‫)‪(For the Essay Question‬‬

‫الزم نكتب ال‪ Essay‬في فقرات مش زي ما مكتوب هنا‬

‫اختار مدرسة من ال‪ 3‬وخذ من كل جزئية النقاط اللي تشوفها مهمة وسهلة‬
‫وتكون مترابطة مع بعضها واعمل منها ‪Essay‬‬

‫‪New Criticism ....................................................................................................... 2‬‬

‫‪Russian Formalism and the Bakhtin School ................................................. 5‬‬

‫‪Structuralist Theories ......................................................................................... 8‬‬

 New Criticism

1 Brief Background: New Criticism emerged as a dominant Anglo-American

literary approach in the mid-twentieth century, roughly from the 1920s to the
1970s. It was profoundly influenced by the British nineteenth-century critic
Matthew Arnold, who believed poetry and culture could act as a humanistic
defense against industrialized society and even replace philosophy and religion.
T. S. Eliot served as a key mediator of Arnold's ideas into these new critical
movements. This new critical movement had a "thoroughly symbiotic
relationship with literary modernism," often using modernist works as its model
texts for analysis.

2 Main Assumptions: At its core, New Criticism held a "profound, almost

reverential regard for literary works themselves". Key assumptions included:

• Focus on "the text itself": Critics were urged to concentrate "solely on

the 'words on the page,' examining the structure and language of the text
as an independent whole".
• Objective and Disinterested Criticism: The approach aimed for an
"objective," "scientific," "disinterested" criticism of the text. This meant
deliberately excluding "personal biases, authorial intentions, and reader
emotions".
• Textual Autonomy: The literary text was treated as an "autonomous
object", with its meaning embedded "in the text itself".
• Search for Unity and Coherence: The critic's task was to study "how
the text achieves unity and coherence through its formal elements".
• Formation of a Literary Canon: This approach supported the "elevation
of some literary works over others" through "close and 'disinterested'
textual analysis," leading to the formation of a "literary canon"
representing "the best that has been thought and written". This canon was
inherently "exclusive and hierarchical".
• Privileging Poetry: Poetry was often seen as the "dominant genre" and
the "highest literary form".
• Depersonalization of the Artist: It reinforced the "necessary
'depersonalization' of the artist if his or her art is to attain the
'impersonality' it must have".

3 Main Critics: Several figures were central to shaping and popularizing New
Criticism:
 • T. S. Eliot: His essay 'Tradition and the Individual Talent' (1919) was
highly influential. He emphasized the "historical sense" and
"depersonalization" of the artist.
• I. A. Richards: Known for his Principles of Literary Criticism (1924)
which laid an explicit theoretical base. His Practical Criticism (1929)
championed "attentive close reading of texts" and a "democratization of
literary study".
• William Empson: His Seven Types of Ambiguity (1930) was influential,
emphasizing "ambiguity as the defining characteristic of poetic
language".
• John Crowe Ransom: Coined the term "New Criticism" (1941). He
advocated for criticism to be "more scientific, or precise and systematic"
and to "study literature, and not merely about literature".
• Cleanth Brooks: A skilled practitioner whose The Well-Wrought Urn:
Studies in the Structure of Poetry (1947) exemplified New Critical
practice, demonstrating how "irony," "paradox," and "organic context"
operate within a poem.
• W. K. Wimsatt and Monroe C. Beardsley: Co-authored the influential
theoretical essays 'The Intentional Fallacy' (1946) and 'The Affective
Fallacy' (1949), which argued against using authorial intent or reader
emotion as standards for judging a work.
• F. R. Leavis: A "moral formalist" whose criticism focused on "moral
seriousness with textual analysis" and the evaluation of literature within a
"cultural and ethical framework". He was central to establishing the
"Great Tradition".

