Literary Critics Flashcards
What is Carl Jung’s theory?
●Revolved around the idea of a personal and collective unconscious, resulting in forgotten experiences influencing our behaviour.
●One must embrace oneself to be a whole person
What is John Locke’s notion?
John Locke’s notion of ‘tabula rasa’ is a theory that suggests everyone is born with an empty mind, later shaped by our future experiences.
What is Karl Marx’s Marxism?
Belief that society is capitalist and based on individuals making profits, rather than the interest of all people
What is Simone de Beauvoir’s theory?
Gender is a social construct, and women, who have restricted gender roles, are the ‘second sex’.
What is Jacques Derrida’s theory?
●Language used reflects that of a society
●Society’s need for binary opposites to understand concepts -> has created a hierarchy as one is seen as more important.
What does the Queer theory do?
It rejects conventional and mainstream behaviour, suggesting alternatives to break the cycle.
What is AO1 about ?
Quality of argument and organisation of ideas
What is AO2 about?
●Ways in which meanings are shaped
●analysis of language
●presentation of characters in relation to contemporary times
What is AO3 about? (Gender)
●Social Historical Cultural Contexts
●typical representations of gender in the literature of love
●change in social attitudes over time regarding different themes/topics
What is AO4?
●explore connections across literary texts
●Plays as a comedy
●representations of key themes/topics across literature
What is AO5?
Different interpretations regarding different themes/topic questions
What are the steps for analysing prose?
- Personal reaction
- Summarise meaning
- Identify contexts
- Identify techniques(Structure/Language/Form)
- Why?(How do they add to meaning?)
Who created the theory of binary opposites to understand concepts relating to hierarchies?
Jacques Derrida
What are 3 words for show and 1 word for suggest?
Elucidate
Epitomise
Exemplify
Insinuate
What does elucidate mean?
To show/make clear
What does insinuate mean?
Suggest/imply
What does exemplify mean?
To show/be an example of
What does epitomise mean?
Serves as an example of (show)
What are 5 structure techniques to analyse? (SLANV)
Sequencing
Liminal spaces
Agency+Power
Narrative arcs
Voice
When was the Taming Shrew, Rebecca, Top Girls, Colour Purple, and Feminine Gospels all written?
Around 1590- Taming of Shrew
1938- Rebecca
1982- Top Girls
1982- The Color Purple
2002- Feminine Gospels
Who created the theory of a personal and collective unconscious that results in forgotten experiences influencing our behaviour?
Carl Jung
What is another to say a play is ‘put on’?
A play is ‘staged’
What to think of when you see significance?
How meanings encoded?
What is syntax?
The arrangement of words/phrases
What is caesura?
Breaks in rhythm or thought
What is an end-stopped line?
A complete thought/phrase that appears on a single line and is followed by punctuation.
What is enjambment?
When a sentence carries over to the next line with punctuation to end it.
What is Simone de Beauvoir’s opinion on female definition?
She believes that women are ‘defined and differentiated with reference to a man’ and that ‘He is the subject whereas ‘She is the other.’
What does Alice Walker say about slavery?
She says the ‘slave-owning mentality came down into the family as the behaviour of men.’
