Literary Approaches and Their Focus

Literary Approaches and their Focus
1. Formalistic Approach—This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human

knowledge that needs to be examined on its own terms.” All the elements necessary for
understanding the work are contained within the work itself. Of particular interest to the
formalist critic are the elements of form—style, structure, tone, imagery, etc.—that are
found within the text. A primary goal for formalist critics is to determine how such
elements work together with the text’s content to shape its effects upon readers.
2. Moralistic Approach—The moral/intellectual critical approach is concerned with content

and values. The approach is as old as literature itself, for literature is a traditional mode of
imparting morality, philosophy, and religion. The concern in moral/intellectual criticism
is not only to discover meaning but also to determine whether works of literature are
both true and significant. To study literature from the moral/intellectual perspective is
therefore to determine whether a work conveys a lesson or message and whether it can
help readers lead better lives and improve their understanding of the world: What ideas
does the work contain? How strongly does the work bring forth its ideas? What
application do the ideas have to the work’s characters and situations? How may the ideas
be evaluated intellectually? Morally? Discussions based on such questions do not imply
that literature is primarily a medium of moral and intellectual exhortation. Ideally,
moral/intellectual criticism should differ from sermonizing to the degree that readers
should always be left with their own decisions about whether to assimilate the ideas of a
work and about whether the ideas—and values—are personally or morally acceptable.
Sophisticated critics have sometimes demeaned the moral/intellectual approach on the
grounds that “message hunting” reduces a work’s artistic value by treating it like a sermon
or political speech; but the approach will be valuable as long as readers expect literature to
be applicable to their own lives.
3. Sociological Criticism—This approach “examines literature in the cultural, economic and

political context in which it is written or received,” exploring the relationships between
the artist and society. Sometimes it examines the artist’s society to better understand the
author’s literary works; other times, it may examine the representation of such societal
elements within the literature itself.
4. Cultural Criticism—This lens examines the text from the perspective of cultural attitudes
and often focuses on individuals within society who are marginalized or face
discrimination in some way. Cultural criticism may consider race, gender, religion,
ethnicity, sexuality or other characteristics that separate individuals in society and
potentially lead to one feeling or being treated as “less than” another. It suggests that being
included or excluded from the dominant culture changes the way one may view the text.
5. Historical Criticism—Focuses on examining a text primarily in relation to the historical

and cultural conditions of its production, and also of its later critical interpretations. Cultural
materialism, a mode of NHC, argues that whatever the “textuality” of history, a culture and its
literary products are always conditioned by the real material forces and relations of production
in their historical era.
6. Feminist Criticism—Focuses on female representation in literature, paying attention to

female points of view, concerns, and values. Three underlying assumptions in this approach
are: Western Society is pervasively patriarchal, male centered and controlled, and is
organized in such a way as to subordinate women; the concept of gender is socially
constructed, not biologically determined; and that patriarchal ideology pervades those writings
which have been considered “great works of literature.”
7. Marxist Criticism—Focuses on how literary works are products of the economic and
ideological determinants specific to that era. Critics examine the relationship of a literary
product to the actual economic and social reality of its time and place (Class stratification,
class relations, and dominant ideology).
8. Biographical Criticism—This approach “begins with the simple but central insight that
literature is written by actual people and that understanding an author’s life can help readers
more thoroughly comprehend the work.” Hence, it often affords a practical method by which
readers can better understand a text. However, a biographical critic must be careful not to take
the biographical facts of a writer’s life too far in criticizing the works of that writer: the
biographical critic “focuses on explicating the literary work by using the insight provided by
knowledge of the author’s life.... Biographical data should amplify the meaning of the text,
not drown it out with irrelevant material.”
9. Psychological Criticism—Focuses on a work of literature primarily as an expression, in

fictional form, of the state of mind and the structure of personality of the individual author. In
other words, a literary text is related to its author’s mental and emotional traits. Furthest
extension is Psychoanalytic Criticism, emphasis on phallic symbols, wombs, breasts, etc.
Theorists include Lacan and Klein.
10. Reader-Response—Focuses on the reader (or "audience") and his or her experience of a
literary work, in contrast to other schools and theories that focus attention primarily on the
author or the content and form of the work.
Sources:
X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia’s Literature: An Introduction to Fiction, Poetry, and Drama, Sixth
Edition (New York: HarperCollins, 1995), pages 1790-1818.
http://owl.english.purdue.edu/owl/resource/722/1/

Literary Approaches and Their Focus

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Literary Approaches and Their Focus

Uploaded by

Document Information

Original Title

Copyright

Available Formats

Share this document

Share or Embed Document

Sharing Options

Did you find this document useful?

Is this content inappropriate?

Copyright:

Available Formats

Literary Approaches and Their Focus

Uploaded by

Copyright:

Available Formats

Literary Approaches and their Focus

1. Formalistic Approach—This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human

2. Moralistic Approach—The moral/intellectual critical approach is concerned with content

3. Sociological Criticism—This approach “examines literature in the cultural, economic and

5. Historical Criticism—Focuses on examining a text primarily in relation to the historical

6. Feminist Criticism—Focuses on female representation in literature, paying attention to

9. Psychological Criticism—Focuses on a work of literature primarily as an expression, in

You might also like