4 Main Concepts: The core tenets of New Criticism can be understood through
these key concepts:

• "The text itself": This central concept underscores that literary analysis
should focus exclusively on the inherent language and structure of the
work.
• Objective Correlative: T. S. Eliot's idea that emotions are best conveyed
in literature "through a set of images or events that function objectively
within the text, not through personal or emotional expression".
• Tradition and Canon: The belief that writers should engage with a
"historical body of significant works," which forms a selective and
hierarchical framework for literary value.
• Close Reading: A fundamental critical practice involving "detailed and
careful analysis of the language, structure, and meaning of a text".
• Ambiguity: William Empson emphasized "ambiguity as the defining
characteristic of poetic language," revealing complex meanings through
the interplay of words.
• "Technique as Discovery": This concept, applied to prose fiction by
Mark Schorer, suggests that "meaning in literature is not separate from
form but is revealed through the text's language and structure".
• The Intentional Fallacy: The error of judging a literary work based on
the author's presumed intent.
• The Affective Fallacy: The error of judging a literary work based on the
reader's emotional or psychological response, which leads to
"impressionism and relativism".
• "Poem-ness": The essential "formal quintessence" of the poem itself,
which was the ultimate concern.
 Russian Formalism and the Bakhtin School

1 Brief Background: Russian Formalism emerged from groups like the Moscow
Linguistic Circle (founded 1915) and Opojaz (1916). Its initial impetus came
from the Futurists, who challenged "decadent" bourgeois culture and emphasized
the "self-sufficient word," focusing on sound patterning rather than reference. The
Futurists embraced the Revolution, emphasizing the artist's role as a "producer of
crafted objects". Formalism developed freely in the early 1920s, becoming the
dominant method by 1925, but faced criticisms, notably from Trotsky. Later
developments, particularly the Jakobson/Tynyanov theses (1928), signalled a
move towards more structuralist approaches, which continued in Czech
formalism. Some members of this group later influenced New Criticism in the
United States. The Bakhtin School, though never strictly part of the Formalist
movement, arose in its later period.

2 Main Assumptions: Russian Formalists aimed to explore "what is specifically

literary in texts". They were "much more interested in ‘method’" and sought to
establish a "scientific’ basis for the theory of literature". Their core assumptions
included:

• Literature as Special Language Use: Formalists saw literature as a

"special use of language" that achieves its distinctness by "deviating from
and distorting ‘practical’ language".
• Focus on Devices over Content: They considered "human ‘content’
(emotions, ideas and ‘reality’ in general) possessed no literary
significance in itself, but merely provided a context for the functioning of
literary ‘devices’".
• Scientific Spirit: They aimed to "outline models and hypotheses (in a
scientific spirit) to explain how aesthetic effects are produced by literary
devices".
• Constructed Quality of Literature: What distinguishes literature is its
"constructed quality". Poetry, in particular, was seen as "speech organized
in its entire phonic texture," with rhythm as its most important
constructive factor.
• Dynamic Literariness: Later Formalists, like Tynyanov, developed a
"more dynamic view of ‘literariness’ as a functioning system".
• Rejection of New Critical Humanism: Unlike New Critics who
regarded literature as "human understanding" and endowed aesthetic form
with "moral and cultural significance," Formalists avoided this
"humanistic" approach.
3 Main Critics:

