literary criticism

• formalist criticism - focuses on literary elements, how they work or create meaning. Examines a text as independent from its time period, social setting, and author’s background. Focuses on close readings of texts & analysis of the effects of literary elements & techniques. Focuses on the text & structure instead of the author.
• reader-response criticism (your response) - meaning in a text lies with how the reader responds to it. Focuses on the act of reading & how it affects our perception of meaning in a text. Based on your understanding of the text.
• psychological criticism (hidden message of the author) - views text as a revelation of its author’s mind & personality. Focuses on hidden motivations of literary characters.
• sociological criticism (society) - social contexts (social environment) must be considered when analyzing a text. Focuses on the values of society & emphasizes economic, political, and cultural issues. It has 2 branches: Marxism & feminism.
• marxist criticism (politics) - emphasizes economic & social conditions. Based on the political theory of Karl Marx & Friedrich Engels. Concerned with understanding the role of power politics, & money in literary texts.
• feminist criticism (gender-biased/role of women in the society) - concerned with role, position, and influence of women in literary text.
• biographical criticism (anecdote, life of the author) - we must take an author’s life & background into account when we study a text.
• post-colonial criticism - similar to cultural studies but assumes a unique perspective on literature & politics that warrant a separate discussion. Literature produced by colonial powers. Looks at issue of power, economics, politics, religion, & culture and how these elements work in relation to colonial hegemony (western colonizers controlling the colonized)