Literary theory

Literary theory consists of various principles, beliefs and underlying ideas that are used to understand and analyze different pieces of texts in literature. An interesting way to view literary theory is by considering theories as tools. Critics take these tool and apply it to a text in an attempt to look at it from a different perspective. It grants them the ability to examine a particular aspect of a text, which they regard of significant importance. When these theories are passed onto readers, it allows them to observe texts in a different manner and to challenge the content before them. One theoretical perspective that challenges conventional ideas about literature would be structuralism. This theory is an, “intellectual movement, which…

In his article “The Resistance of Theory,” Paul de Man argues that literary theory is fundamentally resistant by exploring ideas around history, philosophy science, and aesthetics. He also uses the functions of language, both grammatically and semantically, to support his claim. Unlike previous theorists, de Man’s argument is more generally concerned with the reading of literary theory, rather than a theory that can be applied to a piece of literature. Despite his divergence from convention, de…

Throughout reading The Things They Carried, my understanding of particular literary theories has vastly increased. The main lenses in which my group used to interpret the novel was feminist, psychoanalytical, and postmodernism. During the first block, it was more difficult to determine which lens to look through, and a lot of thought had to be put in when reading the block as a whole. But, as the book progressed, I began to pick up on particular instances and immediately recognized which…

Research Proposal Exploring the impact of displacement on identity in Jhumpa lahiri’s fiction; a postcolonial perspective Muqadsa Bashir MPhil English Literature Supervisor: Shamshad Rasool Department of English, University of Gujrat Table of Contents 1. Introduction……………………………………………… a. Introduction to the…

giving a well constructed voice to an ambiguous figure in Australian history allowing his personage to serve as a staple of the Australian narrative for generations to come. Carey’s use of the historical truth in the construction of fiction positions his novel as a postmodern creation. In the Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory, post-modernism is a term used to reference the changes that have taken place in literature, music, art, and philosophy since the 1940s and 50s; and…

M.K. Asante 's Buck is all about to what degree he grew as a person and discovered who he was. The things that he went through helped him grow as a person. He watched his mother be taken away from him and his favorite rapper died. He also realized what his mom was truly going through. Even though he tried to avoid reality, it hit him hard. The theme of growth as explored in M.K Asante 's Buck, looking through the Psychological and Psychoanalytic literary lens, illustrates personal discovery…

At the beginning of this course I thought that the Bible had to be inerrant in order to be true. If the Bible were to be considered inerrant it would mean that the bible is without error in every aspect. This cannot be true though because some of the scientific and historical claims within in the Bible have been proven to be inaccurate. Therefore, I cannot find the idea of the Bible being inerrant to be a true statement. Another theory to take into account is the idea that the Bible is…

The context of a manuscript enables the close study of the Anglo Saxon period, the manuscript on which a text is written provides a bridge between those reading the literature and the script its self. As John D Niles said when studying old English poetry the format in which it is presented allows a clearer view of the original intent of that piece. The original manuscript can portray common themes by the position of the texts within it, and the layout of each text on the page also gives vital…

The literary standards of the eighteenth century differ from those of the American Realistic and Naturalistic literary period in many aspects. For instance, eighteenth century satirical texts and American Literature take different approaches in their use of focalization and the way in which it functions. Purdue University’s Introductory Guide to Critical Theory, defines focalization as “the presentation of a scene through the subjective perception of a character. The term can refer to the person…

Rhetoric of Empire’, David Spur explores the discourse that Western journalists, travel writers and imperial administrators have used to depict the non-Western world using tropes, which he identifies through a careful analysis, tracing various sorts of writings from different historical contexts, and studying the way in which these tropes have been deployed. Among these rhetorical modes are surveillance, classification, and affirmation; framing these themes proves very much useful, as it allows…