Literary Theory Post World War II - 4 Chapter Notes | Crash Course for UGC NET English Literature PDF Download

Reader-response Theory/Reader Oriented Theory

Literary Connection

Reader-response theory emphasizes the crucial role of the reader in interpreting a literary work. It argues that meaning is not fixed within the text but is created through the interaction between the reader's experiences and the text. This theory highlights the active participation of readers in constructing meaning, making their personal experiences and feelings integral to the interpretation process.

Key Concepts

• I. A. Richards suggests a strong connection between readers' emotions and their understanding of texts. He argues that through textual analysis, readers can gain deeper insights than through personal responses alone.
• Readers bring a wealth of ideas shaped by their life experiences to the table, which aids in forming interpretations that may serve as a reality check later. This process allows readers to actively participate in creating the meaning of texts.

Stanley Fish's Perspective

• Stanley Fish argues that the meaning of a text is not inherent but is produced through the interaction between the reader's experiences and the text.
• He emphasizes that the focus should be on the reader's activities and experiences as they are responsible for creating meaning, not just discovering it.
• Reader-response theory differs from other literary analysis approaches by not offering a simplified framework for textual analysis.
• Critics who align with reader-response or audience-oriented perspectives share an interest in the role of the reader.
• They believe that interpretation occurs when the reader and the text engage with each other effectively, rather than relying solely on individual interpretations.

Reader-Response Criticism

Literary Awakening

Reader-response criticism is a school of literary theory that argues that the reader's experience and interpretation of a text is as important as the text itself. This approach emphasizes the active role of the reader in creating meaning from a literary work.

One of the key figures in reader-response criticism is I. A. Richards, who believed that the text should be the primary focus of analysis, while the reader's role is secondary. However, other theorists, such as Stanley Fish, argue that the reader is the primary agent in creating meaning, and the text is secondary.

Key Texts of Reader-Response Theory

• I. A. Richards : The Principles of Literary Criticism, Practical Criticism, and How to Read a Page
• Louise Rosenblatt : Literature as Exploration and The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work
• Stanley Fish : Is There a Text in this Class?, The Authority of Interpretive Communities, Surprised by Sin: The Reader in Paradise Lost, and Self-Consuming Artifacts: The Experience of the Seventeenth-Century Reader
• Wolfgang Iser : The Implied Reader
• Hans Robert Jauss : Toward an Aesthetic of Reception and Aesthetic Experience and Literary Hermeneutics

Key Terms and Propounders

• Horizons of Expectations : Proposed by Hans Robert Jauss, this concept refers to the set of expectations and assumptions that a reader brings to a text, which influence their interpretation.
• Interpretive Communities : Introduced by Stanley Fish, this term describes groups of readers who share similar interpretive strategies and understandings, shaping the meaning of a text collectively.
• Transactional Analysis : Developed by Louise Rosenblatt, this approach emphasizes the dynamic interaction between the reader and the text, highlighting how meaning is co-constructed during the reading process.
• Phenomenology : A philosophical method founded by Edmund Husserl, phenomenology focuses on the structures of experience and consciousness. In the context of reader-response criticism, it underscores the inseparability of the reading subject and the text, suggesting that meaning emerges from their interaction.

According to phenomenology, art and literature reveal fundamental truths about existence, and the act of reading becomes a means of understanding the world. The reader's consciousness plays a crucial role in shaping the meaning derived from a text, as the reader and the text engage in a dynamic process of interpretation.

Horizon of Expectations by Hans Robert Jauss

Literary Depth

• Hans Robert Jauss, a German critic, emphasizes the importance of understanding a text's social history before attempting to interpret it.
• He argues that each historical period shapes its own "horizon of expectations," which means that the significance of a text changes over time.
• This evolving meaning suggests that a definitive evaluation of any literary work is impossible.

Implied Reader and Actual Reader by Wolfgang Iser

• Wolfgang Iser, a German critic, believes that a text or poem only acquires meaning when it is acknowledged by a conscious reader.
• He emphasizes the crucial relationship between the object and human consciousness in the process of meaning-making.
• Iser identifies two types of readers:
• Implied reader: This is the reader envisioned by the text, someone who is ready to appreciate its overall effects and meanings.
• Actual reader: This refers to the reader who physically engages with the text. Their individual response and interpretation are also important for understanding the text's meaning.

Phenomenology Group Critics

• Critics associated with the phenomenology group include notable figures such as George Poulet, Wolfgang Iser, Hans Robert Jauss, Roman Ingarden, and Gaston Bachelard.

Hermeneutics and Paul Ricoeur

• Hermeneutics is the study of meanings that lie beneath various layers of interpretation, with the goal of uncovering the original meaning of a text.
• The concept of hermeneutics has a rich and complex history, and Paul Ricoeur has made significant contributions to this field, particularly in his book titled "Freud and Philosophy: An Essay on Interpretation."
• In this influential work, Ricoeur explores the contributions of Sigmund Freud through the lens of hermeneutics, examining how Freud's ideas can be understood and interpreted in light of this theoretical framework.

Feminist Criticism

Feminist Literature

Feminist criticism examines how literature reinforces or challenges the traditional roles of women in society, aiming to promote gender equality and social justice through literature.

Historical Background

• The Woman’s Chronicle : On March 3, 1888, The Woman’s Chronicle of Little Rock, Arkansas, one of the earliest American newspapers, was published. The female editor, Kate Cunningham, emphasized that women are best suited to understand and advocate for their own needs and progress.
• Women’s Advancement : Cunningham argued that women’s advancement is evident in their progress in medicine, literature, and the reform movements they lead for their own benefit.

