Literary Approaches Flashcards
How many literary approaches are there?
12
(Formalistic or Literary Approach, Moral or Humanistic Approach, Historical Approach, Sociological Approach, Cultural Approach, Psychological Approach, Impressionistic Approach, Gender Approach, Mythological Approach, Reader-Response Criticism, Deconstructionist Criticism, Marxist)
Also called the “PURE” or “LITERARY” approach
Formalistic or Literary Approach
Literature is seen both as reflection and product of the times and circusmstances in which it was written. It operates on the premise that the history of a nation has telling effects on its literature and that the piece can be better understood and appreciated if one knows the times surounding its creation.
Histrocial Approach
The nature of man is CENTRAL to literature.
Moral or Humanistic Approach
Literature is viewed as the expression of man within a given social situation which is reduced to discussions on economics, in not, thus passing into “proleterian approach” which tends to underscore the conflict between two classes.
Sociological Approach
Literature is viewed as the expression of “personality,” of “inner drives,” of “neurosis.”
Psychological Approach
Literature is viewed to elucidate “reaction-response” which is considered as something very personal, relative, and fruitful.
Impressionistic Approach
Technical Values (plot, structure, scene, language, point of view, imagery, figure, metrics, etc.
Formalistic or Literary Approach
Literature is seen as one of the manifestations and vehicles of a nation’s or race’s culture and tradition.
Cultural Approach
This approach “examines how sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works.”
Gender Approach
This approach emphasizes “the recurrent universal patterns underlying most literary works.”
Mythological Approach
This approach takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists not as an artifact upon a printed page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind of a reader.
Reader-Response Criticism
This approach “rejects the traditional assumption that language can accurately represent reality”
Deconstructionist Criticism
interpretation reads the text as an expression of contemporary class struggle. Literature is not simply a matter of personal expression or taste. It somehow relates to the social and political conditions of the time. How it relates is of course up for debate.
Marxist
This approach “seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and intellectual context that produced it—a context that necessarily includes the artist’s biography and milieu.”
Historical Approach
