A-Level English Literature Literary Theories Exam
Practice Questions 100% Solved
Aestheticism - Answer Often associated with Romanticism. Aestheticism is a philosophy defining
aesthetic (the beauty) value as the primary goal of understanding literature.
Deconstruction - Answer A strategy of close reading that demonstrates the ways terms and concepts
may be paradoxical (contradictory) or self-undermining, making their meaning un-decidable.
Deconstruction suggests that a text's meaning is a false concept and can never be found.
Eco-Criticism - Answer Explores cultural connections and human relationships to the natural world.
Feminism - Answer A feminist critic will look at a piece of literature and reveal the extent to which the
writing presents the subordination and oppression of women. Feminism reveals and challenges the
cultural shaping of gender and practices. It exposes how patriarchal ideology distorts, ignores or
represses that experience, misrepresenting how women feel, think or act in writing. Feminism
explorations of literature also celebrate where women contest male power.
Marxism - Answer Emphasises the theme of class conflict in texts, including how the rich people oppress
the poor people in order to get richer.
New Criticism - Answer Looks at literary works on the basis of what is written and not the goals of the
author, biographical, historical or contextual issues.
Political Perspective: Cultural Materialism - Answer Cultural Materialists not only look at a text's
historical context to understand meaning but also considers a text in light of the reader's position and
their context.
Political Perspective: New Historicism - Answer Considers a text as a product of it's historical context,
arguing that true meaning is found in a text's historical context.
Post Colonialism - Answer Focuses on the influence of colonialism in literature, especially regarding the
historical conflict resulting from the exploitation of less developed countries and their people.
Practice Questions 100% Solved
Aestheticism - Answer Often associated with Romanticism. Aestheticism is a philosophy defining
aesthetic (the beauty) value as the primary goal of understanding literature.
Deconstruction - Answer A strategy of close reading that demonstrates the ways terms and concepts
may be paradoxical (contradictory) or self-undermining, making their meaning un-decidable.
Deconstruction suggests that a text's meaning is a false concept and can never be found.
Eco-Criticism - Answer Explores cultural connections and human relationships to the natural world.
Feminism - Answer A feminist critic will look at a piece of literature and reveal the extent to which the
writing presents the subordination and oppression of women. Feminism reveals and challenges the
cultural shaping of gender and practices. It exposes how patriarchal ideology distorts, ignores or
represses that experience, misrepresenting how women feel, think or act in writing. Feminism
explorations of literature also celebrate where women contest male power.
Marxism - Answer Emphasises the theme of class conflict in texts, including how the rich people oppress
the poor people in order to get richer.
New Criticism - Answer Looks at literary works on the basis of what is written and not the goals of the
author, biographical, historical or contextual issues.
Political Perspective: Cultural Materialism - Answer Cultural Materialists not only look at a text's
historical context to understand meaning but also considers a text in light of the reader's position and
their context.
Political Perspective: New Historicism - Answer Considers a text as a product of it's historical context,
arguing that true meaning is found in a text's historical context.
Post Colonialism - Answer Focuses on the influence of colonialism in literature, especially regarding the
historical conflict resulting from the exploitation of less developed countries and their people.
