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Literature does not lend itself to a single tidy definition because the making of it over the centuries has

been as complex, unwieldy, and natural as like itself. Michael Meyer Literature: from Latin litterae = letters Why do we read?: The true reason remains the inscrutable one we get pleasure from reading. It is a complex pleasure and a difficult pleasure. It varies from age to age and book to book. But that pleasure is enough. Indeed that pleasure is so great that one cannot doubt that without it the world would be a far different and a far interior place from what it is. Virginia Woolf Some other ideas: because it enriches us its full of wisdom its entertaining beautiful and moving can deepen our experience of being alive helps opening ourselves the study of literature is an excellent way to develop your close reading skill and critical thinking literature is about the human heart its perfection and imperfection literature is the combination of philosophy, psychology, sociology, ideology and history literature is about questions, the questioner Its you and what you make of it. How to read?: Ways of reading indicate an active engagement and problem-solving. It demands a comprehension and interpretive variation. The following three agents create the meaning of the text together: author text reader What is literature?: Why is it difficult to define literature? Oxford English Dictionary (OED): Literary productions as a whole; the body of writings produced in a particular country or period, or in the world in general. Now also in a more restricted sense, applied to writing which has claim to consideration on the ground of beauty of form or emotional effect the best that has been known and said in the world Mathew Arnold Ben Johnson said of Shakespeare: it is not of age, but for all the time news that STAYS news Ezra Pound Quintus Horatius Flaccus (65 BC 8 BC), known in the English-speaking world as Horace claimed that literature is sweet and useful: dulce et utile Literature is the question minus the answer. Roland Barthes Literary value not a set idea, rather it is in relation to our purpose for evaluating books. E.g.

the preferred text gives more pleasure as a holiday reading; is a better exemplification of realism in fiction; is a canonic text and therefore has available for analysis a wider variety of critical readings about it; is so much a part of the natural cultural heritage that we cannot understand the latter without it; is an inter-text necessary for understanding of another text which alludes to it as a primary referent; repeats and reworks matters dealt with in an earlier poem by the same poet; gives us more insight into eighteenth-century attitudes to sexuality; is a formative instance of the development of Modernist drama; was a crucial component of the living literary culture on which the now dead writer originally drew; etc. (Peter Widdowson: Literature) Canon originally: The books of the Bible officially accepted as Holy Scripture. Regarding Literature: a compendium of the greatest works of artistic merit. A very changing category. http://sites.google.com/site/theenglishliterarycanon/ http://www.interleaves.org/~rteeter/greatbks.html http://westerncanon.com/

A search for the meaning: The intended meaning: What did the writer want to say with it? What did the writer have in mind? Intentional fallacy: a shift from what the words in the text appear to mean to what we imagine the author meant by using them. The texts own meaning: specific features of the text are the key to interpretation: how the text is organised, examination of choices of expression, the use of stylistic devices, etc. It helps to concentrate on the text itself, but it isnt true, that the meaning could be predictable from the texts own organisation. If it was so, there couldnt be so many different and valid! interpretations of the same literary text. An individual meaning: what the text means to you. Affective fallacy: an over-attention to personal response at the expense of what the words actually say. General processes of making meaning: exploring the interpretative conventions the interpretations become highly repetitive. Meaning and texts reception: how different groups of readers appropriate core features of or statements in a discourse into their own preoccupations or ways of thinking and living heterogeneous. Critical social meanings concentrate at one segment of the meaning: e.g. race, sexuality, work, religious beliefs, etc. The author: In most cases it is not possible to find out what the poet intended. We are primarily interested in how a poem works, not what was intended.

A poem is a public rather than private thing because it exists in language which is by definition social rather than personal. The author does not own the text once it has been made public, and therefore does not have eternal authority over its meaning. A poems meaning can only be discovered through its actual language. If the poet succeeded in doing *what he intended+, then the poem itself shows what he was trying to do (Wimsatt and Beardsley). Roland Barthes: The Death of the Author Modern Criticism and Theory A Reader p. 145-149. Ways of Reading Unit 14. Authorship and intention p. 168-180 , Starting reading with questions textual questions contextual questions questions regarding the speech situation referential questions language questions questions of convention symbolic questions questions of emotional effect and identification questions of representation unit one on the cd A systematic and integrated study of literature

1. Literary history 2. Literary criticism 3. Literary theory


The three fields of literary scholarship cannot be used in isolation. 1. follows the historical development of literature from the earliest times to the present historical criteria in examining the regularities of development common to several national literatures the existence of common motifs and subjects in several national literatures comparative literary scholarship analyses the content and form of creative literature it employs aesthetic and formal criteria in the evaluation of literary works different approaches to literature studies the forms, categories, criteria, techniques, literary types, genres, language, composition, style and other relevant aspects of creative writing POETICS part of literary theory, deals with the study of form

2. 3.

Genres: Genre from Latin genus, generis = kind, sort, type Theory of genres its a principle of order

it classifies literature and literary history not by time and place (period or national language) but by specifically literary types of organization or structure Distinction: Aristotles distinction: drama, epic, lyric Modern literary theory: fiction, drama, poetry Narrative and fiction: A narrative is a story that is created in a constructive format (as a work of speech, writing, song, film, television, video games, in photography or theatre) that describes a sequence of fictional or non-fictional events. Narratives are typically about change. Fiction is any form of narrative which deals, in part or in whole, with events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary and invented by its author(s). Traditionally, fiction includes novels, short stories, fables, fairy tales, plays, poetry, but it now also encompasses films, comic books, and video games. types of fiction: Realistic fiction, although untrue, could actually happen. Some events, people, and places may even be real. Non-realistic fiction is that in which the storys events could not happen in real life, because they are supernatural, or involve an alternate form of history of mankind other than that recorded, or need impossible technology. Non-fiction is an account or representation of a subject which is presented as fact. This presentation may be accurate or not; that is, it can give either a true or a false account of the subject in question. However, it is generally assumed that the authors of such accounts believe them to be truthful at the time of their composition. Semi-fiction is fiction implementing a great deal of non-fiction, for example: a fictional depiction based on a true story, or a fictionalized account, or a reconstructed biography. genres based on the lenght of the work: Flash fiction: A work of fewer than 2,000 words. (1,000 by some definitions) (around 5 pages) Short story: A work of at least 2,000 words but under 7,500 words. (5-25 pages) Novelette: A work of at least 7,500 words but under 17,500 words. (25-60 pages) Novella: A work of at least 17,500 words but under 50,000 words. (60-170 pages) Novel: A work of 50,000 words or more. (about 170+ pages) Epic: A work of 200,000 words or more. (about 680+ pages) genres based on the age of the reader: Childrens literature Young-adult fiction The rest genres based on subject matter: Detective fiction Fantasy fiction Mystery fiction Science fiction Pornography

Erotica genres based on form: Novels Short stories Fables Fairy tales Legend Plays Poems Films Comics Video games content and form order: The content order is the chronological order of events (events in the sequence in which they supposedly really occurred). The form order is the order in which the narrative presents these events to us. C.O.: The queen died. The king died. F.O.: The king died. Only a month earlier the queen had died in child birth. story and discourse plot: story (= the content order of events, the order in which they supposedly happened) discourse/plot (= the form order of events, the order in which they are presented to us in the narrative as it is told.) Freytags distinction: Gustav Freytag considered plot a narrative structure that divided a story into five parts, like the five acts of a play. These parts are: exposition (of the situation); rising action (through conflict); climax (or turning point); falling action; and resolution: Catasrophe (tragedy) Denouement (comedy) Point of view: refers to the narrative voice (the voice of the narrator telling the story) Through whose eyes are we seeing the story? Does the author know everything and tell it all to us? 1st person narrator 3rd person narrator Omniscient/ Authorial Narrator: a reliable, God-like narrator, knows everything s/he can enter the minds of characters, reports their motifs, feelings explains and interprets, evaluates relationships tells us about the situation or about life s/he summarises the events, moralises, tells us about what everyone is feeling s/he has unlimited freedom

the focus is on the character Modern writers avoid using omniscient narrators the world cannot be seen such objectively They either use limited omniscient point of view or simply focus on the struggle of individual consciousness to understand reality Reality cannot be objectively defined. What is real to a Tibetan monk may not be real to an American businessman and vice versa. 2.limited omniscience: the writer limits him/herself to one of his/her characters only 3.camera eye project: unemotional report from an objective point of view a fly on the wall, a camera eye, who sees, who hears action is reported, dialogue is quoted, description is kept fairly free of metaphor theres no possibility to comment on things or to recollect past events the perspective is entirely external the most important items are written between the lines or beyond the text and its the readers role to enter the text theres no account of the thoughts or feelings of the characters the most neutral and impersonal technique (why does the writer use this technique?) 4.person narrator: an I tells us a story usually a story involving the speaker so the speaker is a character, participant in the story e.g. Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye by Salinger as when a friend talks to us, we start by believing everything we identify with the speaker and accept the story as told to us and we probably assume that the narrator and the writer are one but in fact the writer has created the narrator and may be very different from him 5.Mixed point of view: it is possible for the angle of vision to shift about in the middle of a story an author may manipulate the angle of vision in much the same way that a filmmaker changes the position of the camera the readers job is to sense where the camera is and what it is doing there Reliability of Narration: RELIABLE NARRATOR UNRELIABLE NARRATOR sometimes the narrator is crazy or confused e.g. Charlotte Perkins Gilman: The Yellow Wall-Paper W. Faulkner: The Sound and the Fury the story-tellers judgement and ideas Which Narrative technique to use? it depends on who you are and on what kind of story you want to tell your choice has an influence on meaning and effect what would you see if the story was told from a different point of view? Narrative chapter, pages 251-259.

