Literary theories are ideas that "act as different lenses critics use to view and talk about art, literature, and even culture. These different lenses allow critics to consider works of art based on certain assumptions within that school of theory. The different lenses also allow critics to focus on particular aspects of a work they consider important.
For example, if a critic is working with certain Marxist theories, s/he might focus on how the characters in a story interact based on their economic situation. If a critic is working with post-colonial theories, s/he might consider the same story but look at how characters from colonial powers (Britain, France, and even America) treat characters from, say, Africa or the Caribbean" (Purdue OWL, n.d.)
Words about Words about Words: Theory, Criticism, and the Literary Text by
Theory and institutions: Critical movements and academic structures. Words about words about words: theory, criticism, and the literary text ; The arts and the idea of progress ; From theory to thematics: The ideological underside of recent theory ; Literary invention, critical fashion, and the impulse to theoretical change: "Or whether revolution be the same" ; A meditation on a critical theory institute -- Critical positions: Self-definition and other definitions. An apology for poetics ; A colloquy on "An apology for poetics" ; The literary privilege of evaluation ; An E.H. Gombrich retrospective: The ambiguities of representation and illusion ; "Both sides of now" -- Reconsiderations of special texts for special reasons. Presentation and representation in the Renaissance lyric: The net of words and the escape of the gods ; A humanity in the humanities: Literature among the discourses ; The conversion from history to Utopia in Shakespeare's Sonnets ; Orpheus mit Gluck: The deceiving gratific(a)tions of presence ; "A waking dream": The symbolic alternative to allegory.
Critical Theory and the Literary Canon by
Kolbas stakes out new territory in assessing the war over literary canon formation, a subject that contemporary polemicists have devoted much ink to. Throughout this succinct manuscript, Kolbas ranges through the sociology and politics of culture, aesthetic theory, and literary theory to develop his point that texts not only must should be situated in the historical and material conditions of their production, but also evaluated for their very real aesthetic content. One reason the is an important issue, Kolbas contends, is that the canon is not simply enclosed in the ivory tower of academia; its effects are apparent in a much wider field of cultural production and use. He begins by critiquing the conservative humanist and liberal pluralist positions on the canon, which either assiduously avoid any sociological explanation of the canon or treat texts as stand-ins for particular ideologies. Kolbas is sympathetic to the arguments of Bourdieu et. al. regarding positioning the canon in a wider "field of cultural production" than the university, but argues that theirs are purely sociological explanations of aesthetics (i.e., there is no objective aesthetic content) that ignore art's autonomous realm, which he argues -- a la Adorno -- exists (if only problematically). Ultimately, he argues that critical theory, particularly the arguments of Adorno on aesthetics, offers the most fruitful path for evaluating the canon, despite the approach's clear flaws. His vision is a sociological one, but one that treats the components of the canon as possessing objective aesthetic content, albeit content that shifts in meaning over history.
Subjective Criticism by
Languge, literacy, and criticism -- The subjective paradigm -- The motivational character of language and symbol formation -- The logic of interpretation -- Epistemological assumptions in the study of response -- The pedagogical development of knowledge -- The relative negotiability of response statements -- Acts of taste and changes of taste -- The construction of literary meaning -- The conception and documentation of the author -- Collective interests and the definition of literary regularities -- Knowlege, responsibility, and community.
Aesthetics, theory and interpretation of the literary work by
This book introduces the reader to the literary work and to an understanding of its cultural background and its specific features. In doing so, it refers to two main traditions of Western culture: one of aesthetics and the theory of art and the other of literary theory. In our postmodern world, language and artistic creation (and above all literature as the art of language) occupy a special role in understanding the human world and become existential issues. A critical attitude requires knowledge of the relevant past in order to understand what we are today. The author presents key topics, ideas, and representatives of aesthetics, theory, and the interpretation of works of art in an historical perspective, in order to explain the Western tradition with constant attention to the present condition. Aesthetics, Theory and Interpretation of the Literary Work offers an outline of essential concepts and authors of aesthetics and theories of the literary work, presenting basic topics and ideas in their historical context and development, considering their relevance to the contemporary debate, and highlighting the specificity of the experience of the art work in our present world. The best way to approach a work of art is to enjoy it. In order to enjoy a literary work, we have to consider its correct context and its specific artistic qualities. The book is conceived as a general and enjoyable introduction to the experience of the work of art in Western culture.
Methodology: An Introduction to Literary Theory by The Nature of Writing via Youtube
The History of Literary Theory from Plato to the Romantics by Dr. Scott Masson via YouTube
How to Analyze Literature by HACC at Central Pennsylvania's Community College via YouTube
