LESSON 3

THEORIES
AND
APPROACHES
TO LITERARY
CRITICISM OF
CHILDREN’S
LITERATURE
MACKY YANGCO
 THE SCENARIO
Based on the given picture below, evaluate
who among them is pointing the correct
answer? Explain your side

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 Literary criticism is the comparison, analysis, interpretation,
and/or evaluation of works of literature. Literary criticism is
an opinion supported by evidence relating to the theme,

LITERARY style, setting, or historical or political context. It usually

includes a discussion of the work’s content and integrates
CRITICISM your ideas with other insights gained from research. Literary
criticism may have a positive or a negative bias and maybe a
study of an individual piece of literature or an author’s body
of work.

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RESEARCHING, READING, AND
W R I T I N G L I T E R A RY C R I T I C I S M
WORKS WILL HELP YOU MAKE BETTER
SENSE OF THE WORK, FORM
J U D G M E N T S A B O U T L I T E R AT U R E ,
STUDY IDEAS FROM DIFFERENT
P O I N T S O F V I E W, A N D D E T E R M I N E O N
AN INDIVIDUAL LEVEL WHETHER A
L I T E R A RY W O R K I S W O RT H R E A D I N G .

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 FORMALIST CRITICISM
A F T E R A N A LY Z I N G E A C H PA R T, T H E
CRITIC DESCRIBES HOW THEY
WORK TOGETHER TO GIVE MEANING
(THEME) TO THE READER.
​
All the elements necessary for  Point of View
understanding the work are A formalist critic examines the  Setting
contained within the work itself. form of the work as a whole, the
Of particular interest to the structure of each part of the text  Characters
formalist critic are the (the individual scenes and  Plot
characteristics of form, style, chapters), the characters, the
structure, tone, and imagery that settings, the tone, the point of  Symbols
are found within the text. view, the diction, and all other  Theme
elements of the text which join to
make it a single text.

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 Click to add photo

A thorough analysis of the text is essential

to writing a good paper. Remember that
your judgment about a literary work will
reflect your values, biases, and experience;
however, you MUST respect the author's
words and intentions as presented in the
text. Do not analyze a work in terms of
what you would like to see; explore it in
terms of what you observe. Remember to
separate your assumptions from the author's
assumptions.

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 PSYCHOANALYTIC CRITICISM

For example, suppose the protagonist

​ in the story is a murderer; evaluating
the psychological state, and the
Psychological criticism in literature character's past might help the reader
refers to how the work of a particular understand why he became a
writer is analyzed through a murderer. This criticism approach can
psychological lens. This approach explore the writer’s motivations in
psychologically analyses the author of selecting this subject and how his past
the work or a character in his work. It has influenced his choice. For
helps the readers understand the instance, being aware that the writer
writer's and characters' motivations. was a victim of a violent crime may
cause the reader to interpret the story
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TLE differently. 20XX
 Click to add photo

This psychological approach, which reflects

psychology's effect on literature and literary
criticism, was mainly influenced by the work
of Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung. Sigmund
Freud put forward the theory that literary
texts manifest the author's secret unconscious
desires and anxieties. Thus, evaluating a
character's behavior will help the reader trace
the childhood, family life, fixations, traumas,
and conflicts.

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 MARXISM APPROACH

Karl Marx was primarily a

theorist and historian. After
The supposedly "natural" Marx is also known for saying
scientifically examining social
political evolution involved that "Religion is the opiate of
organization (thereby creating
"feudalism," leading to the people," so he was
a methodology for social somewhat aware of the problem
science: political science), he "bourgeois capitalism," leading
that Lenin later addressed.
perceived human history to to "socialism," and finally to
Lenin was convinced that
have consisted of a series of "utopian communism." In workers remain largely unaware
struggles between classes- bourgeois capitalism, the of their oppression since the
between the oppressed and the privileged bourgeoisie relies state convinces them to be

oppressing. on the proletariat, the labor selfless.

force responsible for survival.
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 The Marxist critic is a careful reader or viewer who keeps in
mind issues of power and money and any of the following kinds of
questions:

What role does class play in work; what is the author's analysis
of class relations?

How do characters overcome oppression?

In what ways does the work serve as propaganda for the status
quo, or does it try to undermine it?

What does the work say about oppression, or are social

conflicts ignored or blamed elsewhere?

Does the work propose some form of utopian vision as a

solution to the problems encountered in work?
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 READER’S RESPONSE

A theory that gained prominence in There is no right or wrong

the late 1960s focuses on the reader or
answer to a reading response.
audience's reaction to a particular text,
Nonetheless, it is essential that
perhaps more than the text itself.
Reader-response criticism can be you demonstrate an
connected to post-structuralism’s understanding of the reading
emphasis on the reader's role in and clearly explain and support
actively constructing texts rather than
your reactions. Do not use the
passively consuming them.
standard approach of just
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writing
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 Thus, the purpose of a reading response is to
examine, explain, and defend your reaction to a
text.

 Your critical reading of a text asks you to

explore:

 why do you like or dislike the text;

 explain whether you agree or disagree with the

author;

 identify the text’s purpose, and critique the text.

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 GENDER CRITICISM

This approach examines how

sexual identity influences the
creation and reception of
literary works. Originally an
offshoot of feminist movements,
gender criticism today includes
several approaches, including
the so-called masculinist
approach recently advocated by
poet Robert Bly.
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 FEMINIST CRITICISM

Feminist literary criticism helps us

look at literature in a different light. It
applies the philosophies and
perspectives of feminism to the
literature we read. There are many
different kinds of feminist literary
theories. Some theorists examine the
language and symbols used and how
that language and use of symbols is
“gendered.”
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 MYTHOLOGICAL/ ARCHETYPES CRITICISM:

This approach emphasizes the

recurrent universal patterns
underlying most literary works
combining the insights from
anthropology, psychology and history,
and comparative religion.
Mythological criticism explores the
artist’s common humanity by tracing
how the individual imagination uses
myths and symbols common to
different cultures and epochs.
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THANK YOU
Macky Baril

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