Focalization: Focalization refers to the way in which a text represents the relationship between who experiences and what is experienced. The one who experiences is termed the focalizer, and who or what the focalizer experiences is then called the focalized. Focalization falls into two main types: external focalization, where an anonymous, unidentified voice situated outside the text functions as focalizer; and character focalization, where phenomena are presented as experienced by a character within the story. Fr = Focalizer E = External C = Character 1 = First person 3 = Third person Fd = Focalized phenomenon Thus: External focalizer = EFr Character focalizer (first person) = CFr1 Character focalizer (third person) = CFr3 Focalized phenomenon = Fd Examples: Take the following idealized examples of differing focalization from three hypothetical narrations: (1) Despite closing the windows, I could hear noises from the beach all that sleepless night. I is the focalizer, hence *CFr1+ , CFr1(I) Fd (noises from the beach (2) Even with the windows closed, she could not shut out the noises from the beach. she is the focalizer, hence *CFr3+ , CFr3(she) Fd (the noises from the beach) (3) Even with the windows closed, the noises from the beach were audible all night. No-one is identified as the focalizer and the noise is reported by an unidentified narrator from a position potentially outside the constructed world of the fiction, hence *EFr+. EFr Fd (the noises from the beach) In each example, noises from the beach are the focalized phenomenon, hence *Fd+ Forms of speech: Specialized strategies for capturing the speech of characters: Free direct speech Direct speech Indirect speech Free indirect speech FREE DIRECT SPEECH/ THOUGHT Unfiltered by narrator: Come here tomorrow In free direct speech there is hardly any ostensible intrusion or filtering by the narrator.

They talked about his work. He specialised in leucotomies: Boy, Ive cut literally hundreds of brains in half! It doesnt bother you, what youre doing? Why should it? But you know when youve finished that operation, its final, the people are never the same again? But thats the idea, most of them dont want to be the same again. Doris Lessing The Golden Notebook (1962 DIRECT SPEECH/ THOUGHT Some filtering: She said to him Come here tomorrow. Direct speech is enclosed within quotation marks, like many examples of free direct speech, but it is introduced by, or presented in the context of, a reporting clause (such as she said/ declared/ commanded/ asserted, etc.): She said: Well theres nothing I can say to that, is there? He leaned forward and said: Im going to give you another chance, Anna. FREE INDIRECT SPEECH/ THOUGHT More filtering She said to him to come tomorrow. This is a mixed form, consisting partly of direct speech and partly of indirect speech, where because of the suppression of some of the distinguishing signals it is difficult to separate the voice of the narrator from the voice of the character. Presently he told her the motion of the boat upon the stream was lulling him to rest. How green the banks were now, how bright the flowers growing on them, and how tall the rushes! Now the boat was out at sea but gliding smoothly on. And now there was a shore before him. Who stood on the bank! free indirect to direct speech: Presently he told her the motion of the boat upon the stream was lulling him to rest. How green the banks were now, how bright the flowers growing on them, and how tall the rushes! Now the boat was out at sea but gliding smoothly on. And now there was a shore before him. Who stood on the bank! Presently he told her: The motion of the boat upon the stream is lulling me to rest. How green the banks are now, how bright the flowers growing on them, and how tall the rushes! Now the boat is out at sea but gliding smoothly on. And now there is a shore before me. Who stands on the bank! INDIRECT SPEECH/ THOUGHT Most filtering She said that he was to come there the next day. Indirect speech shifts the perspective yet further from the speaker to the narrator. It differs from direct speech in various ways: quotation marks are dropped; some kind of subordinating conjunction such as that may be used;

there is a switch from first and second person pronouns (for example I or you) to third person (she, he, they); there is a shift in the tense of the verb backwards in time (e.g. from is to was); temporal expressions shift backwards in time (e.g. now becomes then); demonstratives shift from close to distant ones (e.g. here becomes there).

Transformation: Direct speech She said: Well theres nothing I can say to that, is there? He leaned forward and said: Im going to give you another chance, Anna. Indirect speech She said that there was nothing she could say to that. He leaned forward and said that he going to give her another chance

was

Words and meaning: Robert Frost (American poet): Literature is performance in words all systems of communication are based on signs that have acquired conventional and accepted meanings a sign consists of: a) the signifier (words) b) the signified (thoughts, ideas, things, actions, etc.) however, its not a one-to-one correspondence one word may have different meanings the ambiguity of words is much used in literature words are independent they move around and acquire different meanings Denotation: refers to the standard dictionary meaning of a word the most literal and limited meaning of a word regardless of what one may feel about it or the suggestions and ideas it connotes Connotaion: words say something more than what is literally true the suggestion or implication evoked by a word or phrase, over and above what they mean or actually denote connotation may be personal and individual or general and universal e.g. the sentence The Fascist activities were continuous. has a different connotation for a Jew and a professional historian connotation refers to the emotional, psychological or social overtones that words carry in addition to their denotations Allegory: A story in which each character (place, situation, etc.) seems to have an equivalent: In John Bunyans Pilgrims Progress we meet a character called Christian, who, on the road to the Celestial City, meets Giant Despair, Mr Wordly Wiseman and Faithful and passes through the City of Destruction and Vanity Fair.

Symbolism: In modern short stories we rarely have the allegorys clear system of equivalents, but we feel that certain characters and certain things in the story stand for more than themselves, or hint at larger meanings. E.g. in Hemingways Cat in the rain is the cat symbolic? the innkeeper? the rain? Poets about poetry: William Wordsworth defined poetry as the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings. If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry. Emily Dickinson Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing. Dylan Thomas Poetry is emotion put into measure. The emotion must come by nature, but the measure can be acquired by art. Thomas Hardy Poetry is not an expression of the party line. Its that time of night, lying in bed, thinking what you really think, making the private world public, thats what the poet does. Allen Ginsberg Poetry should surprise by a fine excess and not by singularity it should strike the reader as a wording of his own highest thoughts, and appear almost a remembrance. John Keats Poetry is the journal of a sea animal living on land, wanting to fly in the air. Carl Sandburg Poetry: Poetry (from the *Greek+ poiesis/ *poieo/+, a making: a forming, creating, or the art of poetry, or a poem) is a form of literary art in which language is used for its aesthetic and evocative qualities in addition to, or in lieu of, its apparent meaning. Poetry is the most concentrated form of literature, saying the most in the fewest number of words. Consequently, the language is high-charged. Every single word must contribute to the overall effect of the poem and carry its own weight, probably even more than that. This gives poetry a higher voltage. Paraphrase: The first and most important step in understanding poetry is to figure out what is happening in the poem, or at least what is being presented. Even though there may be no story or characters, there are things, and these things will interact with each other in various ways. Even in a poem about trees which presents a landscape, there will be verbs describing actions showing how one thing affects or is affected by another. In your own words, write down the basic facts of the poem, its things and actions. This is known as a paraphrase, and while it does not itself explain the meaning of the poem, it is an important first step. If you dont know what is present on the surface, you cant figure out anything deeper http://custompapers.com/essays-articles/understanding-poetry-guide/

Wu Qiao about poetry: When you write in prose, you cook the rice. When you write poetry, you turn rice into rice wine. Cooked rice doesnt change its shape, but rice wine changes both in quality and shape. Cooked rice makes one full so one can live out ones life span . . . wine, on the other hand, makes one drunk, makes the sad happy, and the happy sad. Its effect is sublimely beyond explanation. Wu Qiao (1681-1686) Classification of poems: ) Classification by subject matter poems may be grouped into love poems, nature poems, religious poems, etc. B) Classification by type - this classification is based on structural differences Lyric poetry: poetry that expresses the thoughts and feelings of a single speaker it is often written in the first person and often we can assume the narrator to be the poet/poetess him/herself a lyric poem is a reflective poem in which little action takes place Dramatic poetry: the poet disappears behind his characters any lyric work that employs elements of drama such as dialogue, conflict, or characterization, but excluding works that are intended for stage presentation a monologue is a form of dramatic poetry Epic poetry: poetry that tells a story narrative poetry is the most common poetry written today the poet partly speaks in his/her own person, as narrator, and partly makes his characters speak in direct discourse the term epic poetry is only applied in lengthy narrative poems, in which we also find dramatic elements in some form Formal elements of a poem: Form the physical design of the poem as a whole. Form includes such elements as meter, rhyme, line, syntax, and overall spatial arrangement of the words. Closed Form strictly follows an established pattern such as a sonnet Open Form requires no set pattern, rather the poet creates the form out of the poem itself; most poets today prefer open form to closed Elements of verse are syllables. Foot it is a unit; two or three syllables grouped together if there are two syllables in one foot, we talk about dissyllabic verse; three syllables trisyllabic verse Feet are grouped into lines; lines are arranged into stanzas typographically distinct parts of poems. Many poets use a refrain one line or several lines repeated at the end of each stanza.

The accent a certain stress of the voice upon a syllable in pronouncing it The rhythm is based upon accent, the usage of accented and unaccented syllables (stressed and unstressed syllables)

Meter: the means by which rhythm is measured and described it is the more or less regular pattern of stressed and unstressed syllables in a line of poetry Most typical poetic feet: iambic foot (iamb) two syllables, final is head trochaic foot (trochee) two syllables, initial is head anapaestic foot (anapaest) three syllables, final is head dactylic foot (dactyl) three syllables, initial is head

* *) *) * * * *) *) * *

Iambic feet:

The rain is raining all around * *) * *) * *) * *) four iambic feet It falls on field and tree, * *) * *) * *) three iambic feet It rains on the umbrellas here, * *) * *)* *) * *) four iambic feet And on the ships at sea. * *) * *) * *) three iambic feet Robert Louis Stevenson: Rain

Mixed metres: addition or omission of syllables is possible, the interchange of feet of one kind for those of another; variations: the simplest combinations are iambic with anapaestic, trochaic with dactylic in both of which the melody is uninterrupted Free verse: poetry written in irregular lines and without any regular meter, it does not follow any regular pattern and it usually abandons rhyme it became very common in the twentieth century (T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, etc.), but is already popular at the end of the 19th century (in America Walt Whitmans Leaves of Grass 1855) it is probably the case that modern poets, confronting a very disorganised world, distrust any notion of a regular pattern and so prefer free verse, which seems to acknowledge the untidiness of life and of the mind.

