Literary Analysis and Criticism

Literary Analysis and Criticism

Criticism definition

• from "critical"
  • adjective to discern, judge
  • see critical thought

• in literature, "criticism" involves assessment of a work through
  • analysis of literary techniques and their effectiveness
  • other literary merits
  • other literary faults

Summarizing

• plot, setting, narrator, character, conflict, change, connection, reflection, language, and theme.

Literary analysis

author background

• author biography & background
  • who, when, where?
• author historical context
  • what was going on around the author at the time of the authoriship
• author publications
  • what else did the author do? how does it speak to this work?
• author critical reception
  • purposes and points of view of critics and their criticism

author purpose

• why this work?
• for what goal or purpose?

Textual analysis:

• Literary scene: when, where, what
• Voice: told from what point of view?
• Structure: sections, chapters, etc.
• Plot or narrative: what happens?
• Plot development: how does the author develop the narrative?
• Tone: what's the author's or text's "mood"?
• Voice
• Character: what's the point, purpose and meaning of characters, esp. author choice of names (aka "characterization")
• Themes and undertones: what's the underlying story or purpose here? (aka "reading between the lines")
• Literary devices: how does the author present, develop and draw out those themes and undertones
  • metaphor
  • exaggeration
  • personification
  • irony
  • symbolism

• Moral purpose: what does the author want us to learn?

Journey of the hero

12 Elements of the hero's journey:

1. background, life as normal

2. the call

3. refusal of the call

4. mentor

5. passing the threshhold (heading into the journey)

6. encounter allies and enemies

7. tests and challenges

8. the "innermost cave" (despair moment)

9. seizing the sword: facing the enemy head on

10. the ultimate ordeal

11. resurrection: hero brought back to life, literally

12. Returning w/ the elixir and return to normal life

• see : Joesph Campbell's "The Power of Myth"
  • the monomyth of call to adventure, tests, and resurrection

Literary Criticism

George Orwell

• Politics and the English Language
  • essay on honesty and clarity of language
  • argues against euphemisms and euphemistic language
  • online sources:

Sokal affair

• Professor of Physics Alan Sokal published a paper purporting to take seriously the idea that the laws of physics are social constructs
  • he was satirizing similar theories in the social sciences, especially postmodern studies
• his paper: Transgressing the Boundaries: Toward a Transformative Hermeneutics of Quantum Gravity (nyu.edu)
• see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sokal_affair

How to Read Literature Like a Professor

• by Thomas C. Foster: "How to Read Literature Like a Professor: A Lively and Entertaining Guide to Reading Between the Lines"
  • Themes, advice, and quotations
    • "Fiction and poetry and drama are not necessarily playgrounds for the overly literal" (p. << to cite)
    • "No literary Christ figure can ever be as pure, as perfect, as divine as Jesus Christ. Here as elsewhere, one does well to remember that writing literature is an exercise of the imagination. And so is reading it."
    • to bring our imaginations to bear on a story if we are to see all its possibilities; otherwise it’s just about somebody who did something." (p. << to cite)
• online sources:
  • Cleveland.rrps.net full text
  • Mseffie.com full text
  • LitCHarts.com