ENGLISH FOR ACADEMIC AND PROFESSIONAL PURPOSES Seeks to understand a literary work by investigating the social, cultural, and
*APPROACHES IN LITERARY CRITICISM intellectual context that produced it – a context that necessarily includes the artist’s
Part 5 – Approaches in Literary Criticism biography and milieu.
Learning Objectives: 4. READER-RESPONSE CRITICISM
1. differentiate the different approaches in literary criticism, Takes as a fundamental tenet that “literature” exists not as an artifact upon a printed
2. write objective assessments, and page but as a transaction between the physical text and the mind of a reader.
3. express ideas in appropriate language and manner.
5. MEDIA CRITICISM
Lesson Coverage Examining and judging the media. When we examine the media and various media
Literary Criticism Approaches stories, we often find instances of media bias. Media bias is the perception that the
- Formalism media is reporting the news in a partial or prejudiced manner.
- Gender Criticism
- Historicism 6. STRUCTURALISM
- Reader-response It focused on how human behavior is determined by social, cultural and psychological
- Media criticism structures. It tended to offer a single unified approach to human life that would
- Structuralism embrace all disciplines.
- Marxism
7. MARXIST CRITICISM
Approaches in Literary Criticism ………………………………………………………………………………………… It focuses on the economic and political elements of art, often emphasizing the
ideological content of literature: because Marxist criticism often argues that all art is
When you express your views, it is also important to use appropriate language for a specific political, either challenging or endorsing (by silence) the status quo, it is frequently
discipline. Here are examples of terms that you can use in the following disciplines. evaluative and judgmental.
Science – experiments, lab equipment, invention, laboratory test, hormones and genes
Mathematics – equation, statistical tool, solution, result, equivalent values
General terms – test, materials, action, pregnancy test, family
Learning appropriate language and manners is not enough in expressing your views. There
are critical approaches that you can use to make it more convincing and appropriate.
1. FORMALIST CRITICISM
This approach regards literature as “a unique form of human knowledge that needs to
be examined on its own terms. “All the elements necessary for understanding the
work are contained within the work itself.
2. GENDER CRITICISM
Examines how sexual identity influences the creation and reception of literary works.
3. HISTORICAL CRITICISM
