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1Unit2LiteraryTheoryandCriticismThepracticeofliterarytheoryhashistoricalrootsthatrunasfarbackasancientGreeceanditbecameaprofessioninthe20thcentury.Thisunitwillgiveyouabriefintroductiontoliterarytheoryandsomeofthemajorschoolsofliterarycriticism,whichisofteninformedbyliterarytheory.PartITextALead-inWhatisliterarytheory?Whatisliterarycriticism?Andwhydoweneedthem?WritedownyouranswersbeforereadingTextA._______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________NowreadTextAandcompareyouranswerswiththeauthor’sanalysis.Thereadingprocessandliterarytheory1CharlesE.BresslerTherelationshipbetweenliterarytheoryandareader’spersonalworldviewisbestillustratedintheactofreadingitself.Whenreading,weareconstantlyinteractingwiththetext.AccordingtoLouiseM.Rosenblatt2’stextTheReader,theText,thePoem(1978),duringtheactoreventofreading,Areaderbringstothetexthisorherpastexperienceandpresentpersonality.Underthemagnetismoftheorderedsymbolsofthetext,thereadermarshalshisorherresourcesandcrystallizesoutfromthestuffofmemory,thought,andfeelinganeworder,anewexperience,whichhe/sheseesasthepoem.Thisbecomespartoftheongoingstreamofthereader’slifeexperience,tobereflectedonfromanyangleimportanttohimorherasahumanbeing.Accordingly,Rosenblattdeclaresthattherelationshipbetweenthereaderandthetextisnotlinear,buttransactional;thatis,itisaprocessoreventthattakesplaceataparticulartimeandplaceinwhichthetextandthereaderconditioneachother.Thereaderandthetexttransact,creatingmeaning,formeaningdoesnotexistsolelywithinthereader’smindorwithinthetext,Rosenblattmaintains,butinthetransactionbetweenthem.Toarriveataninterpretationofatext(whatRosenblattcallsthepoem),readersbringtheirown“temperamentandfundofpasttransactionstothetextandlivethroughaprocessofhandlingnewsituations,newattitudes,newpersonalities,[and]newconflictsinvalue.Theycanreject,revise,orassimilateintotheresourceswithwhichtheyengagetheirworld.”Throughthistransactionalexperience,readersconsciouslyandunconsciouslyamendtheirworldview.Becausenoliterarytheorycanaccountforallthevariousfactorsincludedineveryone’sconceptualframework,andbecauseweasreadersallhavedifferent2literaryexperiences,therecanexistnometatheory–nooneoverarchingliterarytheorythatencompassesallpossibleinterpretationsofatextsuggestedbyitsreaders.Andtoo,therecanbenoonecorrectliterarytheory,forinandofitself,eachliterarytheoryasksvalidquestionsofandaboutatext,andnoonetheoryiscapableofexhaustingalllegitimatequestionstobeaskedaboutanytext.Thevalidandlegitimatequestionsaskedaboutatextbythevariousliterarytheoriesdiffer,oftenwidely.Espousingseparatecriticalorientations,eachtheoryfocusesprimarilyononeelementoftheinterpretativeprocess,althoughinpracticedifferenttheoriesmayaddressseveralareasofconcernininterpretingatext.Forexample,onetheorymaystresstheworkitself,believingthatthetextalonecontainsallthenecessaryinformationtoarriveataninterpretation.Thistheoryisolatesthetextfromitshistoricalorsociologicalsettingandconcentratesontheliteraryformsfoundinthetext,suchasfiguresofspeech,wordchoice,andstyle.Anothertheorymayattempttoplaceatextinitshistorical,political,sociological,religious,andeconomicsetting.Byplacingthetextinhistoricalperspective,thistheoryassertsthatitsadherentscanarriveataninterpretationthatboththetext’sauthoranditsoriginalaudiencewouldsupport.Stillanothertheorymaydirectitschiefconcerntowardthetext’saudience.Itaskshowthereaders’emotionsandpersonalbackgroundsaffecteachreader’sinterpretationofaparticulartext.Whethertheprimaryfocusofconcernispsychological,linguistic,mythical,historical,orfromanyothercriticalorientation,eachliterarytheoryestablishesitsowntheoreticalbasisandthenproceedstodevelopitsownmethodologywherebyreaderscanapplytheparticulartheorytoanactualtext.Althougheachreader’stheoryandmethodologyforarrivingatatext’sinterpretationdiffers,soonerorlatergroupsofreadersandcriticsdeclareallegiancetoasimilarcoreofbeliefsandbandtogether,therebyfoundingschoolsofcriticism.Forexample,criticswhobelievethatsocialandhistoricalconcernsmustbehighlightedinatextareknownasMarxistcritics,whereasreader-responsecriticsconcentrateonreaders’personalreactionstothetext.Becausenewpointsofviewconcerningliteraryworksarecontinuallyevolving,newschoolsofcriticism–andthereforenewliterarytheories–willcontinuetodevelop.Oneofthemorerecentschoolstoemergeinthe1980sand1990s,NewHistoricismorCulturalPoetics,declaresthatatextmustbeanalyzedthroughhistoricalresearchthatassumesthathistoryandfictionareinseparable.Themembersofthisschool,knownasNewHistoricists,hopetoshifttheboundariesbetweenhistoryandliteratureandtherebyproducecriticismthataccuratelyreflectswhattheybelievetobetheproperrelationshipbetweenthetextanditshistoricalcontext.Stillothernewlyevolvingschoolsofcriticism,suchaspostcolonialism3,AfricanAmericanstudies,andgenderstudies,continuetoemergeandchallengepreviouswaysofthinkingaboutandcritiquingtexts.Becausethevariousschoolsofcriticis