KONE Yusuf Literary Criticism

about theories in literary

Ocaso Press Ltda., 2021

Written as 45 evaluative, jargon-free and largely self-contained chapters, this 170,000 word study surveys not only the theories of art and writing, but the larger picture suggested by linguistics, theories of meaning, and the concept of truth in science, literature, mathematics and logic. Literary theory is not a unified, all-embracing theory but a complex assemblage of ideas reflecting a long history of enquiry. I have tried to provide a clear and balanced account of matters that form the bedrock of critical theory, without evading proper assessment or obscuring the fundamental disagreements between authorities. Rather than blend viewpoints into a general perspective, I have generally thought it better to let the disagreements stand, though sometimes adding an explanation. The section on literature as money, for example, includes a critique of Marx from a mainstream, slightly-right-of-centre political perspective, while the 19th century social history of Britain is based on A.L. Morton's Marxist account. With a similar aim, a summary of Matt Ridley's optimistic neo-liberal outlook on the world is preceded by nine references to authors who have much darker view of mankind's future. Chapter 2 presents literary theory in action, and Chapter 3, by looking at relativism, introduces the more technical and philosophical aspects of the book. A few topics are treated in some detail to help the researcher in specialist areas - logic, brain functioning, Islamic studies and political economy - but even these are only notes and summaries, i.e. pointers to extensive fields of study that will only come alive and seem persuasive if readers take the time to follow up the references and read further in books and web pages listed here

Literary theory" is the body of ideas and methods we use in the practical reading of literature. By literary theory we refer not to the meaning of a work of literature but to the theories that reveal what literature can mean. Literary theory is a description of the underlying principles, one might say the tools, by which we attempt to understand literature. All literary interpretation draws on a basis in theory but can serve as a justification for very different kinds of critical activity. It is literary theory that formulates the relationship between author and work; literary theory develops the significance of race, class, and gender for literary study, both from the standpoint of the biography of the author and an analysis of their thematic presence within texts. Literary theory offers varying approaches for understanding the role of historical context in interpretation as well as the relevance of linguistic and unconscious elements of the text. Literary theorists trace the history and evolution of the different genres-narrative, dramatic, lyric-in addition to the more recent emergence of the novel and the short story, while also investigating the importance of formal elements of literary structure. Lastly, literary theory in recent years has sought to explain the degree to which the text is more the product of a culture than an individual author and in turn how those texts help to create the culture.

Literally speaking, the word "theory" comes from Greek language"ΘΕΩΡΙΑ" which means to "speculate". One of the most remarkable and distinctive qualities of theory is that it is an undefined and problematic entity. We may be thinking of some rough definitions of theories, but not a thorough chunk of theory or a clear cut-definition. Nevertheless, we might be slightly friendly with some distinctive qualities of theory and its characterizations. Because distinctive borders of theory are vague to illustrate, theorists prefer to talk about the qualities of theory rather than marking the boundaries of theory itself.

This is an introduction to the contemporary practice of literary criticism and to literary theory. We will be guided by questions around the acts of reading and writing: What is it to read? What presuppositions (social/cultural/political/etc.) do authors and critics bring to the text and how can we articulate them? How are we influenced in reading by our own presuppositions? And how do those presuppositions influence what we, in turn, write about literature and the theories that seek to illuminate it?

LangLit, 2021

Methods and methodologies are equally important for literary research as its tools. Being a qualitative research type, literary research requires an objective research tool for analysis and assessment of texts in a disinterested manner. Appreciation of texts is secondary while interrogation of texts is primary to unfold the writers' ideological agenda. Every person including writers is made up of ideologies. Language serves as a vehicle for indoctrination of ideologies. In fact, language carries thousands of ideologies that compete for space and prominence. The ultimate purpose of literary research is also knowledge-production. In addition to it, it is a demonstration of ideological identification and affirmation. This article argues that methods are personal while methodologies are communal, and that individual researchers invent their own methods but only out of a methodology. Methodology is theoretical and ideological. Unless researchers are convinced by a particular methodology, they cannot derive their methods out of it. Literary theories are understood as methodologies and theories of reading. It also argues that all literary theories are critical, provocative, self-reflexive, multidisciplinary , and trans-disciplinary.

Literary theory is the process of understanding the nature of literature, its function, its relation to author, reader, language, society and history. Primarily, literature is the work of society, culture, myths, beliefs, practices, and experience. “All social life is in some sense theoretical”(1), “And just as all social life is theoretical, so all theories is real social practice”(2). In understanding literature theories from Aristotle’s Poetics to the present, theories play a crucial role. Evolutionary human life invents series of signs that invade literature, bombard new theories and this process is immortal. For example, change of society influences the works, where theories are rediscovered in order to deal with these new theories. Theories are not center to work; but work is center to theory. Theory is important to form text from work, ultimately theory drives work into multitudinous scope and exposes it to the readers (for example, the current study of European classics of Homer is possible by theories).Literary theories are free to individual due