TEXT A: Airly Beacon, Airly Beacon; Oh the weary haunt for me, All alone on Airley Beacon, with his baby on my knee! (Charles Kingsley, Airly Beacon, 1847) TEXT B: The choking Frog sobbed and was gone The Waggoner strode whistling on, Unconscious of the carnage done, Whistling that waggoner strode on Whistling (it may have happened so) A froggy would a-wooing go. A hypothetic frog trolled he, Obtuse to a reality. (Christina Rossetti, from A Frogs Fate, 1885) TEXT C: I wish I had feathers, a fine sweeping gown, And a delicate face, and could strut about Town! My dear a raw country girl, such as you be, Isnt equal to that. You aint ruined, said she. (Thomas Hardy, from The Ruined Maid, 1866) TEXT D: In Siberias wastes The ice-winds breath Woundeth like the toothd steel; Lost Siberia doth reveal Only blight and death. (James Clarence Mangan, from Siberia, 1845) TEXT E: In Siberias wastes The ice-winds breath Woundeth like the toothd steel; Lost Siberia doth reveal Only blight and death. (James Clarence Mangan, from Siberia, 1845) TEXT F: Somehow a tyrannous sense of a superincumbent oppression Still, wherever I go, accompanies ever, and makes me Feel like a tree (shall I say?) buried under a ruin of brickwork. (Arthur Hugh Clough, from Amours de Voyage, 1858) RHYME: Rhyme consists of a repetition of accented (stressed) sounds in words it is the repetition of identical or similar sound combinations of words

it is the ornament of melody rhyming words are generally placed at a regular distance from each other they are usually put at the end of the corresponding lines Masculine rhymes if the rhyme sound is the very last syllable of the line thorn/ scorn Feminine rhymes a stressed syllable is followed by an unstressed syllable the last syllable at the end of the line is unstressed: daughter/ water Full and incomplete rhymes: poetry written in irregular lines and without any regular meter, it does not follow any regular pattern and it usually abandons rhyme it became very common in the twentieth century (T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, D. H. Lawrence, etc.), but is already popular at the end of the 19th century (in America Walt Whitmans Leaves of Grass 1855) it is probably the case that modern poets, confronting a very disorganised world, distrust any notion of a regular pattern and so prefer free verse, which seems to acknowledge the untidiness of life and of the mind. Arrangement of rhymes: According to the way the rhymes are arranged within the stanza we distinguish certain models: couplets aa triple rhyme aaa cross rhyme abab framing or ring rhyme abba rhyme royal a seven-line stanza in iambic pentameter rhyming ababbcc Assonance: the repetition of similar vowel sounds the same vowel is repeated in words, but with a different final consonant e.g. fish and chips, The child of mine was lying on her side. Blank verse: A type of poetry, distinguished by having a regular meter, but no rhyme. In English, the meter most commonly used with blank verse has been iambic pentameter.

Alliteration: a poetic device where the first consonant sounds or any vowel sounds in words or syllables are repeated alliteration is used for the pleasure of the repetition and to produce emphasis pretty woman sounds differently from lovely lady although both mean the same thing the alliterated syllables are also the strongly accented / stressed syllables and so are related to the rhythmic pattern continuous alliteration (a a a a) transverse alliteration (a b a b) Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers. Deep into the darkness peering, long I stood there wondering, fearing,

doubting, dreaming dreams no mortals ever dared to dream before. (Poe) Simile: there is an element of comparison, often signalled by like, than or as your eyes are as blue as the sky My love is like a red, red rose. (Robert Burns) a simile is a figure of speech which draws comparison between two different things in one or more aspects; an imaginative comparison

Metaphor: Metaphor is the dreamwork of language. (Donald Davidson) a figure of speech implying a comparison between objects of different object of different classes or categories by saying one object is another not like another this comparison is based on the similarity of certain features of the two corresponding concepts/objects Hope is a thing with feather (Emily Dickinson) J.A. Richards: metaphor requires two ideas, which co-operate in an inclusive meaning tenor, vehicle tenor from Latin, meaning holder, describing the first denotation of the word/expression vehicle to which the tenor is compared The poor are the Negroes of Europe Richards says that our thoughts about European poor and American Negroes are active together and interact to produce a meaning that is a resultant of that interaction Man is a wolf. Metaphors and Originality: GENUINE METAPHORS: absolutely unexpected and unpredictable, e.g. She is the rose, the glory of the day. (E. Spenser) DEAD METAPHORS: they are commonly used in everyday speech and sometimes are fixed in dictionaries, they are highly predictable: e.g. head of department, body of information,

mouth of a river, floods of tears, etc. Everyday speech also provides many examples of metaphoric expressions Metonymy: from Greek word metnymia = substitution of a name for another name e.g. crown can stand for a king or queen, cup or glass for the drink it contains I want to buy a Picasso. The camp was sleeping. The city was scared to death. damages: destructive effects money paid in compensation word: a unit of language a promise (to give/keep/break ones word), a conversation (to have a word with) Personification: from Latin persona = person + facere = to do, to make objects, animals or abstract ideas are given human characteristics e.g. a tree is sad or a tree can be a mourner personification appears in literature very frequently, especially in poetry e.g. My little horse must think it queer/ To stop without a farmhouse near.(Robert Frost) the sun rises Synecdoche: a special kind of metonymy a figure of speech by which a part is put for the whole (pars pro toto) or the whole for a part (totum pro parte) or individual for a class, or an indefinite for a definite one, or singular for plural, the container instead of the thing contained e.g. My family arrived. instead of The members of my family arrived synecdoche is frequently used in the language of newspapers, political and sports commentaries e.g. England fights more floods. Moscow is mourning. Irony: a positive statements has a pejorative meaning its a gentle means of humour, its function is to produce a humorous effect what is stated is in some degree negated by what it is suggested the writer says something and there is something else in the background e.g. They were as funny as the Black Death. in irony, there is a dictionary meaning and a contextual meaning and these two stand in opposition to each other irony is based on antonymy (good-bad, weak-strong) verbal irony (verbal is to do with words) here we find something strange about words, we must interpret the text by finding another meaning for it situational irony sarcasm: the highest form of bitter irony while irony may still be considered a friendly, at least harmless comment and tone, what dominates in sarcasm is HATRED or CYNICISM the author does not make any effort to hide his/her true feelings oxymoron:

it is a combination of 2 words, mostly an adjective and a noun, or an adverb with an adjective, in which the meanings of the 2 are opposite e.g. the poorest millionaire, sweet sorrow, little big man, low skyscraper, horribly beautiful, unpleasant pleasure, poor little rich girl, bright darkness, joyful trouble, etc.

William Shakespeare sonnet73: That time of year thou mayst in me behold, When yellow leaves, or none, or few do hang Upon those boughs which shake against the cold, 4 Bare ruined choirs, where late the sweet birds sang. In me thou seest the twilight of such day, As after sunset fadeth in the west, Which by and by black night doth take away, 8 Deaths second self that seals up all in rest. In me thou seest the glowing of such fire, That on the ashes of his youth doth lie, As the death-bed, whereon it must expire, 12 Consumed with that which it was nourished by. This thou perceivst, which makes thy love more strong, To love that well, which thou must leave ere long. Hyperbole overstatement it is a deliberate overstatement or exaggeration to intensify one of the features of the object this exaggeration is not to be taken literally, its for emphasis e.g. It was so cold, the water would take your breath away! I have been waiting for you for ages! All the perfumes of Arabia will not sweeten / this little hand (W. Shakespeare) Understatement: the opposite of hyperbole a form of irony, in which something is represented as less than it really is it wants to draw attention to and emphasize the opposite meaning e.g. Helen of Troy was not a bad-looking woman. Hercules was not exactly a weakling Bill Gates is not a poor man. Paradox: from the Greek paradoxon para = outside, next to, doxa = meaning two mutually exclusive words or statements are put into one statement the result is seemingly illogical, self-contradictory, however, it contains some deep truth e.g. The child is father of the man. (W. Wordsworth) Rethorical question, Tautology: Rhetorical question from the grammatical point of view it is a question, but as to its meaning it does not require any answer at all Tautology (the same saying) from the Greek words tautos = the same, identical, logos = the word it explains a notion, thing by the notion, thing itself or by its synonyms or by description

e.g. here and not anywhere else, she arrived half-dead, half-alive, I myself personally Diction: the writers choice of words Vocabulary: neutral words words with stylistic colouring poetic words, archaic words, foreign words, slang, argot, jargon, professional words, technical words, dialectal words, vulgar words (swearwords or obscene words or expressions)

Stylistic marker historical formal / bookish / literary expressive / emotional poetic substandard (slang, jargon, argot)

Pairs of synonyms abigail maiden, ere before, reed arrow, thee, thou you de facto in fact, infant child, baby auntie aunt, daddy father, mummy - mother adoration love, blossom flower, nymph maiden bastard illegitimate child, chick a woman, kid child, brown stuff opium, to kick the bucket to die

archaic words: phrases that are rarely used or not used at all anymore Thou (= you: Thou art nice) Thee (= you: I love thee) Thy (= your: Give me thy hand) Thine (= yours: This book ist thine) Nay (= no) Troth (= faith) Jargon (professional slang) fully understood only by the members of a group of professionals e.g. the jargon of the army is known as military slang, the jargon of jazz people the jargon of graffiti makers: piece (graffiti picture, a more complex creation), tagg (simple signature), crew (a group of sprayers), jam (meeting of sprayers) Argot the jargon of any professional criminal group Slang the special language of groups e.g. teenage talk, street gangs, gamblers, etc. a quick, easy, personal way of speech e.g. peroxide blonde, long hair rock, ex, DRAMA:

Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning action (Classical Greek: , drama), which is derived from to do (Classical Greek: , drao). A play may be conceived of as a dramatic performance or as a dramatic text (a piece of dramatic literature published in a book). When we describe a situation or a persons behaviour as dramatic, we usually mean that it is intense, exciting (or excited), striking, or vivid. The works of drama that we study in a classroom share those elements. A play may be conceived of as a dramatic performance or as a dramatic text (a piece of dramatic literature published in a book). Plays are what is on the written page. A production of a play is a series of performances, each of which may have its own idiosyncratic features. An intimation of action: A play can be defined as an imitation of action this definition goes back to Aristotles Poetics, in which Aristotle introduces his famous definition (referring to tragedy): Tragedy, then, is an imitation of an action that is serious, complete, and of a certain magnitude; in language embellished with each kind of artistic ornament, the several kinds being found in separate parts of the play; in the form of action, not of narrative; through pity and fear effecting the proper purgation of these emotions. (Aristotle: Poetics) Aristotle identifies six constituents in the tragic drama of classical Greece: plot, character, diction, thought, spectacle and song Reading a drama: For many of us the business of reading a play is rather unsatisfactory because we continually have the sense that what we are looking at is only words on a page and that those words have yet to come alive in the mouths of real human beings standing on a stage. It is much more pleasant and satisfying to read a good novel, because the novel is designed to be words on a page. Open a novel and youve got everything you need in front of you; open a playtext and you have to start imagining the things that arent there how it might look and sound, how an audience might react. (Mick Wallis and Simon Shepherd: Studying Plays (1998 drama-poetry: A drama, as distinguished from a lyric, is not primarily a composition in the verbal medium; the words result, as one might put it, from the underlying structure of incident and character. As Aristotle remarks, the poet, or maker should be the maker of plots rather than of verses; since he is a poet because he imitates, and what he imitates are actions (Francis Fergusson) Lyric-prose-drama:

The distinctive formal feature of lyric poetry is that it presents itself as the unmediated speech of a first person speaker. The distinctive formal feature of narrative prose fiction is that it typically presents itself as the speech of a number of different characters mediated to us through a narrator. Drama differs from lyric poetry and narrative fiction in that it typically presents itself to us as the direct speech or dialogue of a number of different characters without a mediating narrator.

