Literary Analysis and Criticism
Literary Analysis and Criticism
Criticism definition[edit | edit source]
- from "critical"
- adjective to discern, judge
- see critical thought
Summarizing[edit | edit source]
- plot, setting, narrator, character, conflict, change, connection, reflection, language, and theme.
Journey of the hero[edit | edit source]
Jecon 11/27
12 Elements of the heros journey:
1. background, life as normal 2. the call 3. refusal of the call 4. discover a 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, literal o 12. Returning w/ the elixir >> going back to normal life see : Joesph Campbell's "The Power of Myth" > the monomyth of call to adventure, tests, and resurrection
Literary Criticism[edit | edit source]
George Orwell[edit | edit source]
- Politics and the English Language
- essay on honesty and clarity of language
- argues against euphemisms and euphemistic language
- online sources:
Sokal affair[edit | edit source]
- 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
Thomas C. Foster[edit | edit source]
- 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."
- Themes, advice, and quotations
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: