What Is Literary Criticism? Definition and Examples

Anybody can have an opinion a few guide (cherished it, hated it, page-turner, whole drag), however the capability to substantiate and consider that opinion is the work of literary criticism. Literary criticism is the interpretation, evaluation, and judgment of a bit of literature. Not solely is literary criticism an necessary type of cultural manufacturing, however studying find out how to learn and write literary criticism can broaden your worldview and deepen your connection to writing and literature.

What’s literary criticism?

Literary criticism is the interpretation, evaluation, and judgment of a textual content. The aim of literary criticism is to assist a reader higher interact with or problem that writing. Good criticism deepens our understanding of literature and contributes to literature’s improvement over time. It’s additionally a terrific place to choose up some writing strategies of your personal.

Regardless of its title, literary criticism is not nearly being vital. It takes plenty of effort to write a guide, and the job of the critic is to not (essentially) tear that work down. The phrase criticism refers to a capability to research, type an opinion, and substantiate it with proof—in different phrases, to suppose critically.

A typical construction for literary criticism begins with a abstract of the textual content, examines its arguments, and ends with an analysis. Many main information publications run literary criticism of their weekend editions. Critics writing for these publications are writing for a basic viewers, which makes their work an approachable introduction to literary criticism.

Literary criticism vs. literary idea

Literary criticism and literary idea are intently associated fields, however they take care of literature on completely different scales. Whereas literary criticism seeks to research particular works of literature, literary idea is worried with literature on a philosophical degree. Criticism asks questions like “What did the writer intend to do with this guide?” whereas idea asks questions like “What’s the purpose of literature?”

One other approach to consider this distinction is that literary criticism offers with a particular guide (or set of books), whereas literary idea offers with broader ideas about books. Notably, the 2 fields usually overlap. Literary idea is used to help literary criticism, and literary criticism can affect literary idea.

What are the several types of literary criticism?

Historic-biographical criticism

Historic-biographical criticism, typically known as conventional criticism, attracts on an writer’s biography to higher perceive and analyze a textual content. All issues of biography, together with geography, race, class, gender, historic second, and so forth, can present related info to the critic partaking in this type of criticism.

Ethical-philosophical criticism

Ethical-philosophical criticism operates below the idea that literature performs a sure moral or ethical function in society. With this in thoughts, moral-philosophical criticism analyzes texts based mostly on their moral deserves and is usually written inside the framework of a prevailing college of thought.

New criticism

New criticism engages solely with what the writer has placed on a web page. It disregards exterior context and emotional response and as an alternative locations an emphasis on type, construction, and the phrases themselves.

Reader-response criticism

Reader-response criticism is precisely what it seems like: criticism based mostly on the reader’s response to the textual content. This method asserts {that a} reader’s preliminary response is efficacious info for analysis. Whereas this method is essentially the most subjective, the critic continues to be required to substantiate their response utilizing the textual content itself.

Criticism may also be anchored in broader fields of research, comparable to feminism, Marxism, and postcolonialism. Some widespread types of literary criticism rooted in idea are:

Feminist criticism: understands a textual content by means of the lens of feminism and gender roles.

Sociological criticism: considers the political and social viewpoint of the writer or characters inside the textual content.

Psychoanalytical criticism: makes use of the psychological state of characters to interpret and analyze a textual content’s that means.

Queer idea: analyzes a textual content by means of the angle of gender and sexuality.

Important race idea: understands a textual content by means of the intersectional dimensions of race and tradition.

Important incapacity idea: understands a textual content by means of the lens of incapacity and analyzes societal constructions that uphold ableism.

3 literary criticism examples

Final Practice to Memphis: The Rise of Elvis Presley, reviewed by Margo Jefferson, The New York Instances

In 1995, Margo Jefferson received a Pulitzer Prize for her work as a New York Instances guide critic. Amongst her successful articles is a overview of the Elvis Presley biography Final Practice to Memphis, by Peter Guralnick. Jefferson’s overview is a tightly framed take a look at Elvis’s life and the writer’s try to eradicate him from “the dreary bondage of delusion and from the oppressive aftershock of cultural significance.”