Literary criticism

Act/scene: An act is a main division in a drama or opera. Act divisions probably stem from Roman theory and derive ultimately from the Greek practice of separating episodes in a play by choral interludes; but Greek (and probably Roman) plays were performed without interruption, for the choral interludes were part of the plays themselves. Elizabethan plays, too, may have been performed without breaks; the division of Elizabethan plays into five acts is usually the work of editors rather than of authors. An act division today (commonly indicated by lowering the curtain and turning up the houselights) denotes change in locale and lapse of time. A scene is a smaller unit, either (1) a division with no change of locale or abrupt shift of time, or (2) a division consisting of an actor or group of actors on the stage; according to the second definition, the departure or entrance of an actor changes the composition of the group and thus introduces a new scene. Another way in which dramatic texts can include narrative elements is to have the characters themselves present the reader/audience with narrative exposition in dialogue with other characters. The chorus as a narrator prologue, epilogue Brecht used choruses along with a range of other theatrical devices to produce an alienation effect in the audience.

The forms of dramatic speech: DIALOGUE the exchange of lines between two or more characters MONOLOGUE in which a character speaks a lengthy passage to other characters SOLILOQUY in which a character, usually alone on stage, speaks to the audience, s/he usually speaks about his/her feelings ASIDES remarks made to the audience but not heard by the other characters on stage plot: the arrangement of incidents; Aristotle: plot = the soul of dramatic poetry drama is constructed on the plot, which is performed on a stage drama may be written in both verse and prose classical and Renaissance drama was typically written in verse, Shakespeare used the combination of verse and prose, modern plays are usually written in prose the climatic linear plot: it begins with the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, resolution causality is important in linear plot it is possible to have more plots (subplots) simultaneously Oedipus the King (Oedipus Rex) is the prototype of the climactic plot, and most plays written prior to the late 19th century use such plots episodic plot: it consists of several events that are related thematically by a single dramatic action many Asian plays, Shakespeares history plays, and particularly works by the modern dramatist Bertold Brecht (The Good Woman of Setzuan) employ episodic plot

cyclic plot: there is no resolution at the end, but the play ends in the way it started this is based on modern philosophy that suggests that there seem to be no answers for lifes dilemmas and that our problems cannot be solved the Theatre of the Absurd Samuel Beckett: Waiting for Godot, Eugene Ionesco: The Bald Soprano in The Bald Soprano the last line is exactly the same as the first plotless play: many modern and contemporary plays suggest that traditional plot no longer reflects the reality of human experience Beckett: Waiting for Godot no plot one critic wrote it is a play in which nothing happens twice! COMEDY: The word comedy is derived from the Classical Greek kmitha, which is a compound either of kmos (revel) or km (village) and id (singing); it is possible that itself is derived from , and originally meant a village revel.

The adjective comic (Greek kmiks), which strictly means that which relates to comedy is, in modern usage, generally confined to the sense of laughter-provoking.

Humour: Humour is the tendency of particular cognitive experiences to provoke laughter and provide amusement. The term derives from the humoral medicine of the ancient Greeks, which taught that the balance of fluids in the human body, known as humours (Latin: hmor, body fluid), control human health and emotion. Dramatic situational irony: A plot device according to which (a) the spectators know more than the protagonist; (b) the character reacts in a way contrary to that which is appropriate or wise; (c) characters or situations are compared or contrasted for ironic effects, such as parody; (d) there is a marked contrast between what the character understands about his acts and what the play demonstrates about them . Tragedy is rich in all forms of dramatic irony. The necessity for a sudden reversal or catastrophe in the fortunes of the hero means that the fourth form of irony (form d) is almost inevitable. Forms of humour: Humour can be verbal, visual, or physical. Nonverbal forms of communication for example, music or art can also be humorous. Root components: being reflective (Its funny because its true) of or imitative of reality surprise/misdirection, contradiction/paradox, ambiguity. methods of humour: hyperbole metaphor farce reframing timing humour character: A character who is dominated by a single trait avarice, jealousy, timidity, and so forth is sometimes called a humour character The comic protagonists tenacious hold on his or her ideals is not very far from that of the tragic protagonist. The tragic figure makes a claim on our sympathy. The absurd comic figure continually sets up obstacles to our sympathetic interest. We feel detached from, superior to, and amused by comic figures. Varieties of comedy:

Not all comedy, of course, depends on humor characters placed in situations that exhibit their absurdity. High comedy is largely verbal, depending on witty language; Farce, at the other extreme, is dependent on inherently ludicrous situations for example, a hobo is mistaken for a millionaire. Situation comedy, then, may use humor characters, but it need not do so. types of comedies: romantic comedy (when we laugh, we laugh not so much at them as with the characters) satiric comedy (the audience laughs at rather than with them) Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybodys face but their own. Jonathan Swift . TRAGEDY: The name derives from (Classical Greek )contracted from trag(o)-aoidi = goat-song which comes from tragos = goat and aeidein = to sing This may be traced to a time when a goat was either the prize in a competition of choral dancing or was that around which a chorus danced prior to the animals ritual sacrifice. In another view on the etymology, Athenaeus of Naucratis (2nd-3rd c. AD) says that the original form of the word was trygodia from trygos (grape harvest) and ode (song), because those events were first introduced during grape harvest. Peripetea: Aristotle: tragedy is characterized by seriousness and dignity and involving a great person who experiences a reversal of fortune (Peripeteia). Peripeteia () is a reversal of circumstances, or turning point. The term is primarily used with reference to works of literature. It can include a change of fortune from bad to good as in the Eumenides, but he says that the change from good to bad as in Oedipus Rex is preferable because this effects pity and fear within the spectators. Catharsis: Tragedy results in a catharsis (emotional cleansing) or healing for the audience through their experience of these emotions in response to the suffering of the characters in the drama. Aristotles Poetics is largely a response to Platos claim that poetry encourages people to be hysterical and uncontrolled. Aristotle maintains that the effect of poetry is to allow people to be less controlled by emotion not more so by its providing a healthy outlet for their feelings. Blood good tragedy?: When the bad bleed, then is the tragedy good. Cyril Tourneur We think of Macbeth (usurper, butcher). Macbeth is much more than a usurper and butcher, but it is undeniable that he is an offender against the moral order. Whatever the merits of Tourneurs statement, however, if we think of Romeo and Juliet (to consider only one play), we realize its inadequacy.

Tourneur so stresses the guilt of the protagonist that his or her suffering becomes mere retributive justice. But we cannot plausibly say, for example, that Romeo and Juliet deserved to die because they married without their parents consent; it is much too simple to call them bad. Hamartia: Tourneurs view is derived from a passage in Aristotles Poetics in which Aristotle speaks of hamartia sometimes translated as missing the target, sometimes as vice or flaw or weakness, but perhaps best translated as mistake Aristotle seems to imply that the hero is undone because of some mistake he or she commits but this mistake need not be the result of a moral fault it may be simply a miscalculation for example, failure to foresee the consequences of a deed. Hybris: In many Greek tragedies the heros hamartia is hubris (or hybris), usually translated as overweening pride. The hero forgets that he or she is fallible, acts as though he or she has the power and wisdom of the gods, and is later humbled for this arrogance. But one can argue that this self-assertiveness is not a vice but a virtue, not a weakness but a strength; if the hero is destroyed for self-assertion, he or she is nevertheless greater than the surrounding people, just as the person who tries to stem a lynch mob is greater than the mob, although that person also may be lynched for his or her virtue. Catharsis-enjoyment: Why do we enjoy plays about suffering? Aristotles comments on catharsis (purgation) that are often interpreted as saying that tragedy arouses in us both pity and fear and then purges us of these emotions. The theatre in this view is an outlet for emotions that elsewhere would be harmful. Interpretation of catharsis: Some say that our pleasure is sadistic (we enjoy the sight of suffering) Some, that our pleasure is masochistic (we enjoy lacerating ourselves) Some, that it lies in sympathy (we enjoy extending pity and benevolence to the wretched) Some, that it lies in self-congratulation (we are reminded, when we see suffering, of our own good fortune) Some, that we take pleasure in tragedy because the tragic hero acts out our secret desires, and we rejoice in his or her aggression, expiating our guilt in his or her suffering; and so on. Real and dramatized suffering: The distinction between real suffering and dramatized suffering: In the latter, surely, part of the pleasure is in the contemplation of an aesthetic object, an object that is unified and complete. The chaos of real life seems, for a few moments in drama, to be ordered: the protagonists action, his or her subsequent suffering, and the total cosmos seem somehow related.

