U1 Key Terms

Question 1

Literature

Answer 1

Written or oral works that have lasting, superior, or artistic merit. Including books or texts published on particular subjects. Tells you about being, or about life, but not how to get around or do things

Question 2

Literary Theory

Answer 2

It is the systematic study of the nature of literature and the methods used for literary analysis. Concerned with the principles underlying the analysis and understanding of literary works. Jump started by Russian Formalism in the early 1900’s.

Question 3

Russian Formalism

Answer 3

Emphasizes the autonomous nature of literature. See it neither as a reflection of the author’s life nor a cultural byproduct of the historical time it was created. Attempt to isolate the formal properties of literature and how the way certain devices determine the literariness/artfulness of an object. Looks at the impact of poetic language (defamiliarization) more generally than at individual texts

Question 4

New Criticism

Answer 4

Assumes that a text is an isolated entity that can be understood through the tools and techniques of close reading. What a text says and how it says it are inseparable. More narrow focus and looks more at individual works than Russian Formalism

Question 5

Literariness

Answer 5

Studied by the Russian Formalists. It is the sum of devices that distinguish literary language from ordinary language. An attempt to study literature scientifically as a special use of language with observable features

Question 6

Canon Formation

Answer 6

“A process of social valuation cloaked in objectivity.” Canon is the collection of works considered representative of a period of genre. A process where over time works become replaced by other more modern, relevant works. Canon formation occurs as what is ‘representative’ evolves and changes and works that no longer encompass that are left behind

Question 7

Institutionalization

Answer 7

A process intended to regulate societal behaviour within organizations or entire societies. The history of English as a subject to study. Literature participates in the entrenchment of social values. Using literature to control the working class and maintain social order

Question 8

Critical Inquiry

Answer 8

An intellectual activity that questions how we understand the world. As a historical practice it has political consequences and comments on who we are and how we live with other people