Jefferson doesn’t consider the writer’s purpose is achievable because of the deep entrenchment of Elvis in common delusion and the singer’s cultural significance. She affords this speculation up entrance after which substantiates her declare by summarizing the guide and including her personal cultural context.

For example, writing about Elvis’s model of rock and roll, Jefferson notes:

“The weather weren’t new, they usually had been put collectively earlier than. (Consider Louis Armstrong and Bing Crosby; even the Mills Brothers and Ukulele Ike Edwards.) The proportions have been new, although: the tempos have been all-out quick and the tone was flat-out insolent. To some, rock-and-roll was as threatening as Communism and desegregation.”

Because it seems, Jefferson isn’t a lot of an Elvis fan, however by intently studying the biography, she is ready to acknowledge and respect his place in tradition. She concludes:

“Is he a terrific singer? To those ears, no. Is he a terrific performer? Sure and sure once more.”

A reader of this overview good points a deeper understanding of the principle character (Elvis), an evaluation of the writer’s intentions, a vital contextualization of Elvis’s music, and Jefferson’s personal judgment.

Afterlives, reviewed by Julian Lucas, The New Yorker

Julian Lucas’s overview of Afterlives, by Abdulrazak Gurnah, is a good instance of long-form historical-biographical criticism. Lucas makes use of Gurnah’s latest guide to jot down a complete profile of him: his life experiences, his earlier novels, and his literary fashion. This background analysis permits Lucas to finally analyze Afterlives extra deeply and situate it inside the writer’s whole portfolio.

An instance of the biographical context that Lucas consists of is:

“He was born, in 1948, in Stone City, Zanzibar’s nineteenth-century capital, the place his father traded in fish.”

An instance of the historic context that Lucas consists of:

“Zanzibar is a small island that can be a significant crossroads for Africa, Asia, and Europe. It is likely one of the historic facilities of Swahili civilization, a free community of coastal societies stretching from Somalia to Mozambique, whose language serves as East Africa’s lingua franca.”

On this piece of literary criticism, Lucas not solely introduces and evaluates the novel, but additionally familiarizes the reader with the writer’s biography, the story’s geography, and the historical past of each.

“3 New Books in Translation Mix Liberation With Darkness,” by Lily Meyer, NPR

On this piece of criticism, NPR critic Lily Meyer introduces the reader to 3 new books in a comparatively small quantity of area. She begins by stringing all three books alongside a connective thread: They’re all works in translation that “mix liberation with darkness,” because the headline suggests. This permits her to make use of a speculation concerning the books’ themes (i.e., liberation and darkness) as an anchor. Having a robust throughline permits a critic to cowl extra floor with out dropping the reader within the course of.

Her overview is split into three sections, one for every guide. In every part Meyer affords a detailed evaluation of characters, plot, and tone. She additionally evaluates the books’ strengths and weaknesses and explains how every of these contributes to a reader’s expertise.

Literary criticism FAQs

What’s literary criticism?

Literary criticism is the interpretation, evaluation, and judgment of a piece of literature. Good literary criticism leaves its reader with a deeper understanding of the textual content, whereas nice literary criticism offers its reader a deeper understanding of the world.

What’s its objective?

The aim of literary criticism is to deeply interact with a piece of literature in an effort to interpret its that means, broaden its reader’s understanding, and mark the work’s place in cultural historical past.

What are the completely different sorts of literary criticism?

There are numerous completely different sorts of literary criticism, however 4 main sorts of literary criticism are:

• Historic-biographical criticism, which incorporates an writer’s sociohistorical context.
• Ethical-philosophical criticism, which evaluates a guide’s ethical messages.
• New criticism, which focuses on the formal makes use of of language.
• Reader-response criticism, which emphasizes a reader’s personal response to the textual content.

Different forms of literary criticism are framed by broad fields of analysis, comparable to feminist criticism, sociological criticism, and psychoanalytical criticism.