Arthur Miller about tragedy: If it is true to say that in essence the tragic hero is intent upon claiming his whole due as a personality, and if this struggle must be total and without reservation, then it automatically demonstrates the indestructible will of man to achieve his humanity. . . It is curious, although edifying, that the plays we revere, century after century, are the tragedies. In them, and in them alone, lies the belief optimistic, if you will in the perfectibility of man. Jean Anouilh about tragedy: Tragedy is restful; and the reason is that hope ... has no part in it. There isnt any hope. Youre trapped. The whole sky has fallen on you, and all you can do about it is to shout. Dont mistake me, I said shout; I did not say groan, whimper, complain. That, you cannot do. But you can shout aloud: you can got all those things said that you never thought youd be able to say. And you dont say these things because it will do any good to say them; you know better than that. You say them for their own sake; you say them because you learn a lot from them. George Steiner about tragedy: Tragic drama tells us that the spheres of reason, order, and justice are terribly limited and that no progress in our science or technical resources will enlarge their relevance. Outside and within man is lautre, the otherness of the world. Call it what you will: a hidden or malevolent God, blind fate, the solicitations of hell, or the brute fury of our animal blood. It waits for us in ambush at the crossroads. It mocks us and destroys us. In certain rare instances, it leads us after destruction to some incomprehensible repose. Richard Sewall about tragedy: The tragic vision impels the man of action to fight against his destiny, kick against the pricks, and state his case before God or his fellows. It impels the artist, in his fictions, toward what Jaspers calls boundary-situations. man at the limits of his sovereignty Job on the ash-heap, Prometheus on the crag, Oedipus in his moment of selfdiscovery, Lear on the heath, Ahab on his lonely quarter-deck. Here, with all the protective covering stripped off, the hero faces as if no man had ever faced it before the existential question Jobs question, What is man? or Lears Is man no more than this? The writing of a tragedy is the artists way of taking action, of defying destiny, and this is why in the great tragedies there is a sense of the artists own involvement, an immediacy not so true of the forms, like satire and comedy, where the artists position seems more detached.

The origin of the name: -The present English (and Spanish) word derives from the Italian novella for new, news, or short story of something new, itself from the Latin novella, a singular noun use of the neuter plural of novellus, diminutive of novus, meaning new. -Most European languages have preserved the term romance (as in French, German, Russian, Croatian, Romanian and Swedish Roman, in Portuguese Romance and in Italian Romanzo) for extended narratives. Short story and novel: From pragmatical point of view, novel is very similar to short stories, but longer. But because of its length it offers different possibilities for the writer and the reader as well.

The rise of the novel can be counted from the 18th century. Since then it has become the most popular form of prosaic works. the Picaresque Novel: picaro = rogue , this is an early form of the novel of adventure, sometimes considered a parody of the chivalric novel, it is one of the earliest genres of novel the main character, picaro (a Spanish term) is the narrator, his life is presented from birth until death in the form of autobiographical depiction his life is usually presented as a more or less successful wandering from one master to another D. Defoe: Moll Flanders, H. Fielding: Tom Jones, Cervantes: Don Quijote the Chivalric Novel: form of a novel typical in the 15th and 16th centuries. The plot is situated in the world of fantasy inhabited by beasts which must be overcome by the hero in order to win the heart of his beloved lady the Gothic Novel: the main aim of this novel is to evoke strong emotions in the readers the element of action dominates here descriptive passages to evoke and intensify the elements of secret, especially represented by ruins of castles, deep dark forests, gloomy graveyards, mad scientists etc. the horror stories of E. A. Poe, Mary Shelley: Frankenstein, etc. the Pastoral Novel: the theme is the depiction of the lives of shepherds and shepherdesses idyllic rural environment, nature the tenderness and purity of love feelings between pastoral lovers E. Spenser: The Shepeards Calendar (1579), J. Fletcher: The Faithful Sheperdess (1610), George Eliot: Adam Bede and other novels continue the pastoral tradition the Historical Novel: it is set in the past it may describe individual destinies in a certain historical period a character may reflect the nature of a given historical period it can also be about a given historical character around which the plot develops in order to illustrate a historical period Tolstoy: War and Peace, Stendhal: The Red and the Black the Utopian Novel: non-existing social conditions in a non-existing country utopian novel is in fact a fantastic variation of the historical novel Thomas More: Utopia (1516) the founder of the genre Francis Bacon: New Atlantis (1626) both are attempts at a literary construction of an ideal state utopian elements were employed later in the work of Jonathan Swift: Gullivers Travels (1727) utopian fiction gave rise to the modern science fiction and the so called anti-utopia (= it presents a pessimistic picture of human future) e.g. Aldous Huxley: Brave New World (1932), George Orwell: 1984, Animal Farm the scene fiction Novel: a form of fantasy fiction creates settings on other planets and galaxies and depicts the future of the Earth and mankind

its theme and subject matter is based on the findings of modern science and technology widens the horizons of imagination J. Vernes novels are considered to be the first examples of science fiction , Kurt Vonnegut the Novel of adventure: it is typical for its dramatic action containing surprising conflicts elements of threat and danger Mark Twain: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn R. L. Stevenson: Treasure Island the Detective Novel: it is based on a crime and the search for the criminal the plot employs the motif of mystery and its resolution is given by the principle of the victory of justice over evil Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes), Agatha Christie (the adventures of Hercule Poirot, Miss Marple), etc the Novel of Travel: it may be fictional or it may use some non-fictional elements it usually depicts the authors journey in foreign countries geography, culture, society described facts, documentary values G. Forster: The Journey Around the World, Daniel Defoe: Robinson Crusoe the Psycholigical Novel: it is typical for the realistic fiction of the 19th century it depicts the confrontation of contradictory feelings and states of mind describes the inner motifs, the inner life of the characters since it was believed that these determine the behaviour of the characters the spiritual life of the characters is important the second part of the 19th century employs new methods of psychological analysis focuses on the conflicts within a human being, emotions, passions, contradictions, mysteries of behaviour the 20th century the influence of Sigmund Freud, psychoanalysis; the depiction of human perception, intuition, understanding, knowledge, moods and experiences in details psychological attitude is very frequent in the works of modern writers Tolstoy, Dostojevskij: Crime and Punishment, J. Joyce, Virginia Woolf, etc. the Bibliographical Novel: it depicts the life of a historically significant person, getting the information from historical sources there is a difference between biographical novel and biography (a non-fictional genre) the biographical novel involves the element of plot The autobiographical novel 1st person narrator is employed follows the chronological line of events semi-autobiographical novels contains fictitious events as well, not just autobiographical facts the Epistolary Novel: this is a novel in letters the plot is developed in a series of letters between two or among several people the time sequence does not have to be chronological this type of novel became popular in the 18th century, Samuel Richardson: Pamela the Anti-Novel:

it rejects the concept and the means of the traditional novel of the 19th century it states that the traditional techniques of novel-writing are not capable of depicting the contemporary complex world it might break the traditional structure of the novel, it may experiment with form, plot and character L. Sterne: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman William Faulkner, James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, etc. the Bildungsroman: The purpose of the didactic novel is to instruct and to educate it uses the principles of morals and religion The bildungsroman (the novel of formation) this is a new variant of didactic novel it portrays the inner formation of a person in relation to his/her cultural and personal environment L. Sterne: The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy Gentleman Charles Dickens: David Copperfield the Kuenstlerroman: it is a variety of bildungsroman + it contains the elements of several novel types the education or formation of the protagonist with particular attention paid to his childhood and young years the protagonist may be fictitious or real James Joyce: A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man the philosophical Novel: it demonstrates the authors philosophical standpoint Voltaire: Candide (1759), Robert M. Pirsig: Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance the humorous Novel: employs humour the characters of humorous novel are introduced in the light of their shortcomings very often it combines the elements of comicality and tragicality, in effect producing both laughter and tears Charles Dickens: Pickwick Papers, Mark Twain: Connecticut Yankee in King Arthurs Court the satirical Novel: its dominant element is satire, i.e. the sharpest form of comicality unlike humour, satire employs social criticism Jonathan Swift: Gullivers Travels G. B. Shaw might be considered one of the founders of modern European satirical literature

INTEREST The elements that make up works of fiction have their roots hooked, it seems, into the universe, or at least into the hearts of human beings. John Gardner Books are about things which are outside books. If books are not about the world then they are not interesting to people, not even interesting to write, to me. Salman Rushdie There are no uninteresting subjects, only uninteresting writers. William Sloane OBSERVATION

We lack trust in the present, this moment, this actual seeing, because our culture tells us to trust only the reported back, the publicly framed, the edited, the thing set in the clearly artistic or the clearly scientific angle of perspective. One of the deepest lessons we have to learn is that nature, of its nature, resists this. It waits to be seen otherwise, in its individual presentness and from our individual presentness. John Fowles

EXPERIENCE Write about what you know and write truly. Ernest Hemingway The fact is that anybody who has survived his childhood has enough information about life to last him the rest of his days. If you cant make something out of a little experience, you probably wont be able to make it out of a lot. Flannery OConnor IMAGINATION: Poetic imagination is the only clue to reality. Ernst Cassirer The writers sole authority is his imagination. He works out in his imagination what would happen and why, acting out every part himself, making his characters say what he would say himself if he were a young second-generation Italian, then an old Irish policeman, and so on. When the writer accepts unquestioningly someone elses formulation of how and why people behave, he is not thinking but dramatizing some other mans theory: that of Freud, Adler, Laing, or whomever. Needless to say, one may make some theory of motivation ones premisean idea to be tested. But the final judgment must come from the writers imagination. John Gardner Don Quixote does not invite us into reality but into an act of the imagination where all things are real. Carlos Fuentes INTENTION: As a great French stylist has said: The fundamental rule of style is to keep solely in view the thought one wants to convey. And he added ironically: One must therefore have a thought to start with. Jacques Barzun One starts writing, not with a well-shaped thought, trimmed and polished, but with an intent. Jacques Barzun CREATION: Odd how the creative power at once brings the whole universe to order. Virginia Woolf The book has to make a world of its own. Whether or not you know anything about Pakistan shouldnt be a factor in reading a fiction, because the book has to tell you what you need to know, and if it doesnt it fails. You make a world, and you try to make it cohere and mean something about the world that you dont make, the actual world. Salman Rushdie Art does not imitate reality (hold the mirror up to nature) but creates new reality.

