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    Literary Criticism 2 ENGL 461 Dr. Aida Haroon

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    Biographical criticism analyzes an author's biography to show the relationship between their life and works. It views literature as a reflection of an author's life and times. Advantages include helping understand allusions and political/cultural contexts, while disadvantages are assumptions about authorial intent and reducing art to biography. Biographical critics search evidence about an author's ideas, beliefs, personality, and interactions to illuminate their works.

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    Literary Criticism 2 ENGL 461 Dr. Aida Haroon

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    amjadhs
    437 views17 pages
    Biographical criticism analyzes an author's biography to show the relationship between their life and works. It views literature as a reflection of an author's life and times. Advantages include helping understand allusions and political/cultural contexts, while disadvantages are assumptions about authorial intent and reducing art to biography. Biographical critics search evidence about an author's ideas, beliefs, personality, and interactions to illuminate their works.

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    Biographical criticism analyzes an author's biography to show the relationship between their life and works. It views literature as a reflection of an author's life and times. Advantages include helping understand allusions and political/cultural contexts, while disadvantages are assumptions about authorial intent and reducing art to biography. Biographical critics search evidence about an author's ideas, beliefs, personality, and interactions to illuminate their works.

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    437 views17 pages

    Literary Criticism 2 ENGL 461 Dr. Aida Haroon

    Uploaded by

    amjadhs
    Biographical criticism analyzes an author's biography to show the relationship between their life and works. It views literature as a reflection of an author's life and times. Advantages include helping understand allusions and political/cultural contexts, while disadvantages are assumptions about authorial intent and reducing art to biography. Biographical critics search evidence about an author's ideas, beliefs, personality, and interactions to illuminate their works.

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    of 17

    Literary Criticism 2

    ENGL 461

    Dr. Aida Haroon


    Schools of Literary Criticism

    Biographical Criticism
    Introduction

    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.
    Introduction ( Cont.)

    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.
    Introduction ( Cont.)

    Biographical criticism assumes that


    knowledge of an author’s life is important to
    knowledge of an author’s work. It assumes
    that the more we know about the author’s
    ideas, beliefs, and personality, the better we
    can interpret his/her work.
    Introduction ( Cont.)

    Thus biographical critics tend to search for any


    and every bit of evidence that might help
    illuminate where, how, and with whom the
    writer lived and the persons with whom the
    writer most often interacted.
    Introduction ( Cont.)

    Especially important to biographical critics is


    the discovery of any other written works by
    the author, as well as any testimony about the
    writer from people with whom s/he was in
    close contact.
    Introduction ( Cont.)

    In short, any kind of information about the


    author’s life tends to be valued by
    biographical critics, who try to put together all
    the parts of the biographical puzzle and offer
    justifiable interpretations of the data.
    Definition

    Biographical criticism is a form of 


    literary criticism  which analyzes a
    writer's biography to show the
    relationship between the author's life
    and his works of literature.
    Definition

    Biographical criticism is often


    considered a critical method that sees a
    literary work chiefly, if not exclusively, as
    a reflection of its author's life and times.
    Characteristics

    • It views literature as the reflection of an


    author's life and times (or of the characters'
    life and times).
    • It is necessary to know about the author and
    the political, economical, and sociological
    context of his times in order to truly
    understand his works.
    Advantages

    • Works well for some which are obviously


    political or biographical in nature.
    • Places allusions in their proper classical,
    political, or cultural background.
    Disadvantages

    • The assumption that we can know the intent,


    thoughts, purposes of the author is
    sometimes not correct.
    • The tends to reduce art to the level of
    biography and make it relative (to the times)
    rather than universal is sometimes not
    accepted.
    Checklist of Biographical Critical Questions

    • What has the author revealed in the work about his/her


    characteristic modes of thought, perception, or
    emotion?

    • What place does this work have in the artist’s


    literary development and career?

    • What influences—people, ideas, movements, events—


    in the writer’s life does the work reflect?
    Checklist of Biographical Critical Questions
    ( Cont. )

    • To what extent are the events described in the


    word a direct transfer of what happened in
    the writer’s actual life?

    • What modifications of the actual events has


    the writer made in the literary work?
    Checklist of Biographical Critical Questions
    ( Cont. )

    • What are the effects of the differences


    between actual events and their literary
    transformation in the poem, story, play, or
    essay?
    Take-home Activity
    Based on your biographical criticism of the poem ‘’
    The Road Not Taken’’, answer the following questions:
    1) Who is the poet ?
    2) What is his nationality?
    3) When was he born?
    4) When was this poem first published?
    5) What is the main theme of this poem?
    6) Describe four events in the poet’s life that this poem
    reflects.

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