THE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
INSTITUTION: fAISOM UNIVERSITY Central Europe.
Lecturer: STELLA MARIS.
THE SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT IN LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM
Literary theory and criticism encompass various schools of thought that provide frameworks and perspectives for analyzing and interpreting literature. These schools offer specific vocabularies, concepts, and methods that help readers understand texts from different angles.
Each school emphasizes particular aspects of literature—such as form, structure, language, social context, or reader experience—leading to diverse and enriched interpretations.
A school of thought refers to a shared perspective or intellectual tradition within a specific field (e.g., philosophy, psychology, economics). Members of a school of thought hold similar ideas, principles, and theories.
In the context of literary theory and criticism, schools of thought are distinct approaches or frameworks used to analyze and interpret texts.
CHARACTERISTICS OF A SCHOOL OF THOUGHT.
1. Shared Assumptions
A set of underlying principles or assumptions that guide interpretation.
2. Community of Scholars
A group of academics who share, develop, and expand the ideas and methodologies associated with the school.
3. Theoretical Framework
A conceptual structure that shapes how texts are examined and understood.
IMPORTANCE OF SCHOOLS OF THOUGHT.
1. Encourages Critical Thinking
Exposure to different schools enhances a reader’s ability to understand texts and their complexities.
2. Fosters Debate and Dialogue
Diverse theories spark discussion among scholars, deepening understanding of literature.
3. Provides Analytical Frameworks
Schools of thought offer structured methods for interpreting and evaluating texts.
Major Schools of Thought in Literary Theory and Criticism
1. New Historicism
New Historicism is a literary theory that seeks to understand the intellectual and historical context of a literary work. It examines literature alongside the cultural, political, and social conditions of its time.
Examples of Novels Analyzed Through New Historicism
1. Things Fall Apart – Chinua Achebe
Explores colonialism and its impact on Nigerian culture, highlighting the complexities of historical context.
2. Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
Examined to understand the social conditions of Victorian Britain, including poverty, crime, and inequality.
3. The Tempest – William Shakespeare
Reflects colonial ambitions and the political climate of Renaissance England.
IMPORTANT POINTS ABOUT NEW HISTORICISM.
1. Historical Context – Understanding social, political, and cultural influences on a text.
2. Power Dynamics – Examining how power, authority, and oppression appear in literature.
3. Cultural Influences – Investigating how norms and values shape literary production.
4. Interdisciplinary Approach – Using history, sociology, psychology, and anthropology to enrich interpretation.
2. Biographical Criticism
Biographical criticism analyzes how an author’s life influences their literary work. It examines the connection between the writer's experiences and the themes or events in the text.
Examples
1. To Kill a Mockingbird – Harper Lee
Reflects Lee’s childhood experiences in Alabama and her observations of racial injustice.
2. A Farewell to Arms – Ernest Hemingway
Shows strong influence from Hemingway’s wartime service and personal trauma.
3. New Criticism
New Criticism was a formalist movement in the mid-20th century. It emphasized close reading, especially of poetry, in order to understand how a text functions as a self-contained and self-referential aesthetic object.
The movement takes its name from John Crowe Ransom’s 1941 book The New Criticism.
Examples
1. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad
Analyzed for its imagery, symbolism, and narrative structure exploring imperialism and the human condition.
2. The Scarlet Letter – Nathaniel Hawthorne
Focuses on symbolism—especially the scarlet letter—to explore guilt, sin, and redemption.
Key Points in New Criticism
Close Reading – Careful analysis of language, structure, and literary devices.
Focuses solely on the text, not on historical, social, or biographical backgrounds.
Reveals multiple layers of meaning within the text's internal structure.
4. Reader-Response Criticism
This school emphasizes the reader’s experience of a literary work. Meaning is not fixed; it is created through the interaction between the reader and the text.
Examples
1. The Yellow Wallpaper – Charlotte Perkins Gilman
Readers interpret the protagonist’s mental deterioration, creating varied personal responses.
2. Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Its complex characters and shifting narrators invite readers to form their own interpretations.
KEY POINTS.
Emphasizes the reader’s emotional, psychological, and personal engagement.
Asserts that every reader may derive a different meaning.
Encourages active participation in interpreting literature.
5. FORMALISM
Formalism focuses on the formal elements of a text—its language, structure, and literary devices—without considering historical or biographical context.
Example
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man – James Joyce
Analyzed through its narrative structure, stream-of-consciousness technique, stylistic features, and themes of identity and artistic growth.
Recommended Texts for Study
Wuthering Heights – Emily Brontë
Oliver Twist – Charles Dickens
The Tempest – William Shakespeare
Drama: The Lion and the Jewel – Wole Soyinka
Poem: Bat – D. H. Lawrence.