3. Which is “Literary criticism” and “
Literary theory”?
The study, evaluation, and interpretation
of literature.
The systematic study of the nature
of literature and of the methods for analyzing
literature.
4. Do you agree:
Literary criticism is the practical application of
literary theory.
Criticism deals directly with particular literary
works.
Theory is more general or abstract.
Literary Theory is Old.
Literary Theory is Modern.
There is one clear definition for literature.
5. Literary criticism is the
study, evaluation, and interpretation
of literature.
Some critics consider literary criticism a practical
application of literary theory, because criticism
always deals directly with particular literary
works, while theory may be more general or
abstract.
6. Literary theory is the systematic
study of the nature of literature and of
the methods for analyzing literature.
The word "theory" has become an umbrella term
for a variety of scholarly approaches to reading
texts.
7. The practice of literary theory became a profession
in the 20th century, but it has historical roots that
run as far back as ancient Greece, ancient
India, ancient Rome and medieval Iraq.
The modern sense of "literary theory,"
however, dates only to approximately the 1950s.
8. One of the fundamental questions of literary theory
is "what is literature?"
Many contemporary theorists and literary scholars
believe either that "literature" cannot be defined or
that it can refer to any use of language.
Specific theories are distinguished not only by
their methods and conclusions, but even by how
they define a "text".
10. Schools and movements differ in
Countries.
Political commitment.
Moral Commitment.
Religions.
People.
Idea of Literature.
Nature of literature
11. Do you agree:
The distinction between literary and non-literary
texts is clear.
The way we analyze Literary texts cannot be used
for other texts and phenomena.
I cannot read a text without knowing the writer and
why he wrote it (intention).
13. The different interpretive and epistemological
perspectives of different schools of theory often
arise from, and so give support to, different moral
and political commitments.
14. A New Critic might read a poem by T. S. Eliot or Gerard
Manley Hopkins for its degree of honesty in expressing
the torment and contradiction of a serious search for
belief in the modern world.
A Marxist critic might find such judgments merely
ideological rather than critical.
A post-structuralist critic might simply avoid the issue by
understanding the religious meaning of a poem as an
allegory of meaning.
A critic using Darwinian literary studies might use
arguments from the evolutionary psychology of religion.
15. For some theories of literature (especially certain kinds
of formalism), the distinction between "literary" and
other sorts of texts is of paramount importance.
Other schools (particularly post-structuralism in its
various forms: new historicism, deconstruction, some
strains of Marxism and feminism) have sought to break
down distinctions between the two and have applied
the tools of textual interpretation to a wide range of
"texts", including film, non-fiction, historical
writing, and even cultural events.
16. Another crucial distinction among the various theories
of literary interpretation is intentionality, the amount of
weight given to the author's own opinions about and
intentions for a work.
For most pre-20th century approaches, the author's
intentions are a guiding factor and an important
determiner of the "correct" interpretation of texts.
The New Criticism was the first school to disavow the
role of the author in interpreting texts, preferring to
focus on "the text itself" in a close reading.
19. The Renaissance is a French word which means re-
birth, revival or re-awakening.
The Renaissance was both a revival of ancient classical
mythology, literature and culture as well as a re-
awakening of the human mind, after the long sleep of
the dark Middle Ages.
It began in Italy as early as the 14th century with the
works of Petrarch and others and was greatly
stimulated by the fall of Constantinople in 1453, by the
invention of printing in Germany about this very
time, and the great discoveries of scientists and
navigators which followed.
20. The Age of Enlightenment (or simply
the Enlightenment or Age of Reason) was a cultural
movement of intellectuals in 18th century Europe and
the American colonies.
Its purpose was to reform society using reason (rather
than tradition, faith and revelation) and advance
knowledge through science.
Originating about 1650 to 1700, it was sparked by
philosophers Baruch Spinoza (1632–1677), John
Locke (1632–1704), Pierre Bayle(1647–
1706), physicist Isaac Newton (1643–1727), and
philosopher Voltaire (1694–1778).
21. Literary Modernism has its origins in the late 19th and
early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North
America.
Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break
with traditional styles of poetry and verse.
Modernists experimented with literary form and
expression, adhering to the modernist maxim to "Make
it new."
The modernist literary movement was driven by a
desire to overturn traditional modes of representation
and express the new sensibilities of their time.
22. The term postmodern literature is used to describe
certain characteristics of post–World War II
literature (relying heavily, for example, on
fragmentation, paradox, questionable
narrators, etc.) and a reaction
against Enlightenment ideas implicit in Modernist
literature.
