Literary Theories Flashcards
Feminist Criticism
Concerned with the ways lit reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women.
Reader-Response Criticism
Considers readers’ reactions to literature as vital to interpreting the meaning of the text
Reading is a creative experience
Readers actively make meaning in text by using background knowledge and experiences
Formalism or New Criticism
Advocate methodical and systematic readings of texts.
Picks apart and looks for symbols, themes, historical and political times the text was written, and the authors beliefs
Focused on the history and meanings of individual words and texts.
New Historicism/ Cultural Studies
Every work is the product of the historic work that created it
We cannot look at history objectively
Facts are a matter of interpretation
Post-Colonial Criticism
Similar to Cultural Studies
Concerned with lit produced by colonial powers–those who were/are colonized
Ex) Things Fall Apart
Marxist Criticism
Concerns itself with different classes, economic and otherwise, and of the capital system. Interested in oppression of lower and working class
Upheaval and revolution
Ex) Les Miserables
