Theories in Literature

Liberal humanism - Samuel Beckett

The central concern is people and their values and quality of life.'good literature is of a timeless significance.'A liberal humanist text contains its own meaning within itself.Beckett's work is often seen as absurd, modern and expressive.It is sometimes alogically circular.- begins again where readers would expect the ending- cannot be brought to any logical endingFocus is on mankind and its unchanging structures and needs with the universe.- unending chain of birth, life and deathCharacters speech bounces off each other- sometimes highly lyrical and poeticBeckett uses playfulness to discuss serious questionsBeckett mingles his characters speech to be using sacred and profane languageHalf-serious and half-playful language

Structuralism - Russell Hoban

Structuralists explore texts to identity meaning.They believe every text must has a structure.Structure can be genre, narrative structure, recurring patterns or motifs, etc.Hoban has written a text that is difficult to understandHe has used words that are misspelledHe has used words that mean different things to what we would assumeIt is difficult to understand certain words without being in a sentenceBut he also uses sentences that are difficult to understand without being in a paragraph or chapter

Marxism - The Little Sister

Marxists aim to bring about a classless society.Marxists seek to change the world based on common ownership of production, distribution and exchangeMarxists see the underlying class issues in texts.Marxists believe that material wealth and class status shouldn't define existence.A writers social class has no effect on their outlook, values and assumptions.

Feminism - A Room Of One's Own

Feminist critics are concerned with the politics of women's authorship and the representation of women in literature.Feminist critics analyse the way women are described and portrayed in literature and seeks to change this.Feminist critics re-think the canon, aiming at the re-discovery of literary texts written by women.Virginia woolf emphasises the relationship women have with fiction in 'a room of one's own'Woolf emphasises that not only women, but all 'geniuses' should be acknowledged- not just those with money.Woolf wanted women to have equal opportunities to men when writing fictionWoolf's concern is that women haven't been allowed to develop their own style- is this because of lack of money, privacy - a room of one's own - or just tradition?Woolf praises the difference between the sexesWoolf uses her analysis of the situations women where in to make a universal statementWoolf writes about 'poor' women's struggles to write fiction- the women without £500 a year and a room of their own.

Deconstruction - 'The Triumph Of Life'

Deconstructionists question all traditional assumptions about the ability of language to represent reality.Deconstructionists believe that texts have no stable reference or identification because words essentially only refer to other words and therefore a reader must approach a text by eliminating any assumptions when defining meaning.Percy shelley has written a text that is difficult to understand due to the uncertain language.Shelley's text resists closure - it is unfinished which makes it difficult to get an overall meaning.Shelley uses bizarre descriptions- comparison of people to gnatsShelley uses themes of nature and reality, and themes of the corruption and triumph of natural life

Intertextuality - Tom Stoppard

Intertextuality refers to the various relationships that a given text may have with other texts.Intertextuality can be a text parodying another text, adapting a text, or translating a text.Intertextuality can even be a reader referring to another text whilst reading.Tom stoppard refers to shakespeare's 'hamlet' and beckett's 'waiting for godot'.Stoppard has created a text in which the minor characters from hamlet are the central characters in 'rosencrantz and guildenstein are dead.'

Psychoanalysis - Beloved

Psychoanalysis critics look for classic psychoanalytical symptoms, conditions and phases such as the oral, anal and phallic stages of emotional and sexual development.This could be psychoanalysis of the author or of a particular character.Central important of psychoanalysis is the distinction between the conscious and the unconscious mind eg dreams.Psychoanalysis can provide useful clues to the sometimes unclear symbols, actions and settings of a literary text.Toni morrison's character beloved has a lot of imaginary instances.- this could be morrison's own fears portrayed onto the character.Morrison's own history and experiences can be linked to beloved.- it is possible morrison or her family were subject to slavery.