Chapter+9

= "Critical Approaches" =

Chapter 9 of //A Short Guide to Writing about literature// discusses many different critical approaches writers should use when writing about literature. The book wants critics to evaluate a text through a literary theory: “Professional critics work from assumptions, but their assumptions are usually highly conscious, and the critics may define their assumptions at length. They read all text through the lens of a particular theory, and their focus enables them to see things that otherwise might go unnoticed”(Barnet and Cain p.110). When scholars and professionals read literature they use different literary approaches to understand literature better, and these literary approaches are Feminism, Deconstructionism, Readers-response, Historicism, New Historicism, Marxism, and Feminism. Critical approaches help readers and writers interpret literature in various ways and these methods allow them to think philosophically about the meaning of a text.

The first literary approach A Short Guide to Writing about literature discusses is Formalist Criticism. Formalist Criticism emphasizes a literary work as “an independent creation, a self-contained unit, something to be studied in itself, not as part of something larger context” (Barnet and Cain p.110). Unlike many critics, formalist critics only concentrate “on the work itself, the work is independent of its writers and the writer’s background—that is, independent of biography, psychology, sociology, and history” (Barnet and Cain p. 110), when evaluating a text. Formalist critics also assume that the text “meaning is fully and completely presented within the text” (Barnet and Cain p.111).

Socialist Lester Faigley would not agree with the formalist view proposed by //A Short Guide to Writing about Literature.// Faigley would suggest meaning can be understood through a society and not through the eyes of one individual. Socialists “reject the assumption that writing is the act of a private consciousness and that everything—readers, subjects, and texts—is out there in the world” (Faigley p.659). Interpreting the meaning of a text requires understanding how a text relates to society.


 * Note:** This wikispace can be used as a guide to decide whether or not the text //A Short Guide to Writing About Literature// will be effective for your classroom probably at the college level. Throughout the review of this book, several composition theorists and their writings are referenced. Familiarity with these articles and theories will be helpful in accessing this guide and deciding whether or not to use this book as a source. For your convenience, on the Annotated Bibliography page of this wiki an annotated bibliography including extensive summaries of each work references can be found.