CNF

• Literature is always about human lives and humanity survived because of learning how to live, and reading allows us to peak into & communicate to those lives
• Reading critically helps us gain more insights, achieve linguistic prowess, and explore worlds
• Reasons to evaluate literature

  • Enriching appreciation
  • Delve deeper into meaning
  • Improve comprehension
  • Finding value and beauty
  • Analyzing quality
  • Exploring contexts
  • Perceiving trends
• Literary criticism


  Includes comparison, analysis, interpretation, and evaluation of creative works
• To enrich our literary experience, one must examine the emotional, artistic, intellectual, and cultural value of a piece's beauty and uniqueness
• Intertextuality


  The shaping of a text's meaning by another text
• Originality


  Undetected plagiarism
• The concept of originality is as complex as a human mind and soul. A writer, an artist must always consider methods in repurposing ideas, diversify perspectives, and lest forget the significance of individuality
• Neil Gaiman: 'I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes. Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're doing something.'
• Van Gogh's Starry Night and Gustav Klimt's Field of Poppies are examples of intertextuality in art
• Literary theories


  Frameworks for interpreting and examining the meaning, themes, and structures within literature
• Literary theories


  • Structuralism
  • Deconstructionism
  • Aestheticism
  • Romanticism
  • Humanism
  • Psychoanalysis
  • Gender Criticism
  • Social Constructivism
  • Reader Response
• Structuralism


  • Analyzing how components fit together in complex forms
  • Focuses on how literary devices affect the structures of a piece
  • Examines linguistic methods and disciplines
• Deconstructionism


  • Challenges structure by exposing contradictions and inconsistencies
  • Being attentive to details as to dissect, dismantle, & decipher texts
  • Perceives complexity to expound writer's artistic values
• Aestheticism


  • Believes that literature must pursue beauty and the elevation of taste
  • Stresses comparison and contrast of the traditional and contemporary
  • Discipline of literary devices must be in pursuit of better style
• Romanticism


  • Highlights emotional value; remarks the power of ideals
  • Emphasizes subjectivity, the sensitivity to sentiments
  • Literature would have an appeal if it affects one's feelings
• Humanism


  • By exposing characters, plots, that depicts strengths and weaknesses, the human side of pieces are revealed
  • Explores human qualities, nature and morality, and thus expanding insights in literature
• Psychoanalysis


  • Seeks to uncover thoughts, desires and conflicts in a literary piece
  • Believes that an author's mind is unconsciously expressed in his work
  • Interprets motivations, symbolic choices, even fantasies
• Gender Criticism


  • Deems literature as reflection of the author's gender identity & expression
  • Unpacks gender-based experiences, thus delving into how genders are represented in a literary piece; includes feminism, patriarchal & queer theories
• Social Constructivism


  • Emphasizes the potential of literature as a form of social interaction
  • Literature empowers readers to have a scope in cultural & communal issues
  • Justifies the significance of the piece in societal development
• Reader Response


  • Places emphasis on the reader's understanding rather than the author's
  • One's reaction and comprehension "completes the experience" of a piece
  • Validates that a symbol & device's meaning is relied upon communication
• Summary of literary theories

  • Structuralism: forms, function, systems
  • Deconstructionism: details, profoundness
  • Aestheticism: style, traditions
  • Romanticism: emotion, individuality
  • Humanism: human qualities
  • Psychoanalysis: unconscious, experience
  • Gender Criticism: identity, representation
  • Social Constructivism: social purpose, awareness
  • Reader Response: textual meaning
• Interpretation of literary theories


  • Structuralism: objective
  • Deconstructionism: objective
  • Aestheticism: subjective
  • Romanticism: subjective
  • Humanism: subjective
  • Psychoanalysis: objective
  • Gender Criticism: subjective
  • Social Constructivism: objective
  • Reader Response: subjective
• Focus of literary theories


  • Structuralism: author, text
  • Deconstructionism: author, text
  • Aestheticism: author
  • Romanticism: author, text
  • Humanism: author
  • Psychoanalysis: author
  • Gender Criticism: author
  • Social Constructivism: author, text
  • Reader Response: text
• Guide questions for literary theories


  • Structuralism: What is the form and function of the piece/device? Did the piece display any pattern or system?
  • Deconstructionism: Does an individual part of the piece exhibit any significance? Is the adherence/defiance to grammar have meaning?
  • Aestheticism: Did the author demonstrate any valuable discipline? Is the adherence/defiance to tradition have significance?
  • Romanticism: Did the piece impart potent emotional impact? Is the piece creative because of its strong appeal?
  • Humanism: Did the character/s display human qualities & circumstances? Did the piece expand human insights and morality?
  • Psychoanalysis: Is the piece reflecting the author's consciousness? Did the piece reveal the author's own experiences?
  • Gender Criticism: Is the piece expression of the author's gender identity? How are genders represented in the piece?
  • Social Constructivism: Did the piece affect your awareness about societal issues? Is the piece communicating plausible reforms/developments?
  • Reader Response: Is the piece dependent to the reader for meaning/story, etc.? Did you interpret the piece differently from other readers?