Literary Theories
An Introduction
• - the method used to interpret a work of
literature
• - just as there are many genres of literature
(romance, horror, drama, mysteries), there are
various types of literary criticism
Why Learn about Literary Criticism?
• Helps us understand what is important about books /
texts
• Literary critics focus on what they think is most
important about texts / books.
• For example, one form of literary theory focuses on the
structure of a text (plot and language), others focus on
social, historical or economic times in which it was
written. (think The Great Chain of Being when reading
Shakespeare). Some theories focus on how the text
manipulates readers into accepting its author’s beliefs.
Consider Relationships
• Literary criticism also helps us think about the
relationships between authors, readers and
books.
▫ Who has the most authority when trying to
understand a text?
▫ Is there a particular way the author wants readers
to read his / her book?
▫ Is there only one way to interpret the book?
▫ What happens when the reader doesn’t agree
about meaning?
• Depending on the “school” or type of literary
theory, there are different answers to these
questions.
Formalism
• View a text / book as a complete, isolated unit.
• Find meaning in the text by studying one or
more of its key elements (language, imagery,
point of view, plot, character development).
• Pay no attention to either the authors or readers
• Readers should be neutral and unemotional.
• Social and historical context not important
10-Minute Activity
• For each of the works, draw a plot outline, list
the main characters and identify the major
conflict.
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TKMB
Outsiders
Macbeth
King Lear
Structuralism
• 1960’s. A reaction against Formalism.
• Examine language as a system of signs
(semiology)
• A sign has two parts: a signifier and a signified
▫ The signifier is the word or group of words
▫ And the signified is the meaning associated with
that signifier
Examples
• 1. stop sign is the signifier; it means stop
(signified)
Signifier and Signified
10-Minute Activity
• For each of the following, indicate what the signifier
signifies in the associated work:
▫ 1) the mockingbird references in “To Kill a
Mockingbird”
▫ 2) the “amen” references in “Macbeth”
▫ 3) Two-Bit’s switchblade in “The Outsiders”
▫ 4) the storm in “King Lear”
Without understanding the significance of these, would
your understanding and appreciation of the story have
been lessened?
Structuralism: Strengths & Weaknesses
• Strengths: focuses on the author’s intent &
requires the reader to react objectively (to
minimize our emotional interpretation)
• Weaknesses: Who controls the meaning if the
readers don’t agree when interpreting the signs?
Who clarifies? Arguably, it’s good to emotionally
attach to the text.
Strengths & Weakness
• Strength: the reader does not need any
additional knowledge for interpreting the book
• Weaknesses: 1) ignores author’s intention, 2)
assumes “good literature” is coherent and books
that are not coherent are not good lit, 3) divorces
the book from the cultural context, 4) assumes
readers can refrain from investing emotionally
Reader Response Theory
• A reaction against Structuralism.
• They did not agree that signifiers (symbols) were
important.
• Instead, they thought that words were “dynamic”
▫ “it’s the process of living interaction with
environment that gives things shape”
▫ No “preset” signifiers (symbols) can exist because
each reader’s thoughts, feelings & experiences are
unique, so each reader responds uniquely to a
book / text
More about Reader Response Theory
• Meaning is not found in the book / text but in
the act of reading
• Your interpretation might change every time you
read the book, because YOU have changed
• Readers from the same backgrounds &
experiences are likely to have the same
impression of a book.
• Readers who don’t like the book likely don’t have
the same views as the writer
Strengths & Weaknesses
• Strengths: recognizes the importance of the
reader
 Recognizes the importance of reading
 Gives readers freedom to make meaning
 Allows for many interpretations of a book
Weaknesses: no one controls the meaning of the book.
- No objective party to help readers who don’t agree
- Who do we ask when we don’t understand?
10-Minute Activity
• With each of the following, tell what you like
about the story, what you don’t like and how the
story connects to your life and experiences
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TKMB
Macbeth
The Outsiders
King Lear
Archetypal Criticism
• Examines how texts / stories rely on archaic
(old) patterns for their meaning.
• Greek for “first” (arche) and “form” (typos)
• Original patterns / models
• Western literary texts come from JudeoChristian (Christianity & Judaism) scripture (a
combination of their beliefs) and Greco-Roman
mythology .
More on Archetypal Criticism
• Critics identify how and to what extent patterns
from these ancient sources are used in folk tales,
media, comics, books, etc.
• The main plot archetype is “the journey”, a
protagonist moves from a state of innocence to
experience.
