Literary criticism (or literary studies ) is the study, evaluation, and literary interpretation. Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is a philosophical discussion of the purpose and method of literature. Although both activities are closely related, literary criticism is not always, and not always, theorists.
Whether literary criticism should be regarded as a field of inquiry separate from literary theory, or vice versa from book review, is a matter of controversy. For example, the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism does not draw the distinction between literary theory and literary criticism, and almost always uses the term jointly to describe the same concept. Some critics regard literary criticism as a practical application of literary theory, since criticism is always directly related to certain literary works, while theories may be more general or abstract.
Literary criticism is often published in the form of essays or books. Academic literary critics teach in the literary department and publish in academic journals, and more popular critics publish their reviews in widely circulated magazines such as the Times Literary Supplement , New York Times Book Review > The Book of The Books , The London Review of Books , the Dublin Review of Books , The Nation >, and The New Yorker .
Video Literary criticism
History
Classical and medieval criticism
Literary criticism is considered to have existed during literature. In the 4th century BC, Aristotle wrote Poetics, a typology and a description of a literary form with many specific criticisms of contemporary art. Poems developed for the first time the concept of mimesis and catharsis, which is still important in literary studies. Plato's attack on poetry as imitation, secondary, and false is also formative. Around the same time, Bharata Muni, in his book Natya Shastra , wrote literary criticism on ancient Indian literature and Sanskrit drama.
Later classical and medieval criticism has often focused on religious texts, and some of the long religious traditions of hermeneutics and textual interpretation have had a major influence on the study of secular texts. This is especially true of the literary traditions of the three Abrahamic religions: Jewish literature, Christian literature, and Islamic literature.
Literary criticism is also used in various forms of Medieval Arabic literature and Arabic poetry from the 9th century, especially by Al-Jahiz in his book al-Bayan wa-'l-tabyin and al-Hayawan >, and by Abdullah ibn al-Mu'tazz in his book Kitab al-Badi .
Renaissance Criticism
Renaissance literary criticism develops the classical ideas of the unity of form and content into literary neoclassicism, proclaiming literature as a cultural center, trusting poets and writers with the preservation of long literary traditions. The birth of Renaissance criticism in 1498, with the restoration of classical texts, especially the Latin translation of Giorgio Valla from Aristotle Poetics . The work of Aristotle, especially Poetics, was the most important influence on literary criticism until the end of the eighteenth century. Lodovico Castelvetro was one of the most influential Renaissance critics who wrote a commentary on Aristotle Poetics in 1570.
Criticism of enlightenment
In the period of the Enlightenment (1700s to 1800s), literary criticism became more popular. During this period, literacy rates began to rise in society, no longer reading exclusively for the rich or academic. With the public emergence of literacy and print speed, criticism also emerged. Reading is no longer seen merely as an education or as a source of a sacred religion; it is a form of entertainment. Literary criticism is influenced by the values ââand writing styles, including clear, bold, precise and more controversial criteria of the author's religious beliefs. This critical review is published in many magazines, newspapers, and journals. Many criticized works of Jonathan Swift include his book Gulliver's Travels , which by one critic has been described as "the disgusting story of Yahoos".
19th century Romanticism
The Romantic Romantic of England in the early nineteenth century introduced new aesthetic ideas in the study of literature, including the idea that literary objects should not always be beautiful, noble, or perfect, but the literature itself can raise the general subject to the sublime level. German Romanticism, which follows closely following the development of German classicism, emphasizes the fragmentation aesthetic that can seem very modern to English literary readers, and judges Witz - that is, "wit" or "humor" of a certain kind - more high than the serious Anglophone Romanticism. The late nineteenth century brought fame to writers better known for their literary criticism than their own literary works, such as Matthew Arnold.
New Criticism
No matter how important all these aesthetic movements are as a precursor, recent ideas about literary criticism are almost entirely derived from the new directions taken in the early 20th century. Early in the century, the school of criticism known as Russian Formalism, and a little later New Criticism in Britain and in the United States, dominated literary studies and discussions, in the English-speaking world. Both schools emphasize reading the text closely, increasing it far above generalization of discussion and speculation about the author's good intentions (not saying anything about the psychology or biography of the author, who becomes an almost taboo subject) or reader's response. The emphasis on the proper form and attention to the "words themselves" has persisted, following the decline of the critical doctrines themselves.