This reality may be apposite to the reality we walk through every daystreets and houses, mailmen, treesand may trigger thoughts and feelings in the same way a newly discovered thing of nature might doa captured Big Foot or Loch Ness monsterbut it is essentially itself, not the mirror reflection of something familiar. John Gardner

STORY: Through the storys translation and ordering of life, the unconvincing raw material becomes the very hearts familiar. Life is strange. Stories hardly make it more so; with all they are able to tell and surmise, they make it more believably, more inevitably so. Eudora Welty A story really isnt any good unless it successfully resists paraphrase, unless it hangs on and expands in the mind. Flannery OConnor Besides theme, the story must have another thing: situation. The situation is something more than a series of episodes and happenings through which the story moves. There is nearly always an overall situation which is a controlling thing. Often it is a situation between two persons: the unhappy passion of Anna and Vronsky in Anna Karenina, or in Wuthering Heights the stronger-than-death tie between Catherine and Heathcliff. Elizabeth Bowen AFFINITY: We read or listen to or look at works of art in the hope of experiencing our highest, most selfless emotion, either to reach a sublime communication with the maker of the work, sharing his affirmations as common lovers do, or to find, in works of literature, characters we love as we do real people. John Gardner REALITY: No one with a distorted view of reality can write good novels, because as we read we measure fictional worlds against the real world. John Gardner All novelists are fundamentally seekers and describers of the real, but the realism of each novelist will depend on his view of the ultimate reaches of reality. Flannery OConnor And what is a novel if not a conviction of our fellow-mens existence strong enough to take upon itself a form of imagined life clearer than reality and whose accumulated verisimilitude of selected episodes puts to shame the pride of documented history? Joseph Conrad And now we can get a definition as to when a character in a book is real: it is real when the novelist knows everything about it. He may not choose to tell us all he knowsmany of the facts, even of the kind we call obvious, may be hidden. But he will give us the feeling that though the character has not been explained, it is explicable, and we get from this a reality of a kind we can never get in daily life. E.M. Forster Realismto paraphrase him [Brecht]is whatever you have to do in order to describe what you see. If that involves golden angels coming from underneath mountains, that thats realism. Salman Rushdie

COMMUNICATION: All writing is communication; creative writing is communication through revelationit is the Self escaping into the open. No writer long remains incognito. E.B. White UNDERSTANDING: One writes for everyone, for all those who need to be initiated. If ones not understood, one resigns oneself to it and tries again. Thats the whole secret of our unremitting labours and our love of art. What is art without the hearts and minds into which we pour it? A sun that radiates no light and gives life to nothing. George Sand WORDS: I believe words must be conquered, lived, and that the apparent publicity they receive from the dictionary is a falsehood. Nobody should dare to write outskirts without having spent hours pacing their high sidewalks; without having desired and suffered as if they were a lover; without having felt their walls, their lots, their moons just around the corner from a general store, like a cornucopia. Jorge Luis Borges RYTHM: The rhythm of Woolfs prose is to my ear the subtlest and strongest in English fiction. She said this about it in a letter to a writer friend: Style is a very simple matter; it is all rhythm. Once you get that, you cant use the wrong words. But on the other hand here am I sitting after half the morning, crammed with ideas, and visions, and so on, and cant dislodge them, for lack of the right rhythm. Now this is very profound, what rhythm is, and goes far deeper than words. A sight, an emotion, creates this wave in the mind, long before it makes words to fit it. . . . Ive never read anything that says more about the mystery at the very center of what a writer does. Ursula K. Le Guin TONE: Both tone and words are the manifestation of an attitude. Whether put on or unstudied or (in most cases) half conscious, the attitude inspires the choice of words, affects the length and rhythm of the sentences, and produces an impression that the reader always takes as deliberately aimed at him. He responds to the atmosphere, and from it pictures the personality of the writer, or at least his professional type. That is why tones can be characterized by such terms as: journalistic, novelistic, legalistic, pedantic, patronizing, arrogant, smart-aleck, shufflingand as many others as the writing itself puts into our minds. Jacques Barzun STYLE: The major characteristics of style, in so far as style is a technical matter of the building and placing of words, are given by the language itself, quite as inescapably, indeed, as the general acoustic effect of verse is given by the sounds and natural accents of the language. These necessary fundamentals of style are hardly felt by the artist to constrain his individuality of expression.

They rather point the way to those stylistic developments that most suit the natural bent of the language. Edward Sapir STRUCTURE: The structure of the various sections of the events must be such that the transposition or removal of any one section dislocates and changes the whole. If the presence or absence of something has no discernible effect, it is not part of the whole. Aristotle Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over. Ernest Hemingway

THE PURPOSE OF LITERARY CRITICISM: To help us solve a problem in the reading. To help us choose the better of two conflicting readings. To enable us to form judgments about literature. Literary criticism has been regarded as the analysis, interpretation and evaluation of literary works.

The work itself is placed in the centre because all approaches must deal, to some extent or another, with the text itself. Formalism and Deconstruction are placed here also because they deal primarily with the text and not with any of the outside considerations such as author, the real world, audience, or other literature. Meaning, formalists argue, is inherent in the text. Because meaning is determinant, all other considerations are irrelevant. Deconstructionists also subject texts to careful, formal analysis; however, they reach an opposite conclusion: there is no meaning in language. A historical approach relies heavily on the author and his world. In the historical view, it is important to understand the author and his world in order to understand his intent and to make sense of his work. In this view, the work is informed by the author's beliefs, prejudices, time, and history, and to fully understand the work, we must understand the author and his age. An intertextual approach is concerned with comparing the work in question to other literature, to get a broader picture. Reader-Response is concerned with how the work is viewed by the audience. In this approach, the reader creates meaning, not the author or the work. Mimetic criticism seeks to see how well a work accords with the real world.

Then, beyond the real world are approaches dealing with the spiritual and the symbolic the images connecting people throughout time and cultures (= archetypes). This is mimetic in a sense too, but the congruency looked for is not so much with the real world as with something beyond the real world something tying in all the worlds/times/cultures inhabited by man. The Psychological approach is placed outside these poles because it can fit in many places, depending how it is applied: Historical if diagnosing the author himself Mimetic if considering if characters are acting by real world standards and with recognisable psychological motivations Archetypal when the idea of the Jungian collective unconscious is included Reader-Response when the psychology of the reader why he sees, what he sees in the text is examined. Likewise, Feminist, Minority, Marxist, and other such approaches may fit in: Historical if the authors attitudes are being examined in relation to his times (i.e. was Shakespeare a feminist for his times, though he might not be considered so today?) Mimetic when asking how well characters accord with the real world. Does a black character act like a black person would, or is s/he a stereotype? Are women being portrayed accurately? Does the work show a realistic economic picture of the world? Shift of emphasis: It can be concluded, that twentieth-century criticism has displayed a shift of emphasis from the author onto the text, and then from the text to the reader. The critical approaches covered later (and throughout the course) are the main trends of twentiethcentury criticism and also recent criticism Formalism a type of criticism that emphasizes the form of a text rather than its content Russian formalism was the first major formalist movement originated in Moscow and St. Petersburg more narrowly, Formalism refers to the critics and theorists working in Russia (actually, the Soviet Union) in the 1910s and 1920s at about the time of the 1917 Revolution Formalism started as an activity closely linked to linguistics with an interest in the scientific examination of style major figures include Victor Shklovsky, Boris Eichenbaum, Vladimir Propp, Yuri Tynianov formalism: in 1914 Victor Shklovsky wrote: At present the old art is dead already, whereas the new art is not yet born. Things are dead as well we have lost a feeling for the world. () Only the creation of new artistic forms may restore to man awareness of the world, resurrect things and kill pessimism. they also called themselves as the formal method not a homogeneous movement there were marked differences especially between the Moscow and the Leningrad (Petrograd) branch

the movement ended in the 1930s due to political circumstances the Stalinist regime suppressed it in the early 1930s (because Marxist critics, Stalin claimed that the content of a literary work is very important) it went to Prague the Prague Linguistic Circle adopted its analytical methods one of the principal aims of Formalism is the scientific study of literature it is based on the belief that such a study is possible the object of the science of literature: literariness (instead of literature as a whole or individual literary texts); literariness is found in the linguistic and structural features of literature (as opposed to its subject matter). devices or constructive principles they study the form of the work (as opposed to its content) the form involves style, grammatical or rhetorical structure, tone, imagery, genre, as well as the emotional imperative much of the work was detailed, technical research into meter, rhyme and such topics as sound in poetry 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 formalists try to be objective in their analysis, they focus on the work itself and exclude external considerations such as history, biography, politics, etc. they introduced the concepts of literary system, function, motif and various other technical terms the Formalists also introduced the distinction between what they called syuzhet and fabula roughly translated as discourse and story that is, the distinction between the abstract storyline (fabula) and the virtually infinite number of ways in which that story can be plotted (discourse) literary language was seen as a special kind of language, literary writing disrupts ordinary language and looks at the world in a strange way rather than presenting a picture of the world, art defamiliarises or makes strange defamiliarisation is a term created by Victor Shklovsky in his famous essay Art as Technique; in this essay he claims that defamiliarisation is the defining feature of literary texts. Art takes that which is familiar and makes it strange, slowing down the act of perception and making the reader see the world in new ways (think, for example, of how Cubist painting changes our perception of everyday objects and forces the viewer to work to reconstruct the image). What the reader notices is not the picture of reality but the peculiarity of the writing itself. Therefore, literature is seen as a self-conscious medium. The central concept of Formalism is the idea that the language in a literary text is very unusual, the text cannot simply be looked through in order to appreciate a picture of life. The text is a linguistic construct. This idea, initiated by the Russian Formalist movement, has got much wider consequences, consequences that go beyond a philosophical concern with the nature of language. Russian Formalism and its thinking planted the seeds that eventually led to Structuralism and later on Deconstruction At first sight, Russian Formalism is apolitical concentrates on the text and excludes any ideology or outside factor. However, the political consequences, the truths and values of

Western/Eastern civilisations in which the texts were created could not be avoided. To step aside and draw attention to the artifice of literary texts, in the end, led to a re-examination of the ideology contained within those texts. Many critics realised the necessity of this. Mikhail Bakhtin (a Russian critic from the 1920s who has had a major influence on contemporary theory) is not the member of Russian Formalism, even though he shares certain ideas with them. He concentrates on the social dimensions of the language of a text, how language is involved in social relationships which are part of broader political, economic and ideological systems. In essence, Bakhtin is interested in the kinds of debate that are going on in a novel, the way it presents the tensions of its ideology. Similar concerns are at the heart of recent New Historicist criticism.