▫ They often battle monsters or some form of oppression
▫ They start in familiar environments, but move to
unfamiliar environments
▫ They often are able to make their world “a better
place”
Strengths & Weaknesses
• Encourages a close and careful reading
• Exciting and interesting theory because it can
link a story to an idea from 500 yrs ago
• It limits personal interpretation
• It analyses only one aspect (archetypes) of
literature
10-Minute Activity
• For each of the following, briefly examine the
journey the main character took (Did he or she
move from innocence to experience? Did he or
she move from a familiar environment to an
unfamiliar environment? Did he or she “make a
better world”?)
• TKMB
• The Outsiders
Macbeth
King Lear
Feminist Criticism
• 20th century
▫ Virgina Woolf’s “A Room of One’s Own”
▫ The authors examines why there was no female
Shakespeare by highlighting the social and political
conditions that made writing for women difficult or
impossible
Since then, feminist critics have also examined 1) how women
write their own experiences, 2) how women read about
themselves, 3) how to make feminist readings visible to
readers, 4) how women writers have done in different eras
(were they published or not and under what conditions), 5)
how traditional texts by women challenge the social order
Strengths & Weaknesses
• Finally examines how women and men are
represented and deals with the importance of
women in literature
• If this is the only theory applied to a text / book,
it can be limiting (only looks at one thing about
the text)
10-Minute Activity
• Think about how women are represented in the
following works. They are all from different
generations. Are women important to the story? Are
they stereotyped in some way? Are they round
characters or flat characters? Do they “get to talk” or
do we learn about them from male characters? Do
they have any power in their world?
• TKMB
• Macbeth
The Outsiders
King Lear
Marxist Criticism
• 19th Century as a result of the theories of Karl
Marx and Friedrich Engels
▫ Economic struggles for power between the
working class & the ruling class
▫ They believed that a classless society with
communal ownership of all natural and industrial
resources was the way to go
More Marxism
• When the theories are applied to literature, they
give a way to assess the social significance of a
book / story
• Literature is ONE way of cultural production of a
society – it reflects the forces shaping the
society’s culture
• Literature is not only a mirror that reflects
society, but also is a PARTICIPANT in shaping
the culture
Still More Marxism
• Literature expresses the ideas & beliefs & values of a
culture
• Good literature engages in controversy
• Literature reveals power struggles (sexual power,
economic power, social power, etc)
• Literature reveals how the author, reader and
characters demonstrate an awareness or lack of
awareness of their economic & social situations (that
oppress them)
• Literature & authors can manipulate readers into
sympathizing (rather than critiquing) the oppressive
social order.
Strengths & Weakness
• Encourages careful reading of the text
• Does not limit a reader, but allows the reader to
think about the text in its social, historical, and
current contexts
• Only examines a limited aspect of the story
• Some people feel threatened by the focus of this
theory (go figure)
• Dismisses the beauty of writing, and reading just
to enjoy
10-Minute Exercise
• For each of the following stories, 1) tell who has
power (people / systems, etc), 2) tell who doesn’t
have power, 3) is social class an issue? Does it
affect power? 4) is anyone or any group in the
story being oppressed? 5) what “dominant
stories” are “sold” to the characters – The
American Dream, Happily Ever After, Obey Your
Parents, etc)
• TKMB
Macbeth
• The Outsiders
King Lear
Post Structuralism
• Examines how narrative conventions and
structures contain meaning and perpetuate
certain kinds of meaning
• For example, the fairy tale’s “happily ever after”
when applied to a romance novel suggests that
all conflict is resolved when you get married.
▫ It suggests that getting married is what you should
want to do (even if other circumstances in the
book suggest it’s not a good idea)
Most Post Structuralism
• Argue that structure and convention of popular
romance set the reader up to be satisfied only
with an ending in which marriage takes place
• Critics want to get outside the structure of the
texts and ask: 1) who gets read and why, 2) what
gets published and why, 3) what is literature?
Who says?
• These critics are often also Marxist and Feminist
• DECONSTRUCTING is one type of PostStructuralism
Even More Post-Structuralism
• DECONSTRUCTIONISTS:
▫ Look at binary opposites (good/bad, male/female,
happy/unhappy, day/night) and challenge it
▫ Looks for problems with this type of pattern: for
example, how can Hansel and Gretel live happily ever
after with a father who sent them away??
▫ They ask “says who”; they challenge the status quo
▫ Good because each reader makes meaning, based on
his or her experience and beliefs
▫ Criticized by some for “just playing with ideas” and for
rejecting accepted theories and for being more
concerned with “mechanics” than the story
10-Minute Activity
• Consider each of the following stories. Is there a
“binary opposite”? Is there “a story” that is
supposed to be accepted by society, but that
doesn’t really make sense (like Hansel and
Gretel)?
• TKMB
• The Outsiders
Macbeth
King Lear