SCHOOLS OF LITERARY CRITICISM
Library Exercise Directions
(out-of-class exercise)
LIT 201-200
Professor Sarah L. Dye
17 March 2008
NOTE: A left mouse click will advance you to the next page.
“Raising Duncan” by Chris Browne
REMINDER
You need to work on this LITCRIT exercise
and complete the required worksheets
tonight.
Your two worksheets for two separate short
stories are due when you return to class
tonight by 9:00 PM.
This is a graded assignment worth 10% of
your final grade by the way.
What is literary criticism?

Literary criticism is the evaluation,
analysis, description, or interpretation of
literary works. It is usually in the form of a
critical essay, but in-depth book reviews
can sometimes be considered literary
criticism. Criticism may examine a
particular literary work, or may look at an
author's writings as a whole. Finding
literary criticism can be challenging.
PROJECT DIRECTIONS:
You will work in assigned
groups tonight to get this
exercise researched,
recorded, and presented.
Step One
First, carefully examine the
materials on the assigned
web site directory and learn
about the various dozen or
so schools of literary
criticism. Take notes on the
material you are studying.
Step Two
Review the stories
assigned to your group to
determine any TWO literary
criticism schools or
approaches which could be
used with each of those
stories.
Step Three
Go to the RLRC to find at least
ONE resource (book, journal article,
magazine article, CD-Rom reference
source, Internet source, audio visual
source, etc.) for each literary
criticism approach which could be
used in analyzing the story with the
two selected methods.
Visit this WEBSITE now!
http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm
NOTE:
Prof. Siegel’s website contains MUCH information on
literary criticism theory. You do not have to memorize the
information there, but you do need to get an overview
though.
Elgin Community College:
Literature Resources
 Go
to the RLRC/library
(preferably in person or
electronically) to discover the
resources available to literature
scholars here at ECC.

http://rlrc-proxy.elgin.edu/litresources.htm
Literary Criticism
Additional notes to study about some Schools
of Interpretation after you have visited the
previously assigned web site(s). There are
varieties of names used for the various schools
by the way.
Psychoanalytic Criticism
Note: If you have taken any
psychology, sociology, or political
science/government courses in
college, you may recognize some
of the following schools of thought
though you may not have known
that they could be applied to
literary criticism too!
Psychoanalytic Criticism (4 types)
Freudian Criticism
 Jungian Criticism
 Laconian Criticism
 Gestalt and Transactional Theories

Freudian Criticism
Freudian Criticism:

Studies are based on the conventions
and terminology of Freud’s theories,
including terminology such as libido,
id, ego, super-ego, Oedipal conflict,
repression, latency, and so forth.
Freudian studies are often used to
explain sexual behavior and abnormal
or aberrant behavior of characters.
Jungian Criticism
Jungian Criticism:






Based on the theories of Carl Jung
Terms and theories include the following:
“Anima” (female principle in the universe) and
“animus” (masculine principle in the universe); the
“collective unconsciousness”; “archetypal
symbols”; “the undiscovered self.”
Fairy tales and folk tales contain profound and
deep-seated meanings for life and art
Patterns such as youth/age, life/death, and
seasonal dichotomies important
The femme fatale, the “spiritual man,” and the
“father figure,” the “earth mother” become types
pervading all art.
Gestalt & Transactional Criticism
Gestalt & Transactional Theories:

The theories of Erik Erikson and
other eclectic psychologists are
becoming important for literary
criticism.
Sociological Criticism
Sociological Criticisms (3 types)

Broadly defined, sociological criticism may
refer to any focus on economic, political,
social, or ethnic groupings within the novel
or story. For example, class groupings, or
occupational groupings, or educational
groupings may be defined and discussed
in relation to each other. Some pervasive
groupings and conflicts are as follows:
Rural-Urban Groupings:

An ancient source of conflict,
the rural-urban (also called
the Pastoral/anti-pastoral)
pattern is still important in
modern fiction.
Class Stratification:

Rich/poor, lower-class/upperclass groupings tend to
focus on the implications of
economics and education.
Marxist Criticism:

Related to class, emphasis on the
conventional conflicts of Marxist
philosophy (proletarian/capitalist,
worker/bourgeois), Marxist critics often
find these conflicts “buried” in the
plotting and action of almost all art and
literature.
Formalistic Criticism
New Criticism (aka Formalistic)
Work is viewed in isolation from its
historical, biographical, and social
contexts
 Focuses only on the work itself,
treating it like an archaeological
artifact.
 Analysis of language foremost, and
the connotations of words and word
clusters important.

Type 1 of formalistic studies:
 Imagery
Patterns: Isolation and
delineation of certain repeated
images or word pictures. Studies
like this account for critical
studies on, say, animal imagery,
light imagery, color imagery, or
any repeated motif, which is
repeated in a special way to
create a given effect.
Type 2 of formalistic studies:
 Structural
Patterns: Analysis of
the ways in which the parts or
“building blocks” of the novel or
story are juxtaposed and
arranged. Elements such as
framing, flashbacks, chapter
arrangement, and so forth are
important in structural studies.
Type 3 of formalistic studies:
 Stylistics: Analysis
of the
rhetorical patterns (length of
sentences, adjective use or
omission, diction, and
connotative language) becomes
the mode for critical analysis.
Some Other General Literary Theory
Websites:
Undergraduate Guide to Critical
Theory by Dino F. Felluga of Purdue
University
 Literary Resources - Theory by Jack
Lynch
 Peter Krapp's Theory Page
 Swirl - Theory Resources at Southern
Oregon University by Warren Hedges
 The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary
Theory and Criticism

More General Literary Theory Websites

Internet Public Library: > Literary Criticism
http://www.ipl.org/div/litcrit/

Dino Felluga’s Introductory Guide to
Critical Theory website
http://www.sla.purdue.edu/academic/engl/theory/

Warren Hedges’ Timeline of Major Critical
Theory in the US
http://www.sou.edu/English/IDTC/timeline/uslit.htm
The End of Schools of Literary
Criticism PowerPoint Presentation
15 March 2008