Liberal Humanism Flashcards
Who is an important Liberal humanism person?
Matthew Arnold (1822-1888)
Liberal humanism: literature is the most important alternative for…
religion in providing meaning (Matthew Arnold)
What is literature according to Matthew Arnold?
Literature is ‘the best that has been thought and said in the world’
Traditional criticism is based on which various unspoken (liberal humanist) assumptions?
- Human beings are free subjects.
2. Human nature and the human condition are universal. 3. True culture is timeless
What are the 2 literary theories of liberal humanism in the 1920s-1950s?
Practical criticism (UK: I.A. Richards) and New Criticism (US: John Crowe Ransom)
What do Liberal Humanists avoid?
They avoid the intentional (the fallacy of basing an assessment of a work on the author’s intention rather than on one’s response to the actual work.) and affective fallacies (to refer to the supposed error of judging or evaluating a text on the basis of its emotional effects on a reader.)
What do Liberal Humanists focus on?
Focus on the text: close reading for form and meaning. Also reflect on the importance of ‘great’ literature
What is a critique on liberal humanists?
Implicit marginalization of texts that are not written by dead white man and of cultural/societal politics.
What do theoretical approaches recognize?
That there is no absolute neutrality or objectivity in producing , reading, or analysing a text
What is the function of literary theory?
- foregrounding ‘ideologies’.
- revealing (political, cultural, social, ect.) assumptions
- questioning authorship, criteria of value, contexts of writing/reading and the definition of ‘literature’.
What are the five codes of reading?
- Proairetic: actions (narrative progress).
- Hermeneutic: questions (enigmas for the reader).
- Cultural: references (contingent on external knowledge).
- Semic: connotations (determination of character/stance/atmosphere).
- Symbolic: themes (structural binary oppositions)
