ST. ROSE COLLEGE EDUCATIONAL FOUNDATION, INC.

GREAT
BOOKS
MA. DESIREE DIANNE H. ACOSTA
 LITERATURE
the expression of life in words of truth and beauty; it is the
written record of. man's spirit, of his thoughts, emotions,
aspirations; it is the history, and the only history, of the
human. soul. It is characterized by its artistic, its suggestive,
its permanent qualities
GUESS THE
GENRE
 FICTION
A fiction is a deliberately fabricated account of
something. It can also be a literary work based on
imagination rather than on fact, like a novel or short story.
EXAMPLES OF FICTION
-
 NON-FICTION
a genre of literature based on facts. The people, events,
and settings in nonfiction writing are real. Sometimes the
details may be from one person's perspective, but they are
not imaginary and can be verified.
EXAMPLES OF NON-FICTION
+
 DRAMA
the portrayal of fictional or non-fictional events through
the performance of written dialog (either prose or
poetry). Dramas can be performed on stage, on film, or
radio.
EXAMPLES OF DRAMA
+
 POETRY
vokes a concentrated imaginative awareness of
experience or a specific emotional response through
language chosen and arranged for its meaning, sound,
and rhythm.
EXAMPLES OF DRAMA
NINE CRITICAL APPROACHES
Formalist
Gender
Biographical
Reader-Response
Historical
Mythological
Psychological
Deconstructive
Sociological
 A. FORMALIST VIEWS
According to the formalist criticism, the primary concern of this approach is
the work itself.

It emphasizes the form of any literary works to identify the meaning centralizing
on the literary elements such as character, setting, plot, imagery. Structure,
diction, and point of view.

A FORMALIST’S GUIDE QUESTIONS

How is the work organized?
How are parts related to one another?
Who is the speaker in the work?
Who are the characteristics in the work and what do they present?
What is the setting of the work?
What kind of language was used in the work?
What imagery or symbol appears in the work and what message do they convey?
 B. BIOGRAPHICAL VIEWS
This critic believes that the information gained from the author’s background
helps unravel the message of a literary piece.

Knowing the writer’s biography gives three benefits according to biographical views:

1. Readers can easily decide how to interpret the literary piece; thus, reader can
understand the work better.
2. For knowing the struggle faced by the author, readers have a better
appreciation of the work.
3. By examining the writer’s ways of modifications and adjustments in their actual
experience in the literary works, readers assess better the author’s preoccupations.

Therefore, biographical critic focuses not only on the works of the writer but also on
the artist himself.
A BIOGRAPHICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS

What influences in the life of the writer are reflected in the work?
What are the actual events in the life of the writer which are modified in
the literary piece?
Why do you think the writer has altered his or her actual experience in
the work?
Is there any effect on the changes between the real experience of the
writer and on what is altered in the story, poem, or essay?
What has revealed about the author in his or her literary work?
 C. HISTORICAL VIEWS
Historical approach to literature reflects ideas and attitude of the time
which it is written and provides the background information of how was
understood in its time.

o Its form tells that literary work should be read with a sense of time and place
of its creation because every work is a product of its world.

A HISTORICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS

When was the work written?
What does the work reveal about the standards when the work was written?
What social attitude and cultural practices were prevalent in the work?
What other types of historical documents could be analysed in relation to a certain
literary piece?
What historical event is revealed in the past as reflected in the literary work?
 D. PSYCHOLOGICAL VIEWS
Critics of this approach see works of literature as the
revelations of writer’s minds and personality. (Yidannin,
2000).

Psychoanalytical criticism was derived from Freud’s

revolutionary psychology in which he posited the
“unconscious” element of the mind just below awareness.

The most important thing that Freud had contributed in this

field are those used by psychoanalytic critics which are
mental structure “id,” “ego,” and “superego.”
PSYCHOLOGICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS
What is the connection between your knowledge in the author’s life and
characters he or she made in his or her work?
How can the characters’ attitude and actions in the literary work help you
understand the imaginative life of the author?
How does a certain literary work unravel the motives of its character to the
psychological minds-et of the writer?
How Freudian psychoanalysis employed in understanding the work’s
characters?
How can psychological approach be combined with other criticism to
understand a particular work?
 SOCIOLOGICAL VIEWS
The sociological perspective of literary criticism centers on the value
of society and how those values are reflected the literary works.

Sociological critics look into economic, cultural, and political

issues discussed in the writer’s work and in the place where the
piece was written and produced.

One of the most significant names in this perspective is Karl Marx,

to whom sociological critics are indebted of political theory where
critics see literature as promoter of social and economic revolution.

The approach is concerned primarily on understanding the role of

money, politics, and power in literature.
SOCIOLOGICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS
What are the social, political, and economic issues presented in
the literary piece?
How important are the issues presented in developing the
characteristics in the work?
How do the issues present influence the character’s motivation
in the work?
Do political, economic, and social statuses presented in the
work determine the characters of the people in the story?
 GENDER VIEWS
This originally a feminist criticism that which literature is predominantly
written with men as the protagonist in the story and that expresses are
based only on men’s assumptions.

o As gender criticism redresses the imbalance on the power of men and

women in literature, it also serves as an agent of social transformation.
SOCIOLOGICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS
What time and place are reflected in the work as presented by the
gender?
How are men and women presented in the work?
Does the writer present the gender in a just manner?
How is the life of the author related to the presentation of men and
women in the work?
 READER-RESPONSE VIEWS
Reader-response critics argue that literature is the interaction
between the printed text and reader himself.

The meaning of the text depends on the beliefs of the

readers.

According to the reader-response critics, a literary text does

not have meaning unless it is read by an individual.

Therefore, various readers could have different meanings of a

single text.
READER-RESPONSE GUIDE QUESTIONS

What did you understand in your first reading?

Do you think you have the same experience with the
character in the piece?
What part of the text do you feel most serious about the
incident discussed?
Has your second reading changed with the first time you
read the text?
 MYTHOLOGICAL VIEWS
Mythological critics believe that literature follows as basic
structure that could be explained through archetypal characters,
creatures, and symbols.

These archetypes are attributed to Carl Jung, a Swiss

Psychologist, who said that all individuals are moon, sun,
darkness and light, fire and water could be related to each
other and that each are of similar type.
MYTHOLOGICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS

Which incident in the story could be considered symbolic

or archetypal?
What kind of archetype is present in the story?
To what might the characters in the story be compared?
What religion could be affiliated with the characters,
objects, or elements presented in the story?
 DECONSTRUCTIVE VIEW
Deconstructive critics emphasize the opposite or the difference
created by the language itself.

Critics argue that any literature has no fixed meaning.

Paul de Man, a deconstructionist, once said that reading becomes
misreading and that he prescribes that a reader should focus on how
language is used, not on what is exposed in the literary work.

MYTHOLOGICAL GUIDE QUESTIONS

What contradictions and oppositions are present in the text?
What elements of literature suggest contradictions in the work?
What makes oppositions and constructions obvious in the text?
How consistent are the opposition in the text?
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID
Gustav Freytag, the novelist behind Freytag’s
Pyramid, created a five-act plot structure, borrowing
from Aristotle and Horace.
FREYTAG’S PYRAMID
LITERARY STANDARDS
1. Universatility
5. Spiritual Value
2. Artistry
6. Permanence
3. Intellectual Value
7. Style
4. Suggestiveness