ENG3703
Assignment 3
Unique No:
Due 2025
,Theoretical Approaches to English Language and Literature
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Perspectives in Literary Studies
Introduction
The academic study of literature has always been influenced by debates on the most
appropriate way to interpret texts. On one hand, some critics insist that literature should
be analyzed as a self-contained artistic creation, with primary attention given to its style,
structure, and linguistic features. On the other hand, others emphasize that literary
works cannot be separated from the social, historical, and ideological circumstances in
which they are produced and received. This essay explores these two broad traditions:
intrinsic approaches, which privilege textual form and coherence, and extrinsic
approaches, which situate literature within cultural and political contexts. The discussion
outlines the theoretical assumptions of each school, weighs their strengths and
limitations, and considers whether modern literary scholarship benefits more from one
perspective or from a synthesis of both.
Intrinsic Approaches: Literature as a Self-Sufficient Work of Art
The rise of intrinsic approaches in the early twentieth century can be seen as a
response to earlier methods that overly relied on biography or history. Advocates of this
tradition argued that literature should be examined on its own terms rather than as a
mirror of an author’s life or of historical events.
Russian Formalism and Anglo-American New Criticism are the most prominent
movements associated with this view. Formalists such as Viktor Shklovsky and Roman
Jakobson highlighted the unique devices that distinguish literary language from ordinary
communication. Shklovsky’s concept of defamiliarization suggested that literature
renews perception by disrupting habitual ways of seeing the world. Jakobson,
meanwhile, proposed the idea of the poetic function of language, which emphasizes the
way literary texts draw attention to their own form rather than simply referring to external
reality.
, In a parallel development, the New Critics of mid-twentieth-century Britain and the
United States—including figures such as Cleanth Brooks, W.K. Wimsatt, and Monroe
Beardsley—focused on the text’s internal unity. They rejected reliance on authorial
intention or reader response, cautioning against what they called the intentional fallacy.
Instead, they advocated for close reading, a practice that involves careful attention to
imagery, symbolism, paradox, and structure in order to uncover the work’s internal
harmony.
From this standpoint, literature is regarded as possessing an inherent coherence that
can be discovered through disciplined textual analysis. Such methods elevate literature
to the status of art, distinct from social commentary or historical record.
Extrinsic Approaches: Literature as a Cultural and Historical Product
In contrast, extrinsic approaches argue that texts cannot be fully understood without
considering the wider contexts that influence their creation and interpretation. Literature,
from this perspective, is deeply intertwined with systems of power, ideology, and
historical circumstance.
Marxist criticism has been one of the most influential extrinsic traditions. Rooted in the
ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it interprets culture as reflecting the material
and economic structures of society. Later scholars such as Raymond Williams refined
this view through cultural materialism, which recognizes that literature both shapes and
is shaped by dominant ideologies. For Marxist critics, texts reveal the tensions of class
struggle and must be studied as part of broader social dynamics.
Feminist literary criticism provides another key example of extrinsic analysis. Scholars
like Elaine Showalter drew attention to how women’s voices were historically
marginalized within the literary canon, and how texts often reproduce patriarchal
assumptions. Similarly, postcolonial critics—including Edward Said—exposed the ways
in which literature reflected and reinforced imperial ideologies, particularly through
depictions of the “Orient” and colonized peoples.
Assignment 3
Unique No:
Due 2025
,Theoretical Approaches to English Language and Literature
Intrinsic and Extrinsic Perspectives in Literary Studies
Introduction
The academic study of literature has always been influenced by debates on the most
appropriate way to interpret texts. On one hand, some critics insist that literature should
be analyzed as a self-contained artistic creation, with primary attention given to its style,
structure, and linguistic features. On the other hand, others emphasize that literary
works cannot be separated from the social, historical, and ideological circumstances in
which they are produced and received. This essay explores these two broad traditions:
intrinsic approaches, which privilege textual form and coherence, and extrinsic
approaches, which situate literature within cultural and political contexts. The discussion
outlines the theoretical assumptions of each school, weighs their strengths and
limitations, and considers whether modern literary scholarship benefits more from one
perspective or from a synthesis of both.
Intrinsic Approaches: Literature as a Self-Sufficient Work of Art
The rise of intrinsic approaches in the early twentieth century can be seen as a
response to earlier methods that overly relied on biography or history. Advocates of this
tradition argued that literature should be examined on its own terms rather than as a
mirror of an author’s life or of historical events.
Russian Formalism and Anglo-American New Criticism are the most prominent
movements associated with this view. Formalists such as Viktor Shklovsky and Roman
Jakobson highlighted the unique devices that distinguish literary language from ordinary
communication. Shklovsky’s concept of defamiliarization suggested that literature
renews perception by disrupting habitual ways of seeing the world. Jakobson,
meanwhile, proposed the idea of the poetic function of language, which emphasizes the
way literary texts draw attention to their own form rather than simply referring to external
reality.
, In a parallel development, the New Critics of mid-twentieth-century Britain and the
United States—including figures such as Cleanth Brooks, W.K. Wimsatt, and Monroe
Beardsley—focused on the text’s internal unity. They rejected reliance on authorial
intention or reader response, cautioning against what they called the intentional fallacy.
Instead, they advocated for close reading, a practice that involves careful attention to
imagery, symbolism, paradox, and structure in order to uncover the work’s internal
harmony.
From this standpoint, literature is regarded as possessing an inherent coherence that
can be discovered through disciplined textual analysis. Such methods elevate literature
to the status of art, distinct from social commentary or historical record.
Extrinsic Approaches: Literature as a Cultural and Historical Product
In contrast, extrinsic approaches argue that texts cannot be fully understood without
considering the wider contexts that influence their creation and interpretation. Literature,
from this perspective, is deeply intertwined with systems of power, ideology, and
historical circumstance.
Marxist criticism has been one of the most influential extrinsic traditions. Rooted in the
ideas of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels, it interprets culture as reflecting the material
and economic structures of society. Later scholars such as Raymond Williams refined
this view through cultural materialism, which recognizes that literature both shapes and
is shaped by dominant ideologies. For Marxist critics, texts reveal the tensions of class
struggle and must be studied as part of broader social dynamics.
Feminist literary criticism provides another key example of extrinsic analysis. Scholars
like Elaine Showalter drew attention to how women’s voices were historically
marginalized within the literary canon, and how texts often reproduce patriarchal
assumptions. Similarly, postcolonial critics—including Edward Said—exposed the ways
in which literature reflected and reinforced imperial ideologies, particularly through
depictions of the “Orient” and colonized peoples.
