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Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Unit Contents Lead-in Text A Text B Text C Academic Language and Discourse Listening Speaking Writing

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Lead-in– Lead-in activities – Supplementary information

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Lead-inActivities

Discuss the following questions:1.What is literary theory? 2.What is literary criticism? 3. Why do we need literary theory and literary criticism?

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Lead-inSupplementary information

What is literary theory? In a strict sense: the systematic study of the nature of literature and the methods for analyzing literature In a wider sense: various scholarly approaches to reading texts (These approaches and ideas act as different lenses literary critics use to analyze literature, and they allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a piece of literary works.) A most fundamental question asked by literary theory: ―What is literature?‖

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Lead-inSupplementary information

What is literary criticism?Literary criticism is the evaluation, analysis or description of a particular literary work or a group of writings as a whole.Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory. Criticism is usually in the form of a critical essay. Academic literary critics (teaching in universities, publishing in academic journals, etc.) More popular critics (publishing in newspapers and magazines)

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text AThe Reading Process and Literary Theory– Classroom activities – Supplementary information – Suggested answer key

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text AClassroom activities

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Discuss the questions in Task 1 and Task 2 Critical Reading and Thinking P7 Come to the front of the class and give a brief introduction to one of the following major schools of literary criticism: Marxist criticism reader-response criticism New Historicism postcolonialism African American studies gender studies

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Louise M. Rosenblatt and her theory of readingLouise M. Rosenblatt (1904-2005) was Emeritus Professor of English Education at New York University and holds an outstanding position in the fields of Education and Literary Studies.

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Louise M. Rosenblatt and her theory of reading

She outlined a theory of reading as a transactional process. Once in an interview, when asked why she preferred the use of the term ―transactional/transaction‖, she answered:

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading

Process and Literary Theory Louise M. Rosenblatt and her theory of reading“Reading is transaction , during which each is continuously affecting the other. I suppose ecology is the field in which people understand this best-that human beings are affected by the environment, but they are also affecting it all the time, so that there is a transaction going on. …The continuous reciprocal influence of reader and text is similar, for instance, to two people talking to one another. What is said at the beginning of the conversation may take on an entirely different meaning by the end of it. (to be continued)

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Louise M. Rosenblatt and her theory of reading(continued)

What's said affects the person who hears it, who then says something response that affects the first speaker. Rather than two static entities, each person is being affected in the conversation and what comes next depends on what happened so far. The same thing is going on between the reader and these squiggles on the page. Squiggles on the page are just signs. … I call my theory the transactional theory because I wanted to emphasis this dynamic relationship. ” -- Louise M. Rosenblatt

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Marxist literary criticism Based on socialist and dialectic theories Viewing literary works as being originated from the social institutions and reflecting the social institutions Concerning with the social and political meanings of the text (e.g. the ways in which the text reveals ideological oppression of a dominant economic class over subordinate classes)

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Reader-response criticism Focus: the reader and their response to the text Systematic examination of the parts of the text that arouse, shape, and guide a reader's response Different from formalist interpretations of literature (which emphasizes objective interpretation of a text on the basis of established criteria)

One of the earliest proponents of this theory: Louise M. Rosenblatt.

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory New Historicism Aim: to associate a work with the time period when it was produced, (especially with the cultural and political movements of the time) The underlying basic assumption: (Every work is a product of the historic context.)

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory New Historicism

Stephen Greenblatt is regarded as one of the founders of New Historicism, a set of critical practices that he often refers to as "Cultural Poetics―.

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASu

pplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Postcolonialism Concerned with literature produced by colonial powers or those who were/are colonized

Looking at how power, economics, politics, religion, and culture work in relation to colonial hegemony

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory African American studiesAfrican American studies examines, from numerous disciplinary perspectives, the history, literature, religion, culture and politics of Black Americans.

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Gender studies Aiming to describe how ideas and assumptions about biological sex and gender influence the political, social, and cultural construction of gender identities Resorting to the concept of gender to analyze a wide range of disciplines Including women's studies, men's studies, studies on gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender topics, etc.

Unit 2 Literary Theory and Criticism

Text ASupplementary information

The Reading Process and Literary Theory Gender studies