Chapter 1: Liberal Humanism (Theory before theory)
- Good literature is of timeless significance
- The literary text contains meaning within itself (it does not require a socio-
political, literary-historical or autobiographical context)
- Texts must be studied in isolation
- Human nature is essentially unchanging
- Individuality is something securely possessed within each of us as our unique
‘essence’.
- The purpose of literature is the enhancement of life and the propagation of
humane values
- Form and content in literature must be fused in an organic way
- The point about organic form applies especially to ‘sincerity’
- What is valued in literature is the silent showing rather than the explaining or
saying of it
- The job of criticism is to interpret the text, to mediate between it and the reader
Chapter 12: Narratology
- Study of narrative structures
- The distinction between ‘story’ and ‘plot’ is fundamental to narratology
- Aristotle; Hamartia (sin, fault), Anagnorisis (realisation), Peripeteia (turn-around)
- Propp; basic repertoire of thirty-one ‘functions’ or possible actions + 7 spheres
of action
- Genette; 1. Mimetic(dramatizing) or diegetic(telling)?
2. Focalisation (external/internal, zero focalisation)
3. Narrator ((non-)intrusive, hetero/homodiegetic)
4. Time (prolepsis = flash forward, analepsis = flashback)
5. How is the story packaged (frama narrative, straight, double-
ended/intrusive)
6. Speech and thought; (in)direct (un)tagged
Chapter 6: Feminist Criticism
- Realises the significance of the images of women promulgated by literature
- Exposes mechanics of patriarchy
- Timeline: 1. Feminist criticism became more eclectic, drew upon findings of
other criticisms
2. No longer attacked male world, but explored nature of female
world
3. Attention was switched to the need to construct a canon of
women’s writing
- 1840-1880; Feminine phase – women imitated dominant male artistic forms
- 1880-1920; Feminist phase – radical and separatist positions were maintained
- 1920 > ; Female phase – focused on female writing and female experience
- Role of Theory: Anglo-American feminists were more sceptical about recent
critical theory than the French feminists, who adopted mainly poststructuralist
and psychoanalytical criticism.
- Role of Language: Normative language was seen as male-oriented. French
theorists have posited the existence of female writing. Symbolic (authority,
repression) vs. Semiotic (displacement, slippage, condensation). = two aspects of
language.
- Role of Psychoanalysis: ‘One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman’ (de
Beauvoir, 1949)
- Good literature is of timeless significance
- The literary text contains meaning within itself (it does not require a socio-
political, literary-historical or autobiographical context)
- Texts must be studied in isolation
- Human nature is essentially unchanging
- Individuality is something securely possessed within each of us as our unique
‘essence’.
- The purpose of literature is the enhancement of life and the propagation of
humane values
- Form and content in literature must be fused in an organic way
- The point about organic form applies especially to ‘sincerity’
- What is valued in literature is the silent showing rather than the explaining or
saying of it
- The job of criticism is to interpret the text, to mediate between it and the reader
Chapter 12: Narratology
- Study of narrative structures
- The distinction between ‘story’ and ‘plot’ is fundamental to narratology
- Aristotle; Hamartia (sin, fault), Anagnorisis (realisation), Peripeteia (turn-around)
- Propp; basic repertoire of thirty-one ‘functions’ or possible actions + 7 spheres
of action
- Genette; 1. Mimetic(dramatizing) or diegetic(telling)?
2. Focalisation (external/internal, zero focalisation)
3. Narrator ((non-)intrusive, hetero/homodiegetic)
4. Time (prolepsis = flash forward, analepsis = flashback)
5. How is the story packaged (frama narrative, straight, double-
ended/intrusive)
6. Speech and thought; (in)direct (un)tagged
Chapter 6: Feminist Criticism
- Realises the significance of the images of women promulgated by literature
- Exposes mechanics of patriarchy
- Timeline: 1. Feminist criticism became more eclectic, drew upon findings of
other criticisms
2. No longer attacked male world, but explored nature of female
world
3. Attention was switched to the need to construct a canon of
women’s writing
- 1840-1880; Feminine phase – women imitated dominant male artistic forms
- 1880-1920; Feminist phase – radical and separatist positions were maintained
- 1920 > ; Female phase – focused on female writing and female experience
- Role of Theory: Anglo-American feminists were more sceptical about recent
critical theory than the French feminists, who adopted mainly poststructuralist
and psychoanalytical criticism.
- Role of Language: Normative language was seen as male-oriented. French
theorists have posited the existence of female writing. Symbolic (authority,
repression) vs. Semiotic (displacement, slippage, condensation). = two aspects of
language.
- Role of Psychoanalysis: ‘One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman’ (de
Beauvoir, 1949)
