Literary Theory
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a.k.a. Critical Theory
 Way
of looking beyond plot and character
development
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Allows you to put on a lens and view a text in a
variety of different ways
Recognized Critical Lenses
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Moral/Intellectual
Topical/Historical
New Critical/Formalist
Structuralist
Feminist
Economic Determinist/Marxist
Psychological/Psychoanalytic
Archetypalist/Symbolic/Mythic
Deconstructionist
Reader-response
Post-Colonial
Classical Analysis/Twentieth Century
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Discipline of literary studies comparable with
disciplines in the natural and social sciences
Establish theoretical understanding
Critical theories provide ways to study literature
and literary problems.
Theories are not one-size-fits-all.
Meant to help you develop your own critical skills.
Fundamental Questions
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What is literature?
What does it do?
Is its concern only to tell stories, or is it to express emotions?
Is it private? Public?
How does it get its ideas across?
What more does it do than express ideas?
How valuable was literature in the past, and how valuable is it now?
What can literature contribute to intellectual, artistic, and social
history?
Is it an art, or does it simply impart knowledge?
How is it used? How is it misused?
What theoretical and technical expertise may be invoked to
enhance literary studies?
Do I Need to Know Them All?
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You absolutely may investigate them all.
We selected the four we thought would be most
useful.
Criticism was at its height when the AP Tests were
developed.
Our Favorite Four
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Feminist
Economic Determinist/Marxist
Psychological/Psychoanalytic
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic
Feminist
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Most literature presents a masculine-patriarchal
view and negates role of women
Similar to feminist movement in politics
Raise consciousness about importance and unique
nature of women in literature
differences between men and women
women in positions of power and power dynamics
between men and women
the female experience
Feminist Views
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Writers of traditional literature have ignored women
and have transmitted misguided and prejudiced views
of them.
Create a critical milieu that reflects a balanced view of
the nature and value of women
Recovers the works of women writers of past times and
encourages publication of women writers to add to the
literary canon
Eliminate inequities and inequalities that result from
linguistic distortions (You are what you speak.)
Key Feminist Questions
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How does the work treat women?
What are the shortcomings or enlightenment of the author as a result of this
treatment?
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How important are the female characters?
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How individual are they in their own right?
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Are they credited with their own existence and their own character?
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In their relationships with men, how are they treated?
 Equal status
 Ignored
 Patronized
 Demeaned
 Pedestalized
How much interest do the male characters exhibit about women’s concerns?
Economic Determinist / Marxist
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Cultural and economic determinism
Based on ideas of Karl Marx
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Key influence in life is economic.
Opposition between the capitalist and working classes
Individuals in the midst of grips of the class struggle
“Proletarian literature”
Emphasizes persons of lower class -- poor and oppressed
spending their lives in endless drudgery and misery
Usually suppressed when attempting to rise above
disadvantages
Charles Darwin’s Origin of the Species
Although never widely accepted in U.S. and have faded,
they are still credible for literary analysis.
Key Marxist Literary Concerns
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What is the economic status of the characters?
What happens to them as a result of this status?
How do they fare against economic and political odds?
What other conditions stemming from their class does the
writer emphasize (education, nutrition, health care,
opportunity)?
To what extend does the work fail by overlooking the
economic, social, and political implications of its material?
In what other ways does economic determinism affect the
work?
How should readers consider the story in today’s
developed or undeveloped world?
Psychological/Psychoanalytic
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Sigmund Freud / scientific study of the mind
New key to understanding of character by claiming
that behavior is caused by hidden and unconscious
motives
Some critics use it to explain fictional characters
(Hamlet has an Oedipus complex.)
Some critics use it as a way of analyzing authors
and the artistic process (Coleridge and “Kubla
Khan”)
Similar to patients in therapy
Psych Questions about Characters
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In the work itself, what are the obvious and hidden
motives that cause a character’s behavior and
speech?
How much background (e.g., repressed childhood
trauma, adolescent memories) does the author
reveal about a character?
How purposeful is this information with regard to
the character’s psychological condition?
How much is important in the analysis and
understanding of the character?
Psych Questions about Authors
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What particular life experiences explain
characteristic subjects or preoccupations?
Was the author’s life happy? Miserable?
Upsetting? Solitary? Social?
Can the death of someone in the author’s family be
associated with melancholy situations in that author’s
work?
Archetypal/Symbolic/Mythic
Do you watch Disney movies?
Based on work of Carl Jung - Human life is built of
patterns that are similar throughout various cultures
and historical periods.
 Archetype = “first molds” “first patterns”
 Stresses connections that may be discovered in
literature written in different times and in various
locations (Similar to Structuralism)
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Questions Asked by Archetypal
Searchers
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How are human beings created?
Is there a sacrifice of a hero?
Is there a search for paradise?
How does an individual, story, poem, or play fit into any of
the archetypal patterns?
What truths does this correlation provide (particularly truths
that cross historical, national, and cultural lines)?
How closely does the work fit the archetype?
What variations can be seen?
What meaning or meanings do the connections have?
If you love this lens, spend a little time looking it up on the
www. Many lists of archetypes are available.
AVOID THIS MISTAKE
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MOST WRITERS DO NOT WRITE USING A LENS.
AS A READER AND EXPLICATOR OF LITERATURE,
YOU USE A LENS TO FIND MEANING IN A WORK.
Some 20/21st century writers do focus their work on
certain issues.
If you say something close to “Writer X uses a
feminist lens to present Main Female Character,”
you are incorrect.
Assignment
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In groups, create a PowerPoint slide to serve as a onepager for your group’s assigned lens.
Your group should go over your notes/handouts from
today as well as internet research to create your
handout.
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Handout contents:
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Summary of lens
 Background of lens
 Critical questions when viewing literature through lens
 Image to help you remember fundamentals of the lens
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Groups
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Feminist:
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Archetypal:
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B.Smith, Genni, Jocelyn,
Marxist:
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Marelyn, Emmalee, Chanel, Chrissy
Connor, Karra, Brianne
Psychoanalytic:
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B.Davis, Kolin, Tameika