Literary Criticism

This subfield explores how classic works are interpreted, analyzed, and evaluated by contemporary scholars, critics, and readers.

Literary history: Understanding the historical and cultural context in which a literary work was created and how it impacts its meaning and interpretation.

Literary theory: The study of the principles and methods used to analyze and interpret literature, including structuralism, post-structuralism, psychoanalytic theory, feminist theory, queer theory, and more.

Formalism: Analyzing literary works through their form, structure, language, and style, rather than through their historical, cultural, or biographical context.

Literary devices: Understanding the use of literary devices such as metaphor, symbolism, allegory, allusion, and irony in a literary work and their significance.

Literary genre: Understanding the conventions of different genres such as epic, tragedy, comedy, romance, and how they affect a literary work's interpretation.

Literary canon: The study of works that are considered classic or culturally important, and how they are judged by society and literary critics.

Literary criticism approaches: Various approaches to analyzing a work of literature including reader-response, new historicism, deconstruction, and others.

Literary language: The study of language in literature that goes beyond the simple meaning of words, looking at the use of metaphor, imagery, rhythm and other poetic devices.

Intertextuality: The concept of texts being interconnected or related to one another and how that relationship informs interpretation of the text.

Authorial intent: Understanding what the author meant to convey in the work and the significance of their intentions.

Formalist Criticism: This type of Literary Criticism mostly looks at the literary texts as a self-contained entity that embodies its meaning through literary devices.

Historical Criticism: Historical literary criticism focuses on the social, political, and cultural background wherein the piece of literature was written, to understand how its context and cultural background affects its themes or motifs.

Reader-Response Criticism: This type of literary criticism is centered on readers' experience and interpretation of a literary text. It focuses on how readers' interaction and response to a piece of literature shapes their experience and understanding of it.

Postcolonial Criticism: This type of literary criticism examines how colonialism, imperialism, and power structures shape the way we see and understand the world.

Marxist Criticism: Marxist Criticism considers a literary work as an expression of a class struggle and looks into the social and economic factors behind the production of literature.

Feminist Criticism: Focusing on gender and sexuality, feminist criticism examines how the portrayal of gender roles in literature affects our understanding of gender identities.

Psychological Criticism: This type of literary criticism explores the psychological aspects of literary texts and their characters, often looking deep into the psychological conflicts and underlying feelings and motivations.

Structuralism and Post-Structuralism Criticism: These forms of literary criticism looks deeply into the relations between language, society, and history, and how they affect the meaning and interpretation of literature.

Queer Theory Criticism: It looks critically into the language used to describe gender and sexuality and investigates how it affects different individuals and communities.

New Criticism: This type of Literary Criticism looks deeply into language, form, and structure of a literary work, and argues that its meaning is solely derived from these elements, rather than any historical or social context.

What is literary criticism?

"Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, a genre of arts criticism, evaluation, and interpretation of literature."

What is the relationship between literary criticism and literary theory?

"Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods."

How are literary critics and theorists related to each other?

"Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists."

Is literary criticism a separate field from literary theory?

"Whether or not literary criticism should be considered a separate field of inquiry from literary theory is a matter of some controversy."

How does the Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism approach the distinction between literary theory and literary criticism?

"The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism draws no distinction between literary theory and literary criticism, and almost always uses the terms together to describe the same concept."

What do some critics argue in favor of considering literary criticism as a practical application of literary theory?

"Some critics consider literary criticism a practical application of literary theory because criticism always deals directly with particular literary works, while theory may be more general or abstract."

In what formats is literary criticism often published?

"Literary criticism is often published in essay or book form."

Where do academic literary critics typically publish their work?

"Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals."

Where do more popular critics usually publish their reviews?

"More popular critics publish their reviews in broadly circulating periodicals such as The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Dublin Review of Books, The Nation, Bookforum, and The New Yorker."

What influences modern literary criticism?

"Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory."

What aspects of literature does literary criticism evaluate?

"Literary criticism (or literary studies) is the study, a genre of arts criticism, evaluation, and interpretation of literature."

What is the role of literary theory in literary criticism?

"Modern literary criticism is often influenced by literary theory, which is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods."

How do literary critics differ from literary theorists?

"Though the two activities are closely related, literary critics are not always, and have not always been, theorists."

What sources are commonly used by popular critics?

"More popular critics publish their reviews in broadly circulating periodicals such as The Times Literary Supplement, The New York Times Book Review, The New York Review of Books, the London Review of Books, the Dublin Review of Books, The Nation, Bookforum, and The New Yorker."

What is the academic background of most literary critics?

"Academic literary critics teach in literature departments."

Is literary criticism limited to academic journals?

"Academic literary critics teach in literature departments and publish in academic journals."

How does literary criticism differ from literary theory in terms of focus?

"Because criticism always deals directly with particular literary works, while theory may be more general or abstract."

How can literary theory be described?

"Literary theory... is the philosophical discussion of literature's goals and methods."

Are literary criticism and literary theory always used interchangeably?

"The Johns Hopkins Guide to Literary Theory and Criticism draws no distinction between literary theory and literary criticism."

How does literary criticism contribute to the understanding of literature?

"Because criticism always deals directly with particular literary works."