Theory
In 1957 Northrop Frye published the effect of Anatomy of Criticism. In his works, Frye notes that some critics tend to embrace ideology, and assess the literary work based on their adherence to the ideology. This has become a very influential point of view among modern conservative thinkers. E. Michael Jones, for example, argues in his book Degenerate Moderns that Stanley Fish is influenced by his affair to reject the classical literature condemning adultery. JÃÆ'ürgen Habermas in Erkenntnis und Interesse , describes the literary critical theory in literary studies as a form of hermeneutics: knowledge through interpretation to understand the meaning of human texts and symbolic expression - including the interpretation of text that interprets other texts.
In the formation of English and American literature, New Criticism was more or less dominant until the late 1960s. Around that time the Anglo-American university literary department began to witness the emergence of more explicit theories of philosophical literature, influenced by structuralism, then post-structuralism, and other types of Continental philosophy. This continued until the mid-1980s, when interest in "theory" peaked. Many critics later, though undoubtedly still influenced by theoretical work, have conveniently interpreted only literature rather than writing explicitly about philosophical methodologies and presumptions.
Book history
Related to other forms of literary criticism, the history of this book is a field of interdisciplinary investigation that describes bibliographic methods, cultural history, literary history, and media theory. Basically related to the production, circulation, and acceptance of the text and material forms, the history of the book seeks to relate the textuality to the material aspects.
Among the issues in the history of literature with the history of books that can be seen to intersect are: the development of authorship as a profession, the formation of reading readers, the constraints of censorship and copyright, and the economy of literary forms.
Current condition
Today, interest in continental literary and philosophical theories coexist in the university literature department with more conservative literary critics that may be approved by the New Criticism. Disagreements over the goals and methods of literary criticism, characterized by both parties taken by critics during the "revival" theory, have declined. Many critics feel that they now have many methods and approaches to choose from.
Some critics work mostly with theoretical texts, while others read traditional literature; interest in the literary canon is still large, but many critics are also interested in minority and female literature, while some critics are influenced by cultural studies of reading popular texts like comic books or pulp fiction/genre. Ecocritis has attracted the link between literature and the natural sciences. Darwin's literary studies study the literature in the context of the evolutionary influence on human nature. Many literary critics also work in film criticism or media studies. Some write intellectual history; others bring results and methods of social history to read the literature.
Maps Literary criticism
The value of academic criticism
The value of extensive literary analysis has been questioned by several prominent artists. Vladimir Nabokov once wrote that good readers do not read books, and especially those considered as literary works, "for academic purposes involved in generalization". At the Copenhagen conference of 1986, James Joyce scholar Stephen J. Joyce (grandson of modernist writers) said, "If my grandfather is here, he will die laughing... Dubliners and A Portrait Artists as Youth can be captured, read, and enjoyed by almost anyone without complicated scientific guides, theories, and explanations, as can Ulysses, if you forget all the hues and cries. "He then questioned whether there is something added to Joyce's artistic heritage by 261 literary criticism books stored at the Library of Congress.
Key text
Classic and Medieval Period
Renaissance Period
- Lodovico Castelvetro: The Poetry from Aristotle Translated and Explained
- Philip Sidney: Apology for Poems
- Jacopo Mazzoni: About Dante's Comedy Defense
- Torquato Tasso: Hero Poetry Discourse
- Francis Bacon: Learning Progress
- Henry Reynolds: Mythomystes
- John Mandaville: Compiled in the mid-14th century - most likely by a French doctor
Enlightenment Period
19th century
20th Century
See also
- Book review
- Comparative literature
- Critical theory
- feminist literary criticism
- Genre Study
- Book history
- The literary critic
- Literary translation
- Philosophy and literature
- Poetic tradition
- Social critic
- Criticized translation
References
External links
- Historical Dictionary of Ideas : Literary Criticism
- Truman Capote Award for Award Winners of Literary Criticism
- Internet Public Library: Literary Criticism of Critical and Biographical Website Collections
- Bibliography of Literary Theory, Criticism, and Philology (University of Zaragoza)
Source of the article : Wikipedia