• Viktor Shklovsky: Dominant in early Formalism, his definition of

literature was "the sum total of all stylistic devices employed in it". He
theorized "defamiliarization" (ostranenie, or "making strange"), where art
gives back awareness of automatized things. He also introduced "laying
bare" one's technique, emphasizing the process of presentation over
perception.
• Boris Tomashevsky: Demonstrated defamiliarization in Gulliver's
Travels to artistically transform "non-literary material". He distinguished
"bound" and "free" motifs, noting "free" motifs are "potentially the focus
of art". He also discussed "motivation," referring to external, non-literary
assumptions, and how "realism’s central strategy is to disguise its
artificiality".
• Yury Tynyanov: Contributed to the shift from viewing the text as a
"heap of devices to...a functioning system". With Jakobson, he
emphasized attending to the "immanent laws" of the literary system.
• Roman Jakobson: Co-authored the Jakobson-Tynyanov theses (1928),
rejecting mechanical formalism to define the literary system's relationship
with other "historical series". He defined "the dominant" as "the focusing
component of a work of art: it rules, determines and transforms the
remaining components". This concept helped explain literary history as a
"shifting dominant".
• Jan Mukařovský: Developed "defamiliarization" into "foregrounding,"
defining it as "the aesthetically intentional distortion of the linguistic
components". He argued the "aesthetic function" is an "ever-shifting
boundary," and that "to endow an object or artifact with the dignity of
aesthetic value is a social act, ultimately inseparable from prevailing
ideologies".
• Mikhail Bakhtin (Bakhtin School): Developed a "dynamic view of
language for literary texts," showing how language "is made to disrupt
authority and liberate alternative voices". In Problems of Dostoevsky’s
Poetics, he contrasted "monologic" novels with Dostoevsky's
"polyphonic" (or dialogic) form, where characters retain "integrity and
independence". His discussion of "Carnival" highlighted its "libertarian
social phenomenon" and its "shaping effect on literary genres"
("Carnivalization").
• Valentin Voloshinov (Bakhtin School): His Marxism and the
Philosophy of Language (1973) argued that "language could not be
separated from ideology". He saw "words" as "active, dynamic social
 signs" and "verbal signs" as "the arena of continuous class struggle". He
defined "heteroglossia" as the "basic condition governing the production
of meaning in all discourse," where context defines meaning.

4 Main Concepts:

• Literariness: The core focus of Formalism – what makes a text

specifically literary.
• Device: A literary technique employed by writers to produce specific
effects. Early Formalism saw literature as a "sum total of all stylistic
devices".
• Defamiliarization (Ostranenie): The technique of "making strange"
familiar objects or perceptions to compel renewed attention to them.
• Laying Bare: The artistic process of making the techniques or
construction of a work explicit to the reader.
• Plot (Sjuzet) vs. Story (Fabula): "Plot" is the artful, literary disposition
of incidents (including narrative devices like digressions), while "story" is
merely the raw material.
• Motivation: The dependence on external, non-literary assumptions or
justifications for formal devices. Realism uses motivation to disguise its
artificiality.
• Foregrounding: Mukařovský's development of defamiliarization,
defined as "the aesthetically intentional distortion of the linguistic
components".
• Aesthetic Function: The dynamic and ever-shifting boundary of what is
considered art, with its value inseparable from prevailing ideologies.
• The Dominant: The "focusing component of a work of art: it rules,
determines and transforms the remaining components".
• Heteroglossia: A Bakhtinian concept referring to the "basic condition
governing the production of meaning in all discourse," asserting that
context defines meaning through a "multiplicity of social voices and their
individual expressions".
• Polyphony/Dialogism: A form of novel (e.g., Dostoevsky's) where
various characters' consciousnesses and viewpoints retain "integrity and
independence," not merging with the author's.
• Carnivalization: The shaping effect of the collective, subversive, and
hierarchy-inverting social phenomenon of "Carnival" on literary genres.
 Structuralist Theories

1 Brief Background: Structuralist approaches to literature emerged challenging

"some of the most cherished beliefs of the ordinary reader". It questioned the
long-held feeling that "the literary work...is the child of an author’s creative life,
and expresses the author’s essential self". This school of thought is closely related
to "semiotics" or "semiology," the science of sign-systems. The foundation for
structuralism came from the work of the Swiss linguist Ferdinand de Saussure,
whose Course in General Linguistics (1915) was "profoundly influential".

2 Main Assumptions: Structuralism rests on several core assumptions:

• Author is "Dead" / No Truth Function: Structuralists argued that "the

author is ‘dead’ and that literary discourse has no truth function".
• Language is "Always Already Written": Writers do not "express"
themselves, but "only have the power to mix already existing writings, to
reassemble or redeploy them". Writing "draw[s] upon that immense
dictionary of language and culture which is ‘always already written’".
• Anti-Humanism: Structuralism can be described as "anti-humanism,"
emphasizing opposition "to all forms of literary criticism in which the
human subject is the source and origin of literary meaning".
• Focus on System (Langue): The "proper object of linguistic study is the
system which underlies any particular human signifying practice, not the
individual utterance". When examining literary or other practices, the
goal is "to discover what system of rules – what grammar – is being
used".
• Language is a System of Differences: Saussure rejected the idea that
language primarily refers to things in the world. Instead, elements of
language "acquire meaning...as parts of a system of relations", primarily
"by marking a difference, a distinction within a system of opposites and
contrasts". Underlying language use is "a system, a pattern of paired
opposites, binary oppositions".
• Literature and Language: Structuralists agreed that "literature has a
special relationship with language: it draws attention to the very nature
and specific properties of language". This aligns structuralist poetics
"closely related to Formalism".

