
recognizesthatalltextshave
gaps,whichreadersfillin,based
ontheirownpre-exis�ng
knowledgeandvalues
assertsthattextsarethus
dynamicratherthansta�c;the
reader’sroleisac�veratherthan
passive
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
… the first great book[s] of my life
[were] … Alice in Wonderland and
Through the Looking Glass…. I
might have wished to be Alice, that
prototypical heroine of our race, but I
knew myself too shy, too readily
frightened … (Alice, never
succumbing to terror, is not a real
child), and too mischievous. Alice is
a character in a story and must
embody, throughout, a modicum of
good manners and common sense.
Joyce Carol Oates. “Stories That
Define Me.” 1982. Qtd. in
Charters, ed. 1618. Print.
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2016/02/08
GenderStudiesinaNutshell
examinestheroleand/or
representa�onofwomenin
literature
comparesthesocietalroleof
womencharactersinliteratureto
thatofmalecharacters
isconcernedwiththe
representa�onofpower
rela�onshipsbetweenmenand
women
recognizestheextenttowhich
womenhavebeendepictedin
literatureastheOther,as
outsiders,orasmarginalized
characters
SociologicalCri�cisminaNutshell
takesintoaccounttheinfluences
andforcesoftheauthor’s�me,
place,andsocietyuponhisorher
work
ispar�cularlyconcernedwiththe
writer’ssocioeconomic,
educa�onal,and/orpoli�calclass
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
Connie is shallow, vain, silly,
hopeful, doomed—but capable
nonetheless of an unexpected gesture
of heroism at the story’s end. Her
smooth-talking seducer … promises
her that her family will be unharmed
if she gives herself to him; and so she
does. The story ends abruptly at the
point of her “crossing over.” We
don’t know the nature of her
sacrifice, only that she is generous
enough to make it.
Joyce Carol Oates. “Smooth Talk:
Short Story into Film.” 1989.
Qtd. in Charters, ed. 1620. Print.
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
[In my writing,] I have tried to give
shape to certain obsessions of
Americans: a confusion of love and
money, of the categories of public
and private experience, of a demonic
urge I sense all around me, an urge to
violence as the answer to all
problems, an urge to selfannihilation, suicide, the ultimate
experience, and the ultimate
surrender.
Joyce Carol Oates. Qtd. in Charters,
ed. 1617. Print.
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2016/02/08
MythologicalCri�cisminaNutshell
seespa�ernsofrecurring
symbols,images,andcharacters
intheworld’smythsandreligious
stories,andusesthemto
interpretliteraryworks.
referstothosepa�ernsof
recurringsymbols,images,and
charactersasarchetypes
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
[Where Are You Going, Where Have
You Been has been] constantly
misunderstood by one generation,
and intuitively understood by
another…. [The story is about one
human being] struggling heroically to
define personal identity in the face of
incredible opposition, even in the
face of death itself.
Joyce Carol Oates. Qtd. in Charters,
ed. 963. Print.
Ecocri�cisminaNutshell
emergedfromnineteenthcenturynaturewri�ngandthe
twen�eth-centuryenvironmental
movement
isconcernedwiththenatural
elementinliteraturemorethan
withthehumanelement
focusesprincipallyonthe
representa�onofthenatural
worldandthenaturallandscape
inliterature
ispreoccupiedwithdefini�onsof
“nature,”“environment,”“place”
essen�ally,examinestheroleof
se�nginliteraryworks
4DonMoser(1932-2013)
Now, with Smitty at the wheel, the
four teen-agers headed for the
desert…. It is spooky country, dry
and empty, the yellow sand clotted
with cholla and mesquite and stunted,
strangely green pelo verde trees, and
the great humanoid saguaro that hulk
against the sky. Out there at night you
can hear the yip and ki-yi of coyotes,
the piercing screams of wild creatures
—cats, perhaps.
Don Moser. “The Pied Piper of
Tucson.” 1966. Qtd. in Charters, ed.
1626. Print.
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2016/02/08
PsychologicalCri�cisminaNutshell
isthestudyofthemindand
behaviourofcharactersinliterary
works
islargelyinformedbythe
psychoanaly�caltheoriesof
SigmundFreud
4JoyceCarolOates(1938-)
[“Where Are You Going, Where have
You Been” is] Hawthornean,
romantic, shading into parable….
[T]he serial killer is … an analogue
of the imagination’s caprices and
amorality; the sense that, no matter
the dictates and even the wishes of
the conscious social self, the life or
will or purpose of the imagination is
incomprehensible, unpredictable.
Joyce Carol Oates. Qtd. in Charters,
ed. 1617. Print.
PostmodernisminaNutshell
rejectstheStructuralistideathat
agreementamongwritersand
speakersabouttherela�onship
betweensignifiersandsignifieds
rendersthatrela�onshipstable
assumesthatlanguageisalways
fraughtwithinstability,
contradic�on,ambiguity,
ambivalence
4Ma�hewC.Brennan(1955-)
… by subordinating Anna S. to
Gurov, Chekhov gives readers no
way to understand the feminine side
of a masculine story. In contrast,
Oates presents what Chekhov leaves
out—the female’s experience—and
so relegates the male lover ... to the
limited status Chekhov relegates
Anna S....
Matthew C. Brennan. “Plotting
Against Chekhov: Joyce Carol
Oates and ‘The Lady with the
Dog.’” 1985. Qtd. in Charters,
ed. 1401. Print.
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2016/02/08
Queen’sUniversityOfficialStatementofCopyright:Thismaterialis
copyrightedandisforthesoleuseofstudentsregisteredincoursesat
Queen’sUniversity.Thismaterialshallnotbedistributedordisseminatedto
anyoneotherthanstudentsregisteredincoursesatQueen’sUniversity.
Failuretoabidebythesecondi�onsisabreachofcopyright,andmayalso
cons�tuteabreachofacademicintegrityundertheUniversitySenate’s
AcademicIntegrityPolicyStatement.
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