New criticism: The New Criticism, an American approach to literature, is another famous type of formalism New Criticism is an American critical movement; it is a type of formalist criticism that reached its height in the 1940s and 1950s New Criticism occurred partially in response to Biographical Criticism and partially to philological and antiquarian study of literature new forms of mass literature and literacy were needed consumerist society, the increasingly visible role of commerce, mass media and advertising in peoples lives, competition for dollars and students at universities there was an institutional rise of English Departments and literary criticism in the US, shaping the educational programmes in literature and more generally the literary culture of the English-speaking world the New Criticism originates as an argument about the nature of poetry in T. S. Eliots The Sacred Wood (1920) in this work Eliot argues that poetry is not the expression of personality but the escape from personality a poem is not an attempt to represent the real world the foundations of the New Criticism were laid in books and essays written during the 1920s and 1930s from 1922 to 1925 a group of poets meeting at Vanderbilt University under the leadership of John Crowe Ransom published a review called The Fugitive New Criticism received its name from John Crowe Ransoms 1941 book The New Criticism the literary discussion later took a social and political turn other representatives: Cleanth Brooks, I. A. Richards, his student William Empson, Austin Warren, R. P. Blackmur New critical assumption: New Critics treat a work of literature as if it were a self-contained, self-referential object the text is something complete within itself, it is written for its own sake, independent of the authors life or intent, history or anything else NC discourages the use of external evidence to explain the work they base their interpretation of a text on a close reading (practical criticism), they stress close textual analysis NC concentrates on such formal aspects as rhythm, meter, theme, imagery, metaphor, etc.

the critics job is to help us appreciate the technique and form of art and the mastery of the artist NC argues that each text has a central unity. The responsibility of the reader is to discover this unity New Critics emphasise that the structure of work should not be separated from meaning, because these two create unity special attention is paid to repetition, particularly of images or symbols, but also of sound effects and rhythms in poetry New Critics appreciate the use of literary devices, such as irony and paradox NC has sometimes been called an objective approach to literature they argue that the meaning of a text can be known objectively wanted to isolate literature from biography, history and politics emphasised that literature, Western tradition and good art should be protected from commercialism, political posturing and vulgarity they make a firm distinction between high art and popular art they talk about Elitism literary people above uneducated masses

New critical fallacies: affective fallacy the notion that the readers response is relevant to the meaning of a work affective fallacy is the mistake of equating the work with its emotional effects upon the reader. No understanding should be relative to the responses of its readers. intentional fallacy the notion that the authors intention determines the works meaning intentional fallacy is the mistake of attempting to understand the authors intentions when interpreting a literary work. The meaning of a work is contained solely within the work itself. New Critics argued that questions of meaning are not to be resolved by consulting authors intentions or readers responses both notions are fallacies. Criticism of new criticism: It emphasises technique, unity of effect and the autotelic status of art works best on the lyric poem, but has problems with larger, more historical forms like the novel The values New Critics celebrated were neither unchanging nor universal. In fact, New Critics were not objective, they favoured those works that were most likely to reveal the qualities they sought in literature, preferring, for example, the intellectual complexity of the metaphysicals to the emotional complexity of the romantics. The text is seen in isolation, it ignores the context of the work. In The Critical Monism of Cleanth Brooks Crane argues that Brooks and other New Critics impoverish theory by making irony and paradox a unique principle of structure. The sole differentia of poetic language was in fact the characteristic of all connected discourse. By Brookss own criteria, the best example of a modern ironic poem was Einsteins formula E = mc, asserting the paradoxical identity of matter and energy. On the other hand, this approach can be performed without much research, and it emphasises the value of literature apart from its context (in effect makes literature timeless). Virtually all critical approaches must begin here. Structuralism:

Structuralism is a general approach in various academic disciplines. It appeared for the first time in academic psychology in the 19th century and then reappeared in the second half of the 20th century, when it grew to become one of the most popular approaches in the academic fields that are concerned with analysing language, culture and society. The work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, which introduced a new approach to language, is generally considered to be a starting point of the 20th century structuralism. As with any cultural movement, the influences and developments are complex. Assumption of structuralism: Saussure: language is a self-sufficient system operating by its own internal rules Language is a system of relations between the constituent units; it is a form, not a substance the primary concern of Saussure is to look at the internal order of language. His ideas about semiotics (= the study of signs): He argued that linguistic signs were composed of two parts: a) signifier = the word itself b) signified = the concept the word refers/points to The two cannot be separated, but structuralism is not interested in the relationship between the signifier and the signified, but rather concentrates on the operations of and relations between different signifiers. Language and parole: Saussure coined the terms langue and parole. Langue = any particular language that is the common possession of all members of a given language community; it is a social phenomenon, purely abstract; it has got an institutional character. When talking about langue, a linguist is interested in the structures of language systems. Parole = language behaviour of individual members of the language community, language in performance, the knowledge and performance of a particular language system; it has go an individual character. When talking about parole, a linguist describes the competence of language speakers. Linguistics literary studies: Saussure was much more interested in langue and the theoretical system that shapes all language or langue, the rules and principles that enable language to exist and function. Saussures thinking has been adopted by structuralist literary critics. They apply his ideas about language to literary texts the central idea is that a literary text is a self-sufficient system

Structuralism as a literary analysis: meaning within a particular person, system, culture is produced through linguistic, social, cultural, etc. structures a structuralist does not wish to move outside the text (social background, life of the author, cultural context, etc.), but moves in the opposite direction, trying to work out general theories about how texts function

every book is a construct, working by certain rules criticism of traditional critics: structuralism claimed that traditional critics create a context for the work by relating it to their own view of life this leads on to a sceptical view of the values and believes accepted by most critics what began as an examination of the structures of literature, became a movement examining the structures of beliefs and values that have been central in our culture, actively examining society structuralism forms the basis for semiotics, the study of signs: a sign is a union of signifier and signified, and is anything that stands for anything else (or, as Umberto Eco put it, a sign is anything that can be used to lie). Some signs carry with them larger cultural meanings, usually very general; these are called, by Roland Barthes, myths, or second-order signifiers the social construction of reality the self, the unconscious, our knowledge, identity, reality are culturally structured, structured by and through conventions, made up of signs the most famous practitioner is Michael Foucault although structuralism was largely a European phenomenon on its origin and development, it was influenced by American thinkers as well, e.g. Noam Chomsky, who identified and distinguished between surface structures and deep structures in language and linguistic literatures, including texts; instead of Saussures terms langue and parole, Chomsky uses the terms competence and performance structuralism is based on the theory that elements of human culture, including literature, are thought to be parts of a system of signs literature is a system of signs, a literary work is an independent structure the analysis of particular works were based on language analysis individual parts of a literary structure are always understood from the point of view of a complex structure Structuralistic literary criticism argues that the novelty value of a literary text can lie only in new structures, rather than in the specifics of character development and voice in which that structure is expressed. the Prague linguistic circle: The programme and methodology of work of the Prague Linguistic Circle were truly structuralistic. The founders and main representatives: Roman Jacobson, B. Trnka, B. Havrnek, etc. Jacobson became known for examining language functions and the factors that help to constitute any speech event, any verbal communication. Jacobs model: He differentiated 6 elements of the communication channel: the addresser, context (a physical channel and psychological connection between the addresser and the addressee), message, contact, code (fully common to the addresser and addressee)

and the addressee.

reader response criticism: reader-response criticism (RRC) analyses the readers role in the production of meaning it lies at the opposite end of the spectrum from formalistic criticism in RRC, the text itself has no meaning until it is read by a reader the reader creates the meaning it attempts to describe what happens in the readers mind while interpreting a text reading, just like writing, is a creative process this approach attempts to explore and explain the diversity of readers responses to literary works according to reader-response critics, literary texts do not contain a meaning; meanings come from the act of individual readings two different readers may derive completely different interpretations of the same literary text; likewise, a reader who re-reads a work years later may find the work shockingly different RRC emphasizes that religious, cultural, and social values affect readings even men and women read the same text with different assumptions although there is no single correct reading for a literary work, Each text creates limits to its possible interpretations

Rosenblatt theory: Louise Rosenblatt (1969): A poem is what the reader lives through under the guidance of the text and experiences as relevant to the text. The idea that a poem presupposes a reader actively involved with a text is particularly shocking to those seeking to emphasize the objectivity of their interpretations. she refers to Formalists, when she speaks about an objective interpretation; she states that such interpretation is not possible formalists: a poem is a concrete work of art, the poem itself reader-response criticism: a poem = reader + text Its important what the reader lives through while reading criticism of formalism: Stanley Fish (1970) criticised formalism: he argued that any school of criticism that sees a literary work as an object, claiming to describe what it is and never what it does, misunderstands the very essence of literature and reading literature exists and signifies when it is read reader response criticism: RRC redefined the terms literature, literary work, reader literature = something that only exists meaningfully in the mind of the reader literary work = a catalyst of mental events

reader = it is no longer the passive recipient of those ideas that an author has planted in a text, the reader is active, s/he is the active maker of meaning Norman Holland has suggested that, when we read, we find our own identity theme in the text by using the literary work to symbolize and finally replicate ourselves. We work out through the text our own characteristic patterns of desire. The main advantage of RRC is that is recognizes that different people view works differently, and that peoples interpretations change over time. However, it has many times been attacked for making interpretation too subjective and not providing adequate criteria for evaluating one reading in comparison to another.

