Critical Theories Flashcards
(35 cards)
What is the ‘Canon’?
The body of literary texts considered most worthy of study because of their importance, quality, and value.
What types of authors have a firm place in the Canon?
- William Shakespeare
- William Wordsworth
- Jane Austen
How concrete is the Canon?
It fluctuates depending on what society considers valuable.
How diverse is the contemporary Canon?
It is accused of representing only the work of dead, white, middle class men- not because that work is more valuable but because the ppl who have decided what works are valuable tend to be people of privilege.
What texts fill the Canon?
‘High art’- literature considered to be sublime, timeless, and sort of intrinsically valuable.
Why isn’t popular writing and mass media production considered Canon?
Considered useful, commercial, and ephemeral, and are thus not considered worthy of a place in the Canon.
What do feminist readings consider overall?
Feminist critics consider different gender representations within texts.
What are some specific gender issues feminist critics consider?
- Understanding gender roles, both ♂+♀, is often part of feminist project.
- Gender roles harm ♂+♀+ stereotypical expectations of masculinity can harm ♀.
- Look for ways to sympathise w/oppression of women in texts or celebrate ♀ + ability to assert themselves.
What is ecocriticism?
Looks at role of literature in protecting the natural world
‘Anthropocentrism’
Assumption that human life is the central fact of the planet
‘Anthropomorphism’
Attribution of human form or personality to nature
‘Deep Ecology’
Radical form of ecology challenges anthropocentrism and insists that humans must subordinate their interests to those of the planet.
‘Ecofeminism’
Movement that resists both domination of nature by humanity and domination of women by men, exploring connection between the two processes and seeking a new relationship between woman, man and nature.
‘Environmentalism’
By contrast w/’deep ecology’, the belief that the natural world can be ‘managed’ for the benefit of humanity while causing as little damage to the biosphere as possible within the existing culture-nature relationship.
‘Green Studies’
Emerging academic movement which seeks to ensure that nature is given as much attention w/in humanities as is currently given to gender, class and race.
‘Industrialism’
Term used by Andrew Dobson in his Green Political Thought for the whole political system which is opposed by what he calls ‘ecologism’.
‘Pastoral’
Literary convention which associates the country with innocence and the court or city with corruption; any literary work contrasting rural and urban life.
What is postcolonialism?
Idea that the established literature of Europe and N. America has traditionally ignored or marginalised experiences of non-Western ppls and cultures, seeing them as “other”, “different” and invariably “lesser”.
What issues are post-colonial critics interested in?
Like Marxist and feminist critics, they’re interested in issues of power, dominance and control and also in freedom and empowerment.
What do post-colonial writers tend to do when writing?
- Write in English
- Focus on common themes eg struggle for independence, emigration, national identity, allegiance and childhood.
When looking at a text, what do post-colonial critics reject?
Reject universalism claims made on behalf of canonical Western literature + seek to show limitations of outlook, + its general inability to empathise across boundaries of cultural and ethnic difference.
What is ‘cultural polyvalency’?
Where individuals/groups belong simultaneously to more than one culture (eg that of coloniser, thru colonial school system, + that of colonised, thru local + oral traditions);
What do postcolonial critics examine generally when looking at a text?
Examine representation of other cultures in literature as a way of achieving empathy across boundaries of cultural and ethnic difference.
What do postcolonial critics seek to show about Western texts that don’t embrace postcolonialism?
Show how such literature is often evasively and crucially silent on matters concerned with colonisation and imperialism.