3 Main Critics:
• Ferdinand de Saussure: His Course in General Linguistics laid the
groundwork for structuralist thought by distinguishing "langue" (the
language system) from "parole" (individual utterance). He defined the
linguistic "sign" as composed of a "signifier" (mark) and a "signified"
(concept), with an "arbitrary" relationship between them.
• Claude Lévi-Strauss: A structuralist anthropologist who applied a
"phonemic’ analysis of myths, rites, kinship structures". He sought to
"uncover the ‘grammar,’ ‘syntax,’ or ‘phonemic’ pattern of particular
human systems of meaning", believing this model would "uncover the
basic structure of the human mind".
• Roland Barthes (early phase): His early writings, especially
Mythologies and Système de la mode, provided "lively examples" of
structuralist analyses. He applied the principle that "human performances
presuppose a received system of differential relations" to "virtually all
social practices," interpreting them as "sign-systems which operate on the
model of language".
• Vladimir Propp: Developed his theory of Russian fairy stories by
comparing sentence structure to narrative, identifying 31 basic
"functions" (significant actions) that form the narrative and follow a
logical sequence. He also added seven "spheres of action" or roles.
• A. J. Greimas: Aimed for a universal "grammar" of narrative by
applying semantic analysis of sentence structure. He proposed three pairs
of binary oppositions ("actants") for narrative roles: Subject/Object,
Sender/Receiver, Helper/Opponent.
• Tzvetan Todorov: His work summarized and developed Propp and
Greimas, focusing on defining a general "grammar" of literature. He
described the minimal unit of narrative as a "proposition" and organized
narratives into "sequences" (five propositions describing a state,
disturbance, and re-establishment) and "texts" (succession of sequences).
• Gérard Genette: Refined the Russian Formalist distinction between
"story" and "plot" by dividing narrative into three levels: story (histoire),
discourse (récit), and narration. He explored binary oppositions like
"diegesis and mimesis," "narration and description," and "narrative and
discourse," but then "cancels the opposition by showing that there can
never be a pure narrative devoid of ‘subjective’ coloration".
• Jonathan Culler: In Structuralist Poetics (1975), he attempted to
integrate French structuralism with Anglo-American criticism. He shifted
the focus from the text to the reader, arguing that "the real object of
poetics is not the work itself but its intelligibility". He introduced "literary
 competence" as the "implicit knowledge, the conventions that enable
readers to make sense" of texts.

4 Main Concepts:

• Langue and Parole: Saussure's fundamental distinction between the

abstract language system (langue) and individual speech acts (parole).
• Signifier and Signified: The two inseparable parts of a linguistic sign:
the form (signifier) and the concept (signified).
• Arbitrary Nature of the Sign: The lack of a natural or inherent
connection between a signifier and its signified.
• Binary Oppositions: The underlying pattern of paired opposites (e.g.,
voiced/unvoiced phonemes, male/female, clean/unclean) through which
meaning is generated within a system.
• Phoneme/Mytheme: Basic, meaningful units in language (phonemes) or
myth (mythemes) that are recognized through their difference from other
units within a system.
• Grammar/Syntax: The system of rules underlying human practices,
which structuralists sought to uncover in various fields.
• Function: In narrative theory (Propp), the basic unit of narrative
"language" referring to significant actions.
• Actant: (Greimas) The six abstract roles (Subject/Object,
Sender/Receiver, Helper/Opponent) that cover all narrative roles.
• Proposition: (Todorov) The minimal unit of narrative, being either an
"agent" or a "predicate".
• Literary Competence: (Culler) The unconscious knowledge of literary
conventions that enables readers to understand texts.