Historical biographical criticism: this approach is based on the simple but central insight that literature is written by actual people and that understanding an authors life can help readers more thoroughly comprehend the work historical / biographical critics see works as the reflection of an authors life and times (or of the characters life and times) they believe 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. a biographical critic tries to understand and analyse the literary text by using information about the period the writer lived in, facts from the writers life and the characteristic features of the audience or the readers biographical criticism has a few weaknesses that should be avoided: e.g. avoid equating the works content with the authors life, or the character with the author they are not necessarily the same it is very close to Historical Criticism or New Historicism Marxist Criticism: Marxist criticism is based on the assumption that what a critic says about a literary work or book depends on the ideas s/he brings to the text. A Marxist critic is very clear about the stance from which s/he writes: the text has to be read in the light of an all-informing philosophy. It has to be understood in the light of the Marxist view of history, where the idea of class struggle is central. The connections between literature and the economic structure of society in which it was written must be made evident. Despite the collapse of communism throughout Eastern Europe, Marxist criticism is still evolving. In the 1930s certain Marxist critics assumed that all literature should be dismissed, as it is a bourgeois luxury in which middle-class authors write about their middle-class problems. Such an idea, however, has not been widely expressed since then. through literature, the writer can stand apart and see the faults of society the method of Marxist criticism is to reconstruct a view of the past from historical evidence, and then to demonstrate how accurate a particular text is in its representation and understanding in social reality Marxists, especially the best-known Georg Lukcs (a Hungarian), have always been most interested in the realistic novel, which presents a suitably full picture of society (Lukcs was attacked for his refusal of non-realistic modern literature and for his idea that content is more important than form)

At the same time, we should also recognise that although the essence of Marxist criticism is a concern with material living conditions, it also deals with more theoretical questions about the ideology of texts and the function of art in society. it makes a connection between the text and the world it denies the idea that a literary text can convey timeless and universal truths about life and human nature they claim that a text belongs to a certain period and expresses how people at that time organised and made sense of their world, it refers to the social order, the ideology and propaganda of that certain period Texts are material products that have to be understood in broad historical terms. Marxist critics in England: Terry Eagleton, Raymond Williams a Marxist approach to literature encourages the re-examination of literary texts and their function in society it is strongly involved in social and political questions Postcolonial criticism: A type of cultural criticism, it usually involves the analysis of literary texts produced in countries and cultures that have come under the control of European colonial powers at some point in their history. Alternatively, it can refer to the analysis of texts written about colonized places by writers hailing from the colonizing culture. In Orientalism (1978), Edward Said, a pioneer of postcolonial criticism and studies, focused on the way in which the colonizing First World has invented false images and myths of the Third (postcolonial) World stereotypical images and myths that have conveniently justified Western exploitation and domination of Eastern and Middle Eastern cultures and peoples. In the essay Postcolonial Criticism (1992), Homi K. Bhabha has shown how certain cultures (mis)represent other cultures, thereby extending their political and social domination in the modern world order. Postcolonial studies (not to be confused with postcolonial criticism!) is a type of cultural studies that refers more broadly to the study of cultural groups, practices, and discourses including but not limited to literary discoursesin the colonized world. The term postcolonial is usually used broadly to refer to the study of works written at any point after colonization first occurred in a given country, although it is sometimes used more specifically to refer to the analysis of texts and other cultural discourses that emerged after the end of the colonial period (after the success of the liberation and independence movements Postcolonial criticism has been influenced by Marxist thought, by the work of Michel Foucault (whose theories about the power of discourses have influenced New Historicism), and by Deconstruction, which has challenged not only hierarchical, binary oppositions such as West/East and North/South but also the notions of superiority associated with the first term of each opposition.

Deconstruction: In Continental philosophy and literary criticism, deconstruction is a school of criticism created by the French philosopher Jacques Derrida. Basic theoretical assumptions of Deconstruction: truth is always relative depends on the differing standpoints and intellectual framework of the judging subject final true definitions are not possible (e.g. there is no fixed definition of knowledge), nothing can be finally understood language is an unreliable cultural construct the central idea: the analysis of binary oppositions within a text (e.g. maleness and femaleness, or homosexuality and heterosexuality) we are too confident about the central categories e.g. truth, culture, speech etc. instead of describing a rigid set of categories, the two opposing terms are actually fluid and impossible to separate fully the conclusion from this, generally, is that the categories do not actually exist in any rigid or absolute sense opposites really need one another and always imply one another e.g. speech vs. writing, soul vs. body, literal vs. metaphorical, black vs. white, good vs. evil, natural vs. cultural, masculine vs. feminine lots of fundamental relationships are wrong, one of them (i.e. these opposites) is always dominant we tend to put one of these terms above the other, e.g. culture always stood above nature, activity above passivity, etc. their hidden interdependence deconstructs them they can be reversed reading is always a form of misreading, understanding is always a form of misunderstanding, culture always implies a kind of nature and vice versa. Derridas method is to look at closely at individual texts, searching for the contradictions and the gaps he is fully aware, however, that his own readings can be deconstructed, because every reading is misreading as well, because they impose ordering strategies (the standard ordering strategy of Western culture is the organization of our thoughts in binary pairs/oppositions), what the reader is doing is imposing a determinate meaning on the words the aim of deconstruction: subvert our confidence in logical, ethical and political commonplaces re-define the fundamental categories the world, human identity is not given, it is constructed by us in language they encourage breaking away from given systems the way we see the world can and should be changed between the late 1960s and the early 1980s Derrida, Paul de Man, Geoffrey Hartman, J. Hillis Miller (thinkers influenced by deconstruction) worked at Yale University this group came to be known as the Yale school and was especially influential in literary criticism all words/works should be explained only in terms of their relationship to the various systems in which they take part we can only know what they permit us to know about reality the stress that there is no fixed, determinate meaning of a text allows plenty of freedom in discussing the text through close-reading deconstructive criticism emphasizes the way in which a text becomes problematic and confused, it points out the texts difficulties deconstruction has been applied to literature, art, architecture, science, mathematics, philosophy, and psychology

New Historicism: the term New Historicism was coined by the American critic Stephan Greenblatt and refers to a revived interest, initially amongst American critics in the early 1980s, in looking at literary works in their historical and political context in part, New Historicism was a reaction against deconstruction, which took an ahistorical approach, but at the same time it built upon the new kinds of approaches (Structuralism and Deconstruction), particularly to language New Historicism also overlaps with feminism and Marxist criticism in taking a questioning view of the past, looking at the production, consumption and status of literary texts central to New Historicism is an admission that the investigation of a literary text/period is not objective, the nature of our interest in the past is dictated by our involvement in the present Michel Foucaults name is very much connected with this critical school New Historicists argue that the best framework for interpreting literature is to place it in its historical context: what contemporary issues, anxieties, and struggles does the work of literature reflect, refract, or try to work through? New Historicist criticism tries to relate interpretive problems (such as why Hamlet doesnt kill Claudius as he prays) to cultural-historical problems (such as contemporaneous debates about purgatory, transubstantiation, and salvation, as well as anxieties about what constituted legitimacy in the church, the monarchy, and succession to the throne). the British approach of this critical school is referred to as Cultural Materialism There are a number of similarities between New Historicism and Marxism, especially a British group of critics making up a school usually referred to as Cultural Materialism. Both New Historicists and Cultural Materialists are interested in recovering lost histories and in exploring mechanisms of repression and subjugation. The New Historicists concentrate on those at the top of the social hierarchy (i.e. the church, the monarchy, the upper-classes) Cultural Materialists tend to concentrate on those at the bottom of the social hierarchy (the lower-classes, women, and other marginalized peoples). New Historicists draw on the disciplines of political science and anthropology given their interest in governments, institutions, and culture, while Cultural Materialists rely on economics and sociology given their interest in class, economics, and commodification. New Historicists are, like the Cultural Materialists, interested in questions of circulation, negotiation, profit and exchange, i.e. how activities that claim to be above the market (including literature) are in fact informed by the values of that market. However, New Historicists claim that all cultural activities may be considered as equally important texts for historical analysis: contemporary trials of hermaphrodites or the intricacies of map-making may inform a Shakespeare play as much as, say, Shakespeares literary predecessors. New Historicism is also more specifically concerned with questions of power and culture (especially the messy commingling of the social and the cultural or of the supposedly autonomous self and the cultural/ political institutions that in fact produce that self).

Michel Foucault: He is quite possibly the most influential critic of the last quarter-century. His interest in issues of power, epistemology, subjectivity, and ideology has influenced critics not only in literary studies but also political science, history, and anthropology. He analyses and discusses disparate disciplines (medicine, criminal science, philosophy, the history of sexuality, government, literature, etc.) as well as his questioning of the very principle of disciplinarity and specialization have inspired many critics to explore interdisciplinary connections between areas that had rarely been examined together. Foucault picked up common terms and gave them new meaning, thus changing the way critics addressed such pervasive issues as power, discourse, discipline, subjectivity, sexuality, and government. Feminist literary criticism: The first phase: feminist critique where the feminist reader examines the ideologies behind literary phenomena. The second phase: Gynocritics where the woman is producer of textual meaning including the psychodynamics of female creativity; linguistics and the problem of a female language; the trajectory of the individual or collective female literary career and literary history. The last phase: gender theory where the ideological inscription and the literary effects of the sex/gender system are explored. This model has been criticized by Toril Moi who sees it as an essentialist and deterministic model for female subjectivity. She also criticized it for not taking account of the situation for women outside the west. From the 1970s onwards, psychoanalytical ideas that has been arising in the field of French feminism has gained a decisive influence on feminist theory. Feminist psychoanalysis deconstructed the phallic hypotheses regarding the Unconscious. Julia Kristeva, Bracha Ettinger and Luce Irigaray developed specific notions concerning unconscious sexual difference, the feminine and motherhood, with wide implications for film and literature analysis. Lisa Tuttle has defined feminist theory as asking new questions of old texts. She cites the goals of feminist criticism as: To develop and uncover a female tradition of writing, to interpret symbolism of womens writing so that it will not be lost or ignored by the male point of view, to rediscover old texts, to analyse women writers and their writings from a female perspective, to resist sexism in literature, to increase awareness of the sexual politics of language and style. Lesbian, gay and queer literary theory: Queer studies is the critical theory based study of issues relating to sexual orientation and gender identity usually focusing on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people and cultures. Universities have also labelled this area of analysis Sexual Diversity Studies, Sexualities Studies or LGBTQ Studies (Q for Questioning).

Originally centred on LGBT history and literary theory, the field has expanded to include the academic study of issues raised in biology, sociology, anthropology, the history of science, philosophy, psychology, political science, ethics, and other fields by an examination of the identity, lives, history, and perception of queer people. Marianne LaFrance says, Now were asking not just What causes homosexuality? *but also+ What causes heterosexuality? and Why is sexuality so central in some peoples perspective? Queer studies: an analytical viewpoint (centred on literary studies and philosophy) that challenges the putatively socially constructed categories of sexual identity. Although gay, lesbian, and queer theory are related practices, the three terms delineate separate emphases marked by different assumptions about the relationship between gender and sexuality. Readers, generally speaking, are familiar with a type of writing about texts that has been called literary criticism. Criticism explicates facts about texts, analyzes them, and in the broadest sense, instructs a reader in what a text means. Literary criticism has also been a practice of valuation and evaluation. Through demonstrating what a text means, literary criticism also determines whether or not what a text means is worth consideration. Literary theory, in contradistinction, attempts to examine how a text means. Russian critic Mikhail Bakhtin has been responsible for establishing the groundwork of literary theory through his formulation of heteroglossia. As Bakhtin sees it, at any given time, a number of cultural determinants allow a text, phrase, or word to have meaning. These may be social, historical, physiological, political, even personal.

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