Literary Criticism

Question 1

The study, interpretation, discussion, and evaluation of literature.

Answer 1

Literary Criticism

Question 2

A literary work should imitate life

Answer 2

Mimesis (Plato)

Question 3

A literary work should either entertain (dulce) or teach (utile)

Answer 3

Function (Horace)

Question 4

A literary work should prompt emotional cleansing (purification)

Answer 4

Catharsis (Aristotle)

Question 5

A literary work that shows bad mimesis should be censored

Answer 5

Censorship (Plato)

Question 6

Author’s life and time or the life of the characters in the work

Answer 6

Historical-Biographical

Question 7

To teach morality and to probe philosophical issues — it can affect the readers — the message of the work is important

Answer 7

Moral-Philosophical Approach

Question 8

Analysis of the clash of opposing social classes in society namely: the ruling class (bourgeoise) and the working class (proletariat)

ex. Friars and Community

Answer 8

Marxist Criticism (Karl Marx)

Question 9

Concerns with the woman’s role in society — plight of the woman (struggle)

Answer 9

Feminist Criticism

Question 10

• independent and self-sufficient object
• studies the components within the work (meanings, interaction of words, figures of speech, symbols

Answer 10

New Criticism

Question 11

Regardless of the diversity, we have common unconscious

Answer 11

Carl Jung’s Collective Unconscious

Question 12

Signifies narrative designs, character types, or images, that are said to be identifiable in a wide variety of works (literature, dreams, ritualized social behavior)

Answer 12

Archetype

Question 13

A theme often said to be the archetype of archetypes

Answer 13

Death-rebirth

Question 14

Archetype of immortality

Answer 14

Lam-ang

Question 15

Archetype of death-rebirth

Answer 15

Superman (Superman Returns)

Question 16

Archetype of a wise old man

Answer 16

Gandalf (Lord of the Rings)

Question 17

Archetype of hero initiation

Answer 17

Odysseus

Question 18

Archetype of sacrificial scapegoat

Answer 18

Jesus Christ

Question 19

Both reader and text must work together to produce meaning

• views readers and texts as partners

Answer 19

Reader-response Criticism

Question 20

A text has many meanings and therefore no definitive interpretation

Answer 20

Deconstruction (Jacques Derrida)

Question 21

Focus on binary oppositions

ex. White-black, presence-absence

Answer 21

Structuralism

Question 22

“We cannot say that we know what the meaning of a story is because there is no way of knowing.”

Answer 22

Deconstruction

Question 23

• defamiliarization
• retardation of the narrative
• naturalization
• carnivalization

Answer 23

Russian Formalism

Question 24

This means making strange — showing familiar things in an unfamiliar way

Answer 24

Defamiliarization

Question 25

The technique of delaying and protracting actions — slowed down events to focus

Answer 25

Retardation of the Narrative

Question 26

Refers to how we endlessly become inventive in finding ways of making sense of the most random or chaotic utterance or discourse

Answer 26

Naturalization

Question 27

Describe the shaping effect of carnival in a literary text ex. Rich to poor Poor to rich

Answer 27

Carnivalization