Literature 2

• Literary theory is the body of ideas and methods used in the practical reading of literature
• Literary theory reveals what literature can mean, not the meaning of a work of literature itself
• It describes the underlying principles and tools by which we attempt to understand literature
• All literary interpretation draws on a basis in theory but can justify different kinds of critical activity
• Literary theory formulates the relationship between author and works
• Literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary study
• Literary theory offers varying approaches for understanding historical context, linguistic, and unconscious elements of the text
• Literary theorists trace the history and evolution of different genres and investigate the importance of formal elements of literary structure
• Literary theory explains how texts are more the product of a culture than an individual author and how those texts help create the culture
• The prime purpose of any good literary theory is to help readers and writers look at reading and writing from a new perspective
• Literary theories are lenses through which we can see texts
• Literary theories give a certain way of looking at a text and allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work
• Literary theories are not a substitute for reading the original sources but are creative interpretations that enhance our appreciation of literature
• Literary theories give more prestige and importance to literature
• The purpose of a literary theory is to provide a specific way of looking at a text and enrich the reading experience by applying multiple lenses
• Types of Literary Theories
• Formalism emphasizes literary form and the study of literary devices within the text
• Formalism sought to place the study of literature on a scientific basis through objective analysis of literary motifs, devices, and techniques
• The literariness of texts was of great importance to the Formalists, distinguishing literary from other kinds of writing
• New Criticism stressed close reading of the text as an aesthetic object independent of historical context
• New Criticism aimed at bringing greater intellectual rigor to literary studies by focusing on formal structures like paradox, ambiguity, irony, and metaphor
• Marxist literary theories focus on class conflict representation and the reinforcement of class distinctions through literature
• Marxist theorists use traditional literary analysis techniques but prioritize the social and political meanings of literature
• Marxist analyses have influenced literary theory and criticism, leading to the development of New Historicism and Cultural Materialism
• Georg Lukacs contributed to understanding the relationship between historical materialism and literary form
• Walter Benjamin studied aesthetics and the reproduction of the work of art in relation to Marxism
• The Frankfurt School philosophers played a key role in introducing Marxist ideas to the United States
• The Frankfurt School of philosophers, including Max Horkheimer, Theodor Adorno, and Herbert Marcuse, played a key role in introducing Marxist assessments of culture into American academic life
• They became associated with "Critical theory," which critiqued the instrumental use of reason in advanced capitalist culture
• Critical theory distinguished between the high cultural heritage of Europe and the mass culture produced by capitalist societies as a tool of domination
• Major Marxist influences on literary theory since the Frankfurt School include Raymond Williams and Terry Eagleton in Great Britain, and Frank Lentricchia and Fredric Jameson in the United States
• Williams is associated with the New Left political movement in Great Britain and the development of "Cultural Materialism" and the Cultural Studies Movement
• Eagleton is known as a Marxist theorist and popularizer of theory through his widely read overview, "Literary Theory"
• Lentricchia became influential through his account of trends in theory, "After the New Criticism"
• Jameson is known for his impact on Marxist theories of culture and as a leading figure in theoretical postmodernism
• Jameson's work on consumer culture, architecture, film, literature, and other areas typifies the collapse of disciplinary boundaries in Marxist and postmodern cultural theory
• Structuralism and Poststructuralism were movements that focused on literary form and the study of signs and language
• Structuralism relied on the ideas of Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure, emphasizing the arbitrary nature of signifiers and the system of differences between units of language
• Key figures in Structuralism included Claude Levi-Strauss, Tzvetan Todorov, A.J. Greimas, Gerard Genette, and Barthes
• Poststructuralism, led by Jacques Derrida, questioned the coherence of discourse and the capacity for language to communicate fixed meanings