Growth of Feminist Literary Criticism

• Late 20th Century : Feminist literary criticism gained momentum in the latter half of the twentieth century, advocating for equal rights for women in various domains.
• Areas of Focus : The criticism focused on promoting women’s rights in social, political, professional, economic, and psychological aspects.

Historical Voices of Women

• Recognition of Women’s Rights : Throughout history, many women have been acknowledged as scholars, artists, and writers advocating for their rights.
• Aphra Behn : Born in 1640 and passing in 1689, Behn was a prominent figure in the seventeenth century and one of the earliest professional female writers during the Restoration period.
• Contribution to Women Writers : Behn paved the way for women writers to express their thoughts and explored women’s sexual desires towards both men and women in her fiction.

Significant Works by Aphra Behn

• The Amorous Prince (1671)
• Poetry (On Desire) (1688)
• Oroonoko (1688)

Mary Wollstonecraft (1759–1797)

Feminist Legacy

In the late 18th century, Mary Wollstonecraft emerged as a powerful advocate against the dominant patriarchal beliefs of her time. Her groundbreaking work, A Vindication of the Rights of Woman (1792), marked the beginning of her significant contributions to the fight for women's equal rights. In this text, Wollstonecraft passionately calls on women to:

• Define themselves: She encourages women to take control of their own identities and determine their roles in society.
• Reject Patriarchal Notions: Wollstonecraft challenges the prevailing view that women are inferior to men, urging them to reject this damaging belief.

Virginia Woolf (1882–1941)

In 1919, British scholar and teacher Virginia Woolf built upon the ideas of Mary Wollstonecraft in her influential work A Room of One's Own (1929). In this text, Woolf envisions a sister of Shakespeare, equally gifted, and explores the challenges she would face due to her gender. Woolf supports Samuel T. Coleridge 's notion that great minds possess both male and female qualities. Through the story of Shakespeare's sister, Woolf illustrates that:

• Denied a Room of Her Own: Shakespeare's sister lacks the personal space and freedom necessary for her artistic development.
• Barriers to Education and Employment: She is unable to access education or employment opportunities because of societal constraints related to her gender.
• Stifled Artistic Potential: Without her own space and the ability to cultivate her talents, her natural artistic abilities remain undeveloped.

Simone de Beauvoir (1908–1986)

French writer Simone de Beauvoir also focused on feminist themes, especially in her influential 1949 book The Second Sex, which is considered a foundational text of 20th-century feminism. In this work, de Beauvoir argues that:

• French society is characterized by patriarchy, where men hold primary power and influence.
• Women are defined as 'the other', existing in relation to men rather than as independent individuals.
• Women need to break free from these patriarchal limitations and recognize their own worth and value.

Kate Millett (1934–2017)

Feminist Literature

‘Sexual Politics’ (1970) marked the beginning of a new wave of feminism. In this work, Millett argues that while a female is born, a woman is socially constructed. She points out that both women and men, whether consciously or unconsciously, adhere to the societal norms set by culture. For instance:

• Boys are expected to be aggressive and dominant.
• Girls are expected to be passive and meek.

Millett emphasizes that these cultural expectations are primarily transmitted through the media. She refers to the adherence to these prescribed sex roles as sexual politics. Thus, she advocates for women to challenge the male-dominated power structures in their culture and to develop their own narratives and theories.

Elaine Showalter (born 1941)

As a prominent figure in feminist criticism during the late 1970s, Showalter, in her book ‘A Literature of Their Own: British Women Novelists From Brontë to Lessing’ (1977), outlines three historical phases of female writing:

Phases of Female Writing

• Feminine phase (1840–1880)
• Feminist phase (1880–1920)
• Female phase (1920–present)

In the feminine phase, authors such as Charlotte Brontë, George Eliot, and George Sand had to write under male pseudonyms to gain recognition for their work. The feminist phase saw female writers highlighting the mistreatment of female characters by males. In the female phase, women authors reject the societal roles of the first phase and the minor roles of female characters in the second phase.

In her 1997 essay ‘Toward a Feminist Poetics,’ Showalter advocates for a new framework for analysing women’s literature, known as gynocriticism. This approach should be based on female experiences rather than male theories, focusing on the cultural assumptions and characteristics of women in traditional literature. Gynocritics and gynocriticism offer four models that address the nature of women’s writing.

Biological Model

Cultural Feminism

The biological model suggests that biological differences play a crucial role in how women perceive themselves in society and how they express themselves in writing.

• Strength: This model relies on personal experience and often adopts a confessional style in writing.
• Weakness: It has the potential to exclude individuals based on biological differences.

Linguistic Model

The linguistic model examines the differences in language use between women and men and investigates the reasons behind these differences.

• Strength: It emphasizes the emotional impact of a distinct women's language.
• Weakness: It overlooks whether women and men have equal opportunities to access a common language.

Psychoanalytic Model

The psychoanalytic model delves into the intricacies of the female mind and demonstrates how this understanding influences female writers, highlighting the contrast with the more rigid structure often associated with male writing.

Cultural Model

The cultural model elucidates how societal factors shape women's aspirations, reactions, and perspectives.

Feminist Theories

• Feminist theories involve a continuous discussion between women and men, emerging from revolutions that often take place out of the public eye.
• Historically, education, history, and literature have been dominated by men and less accessible to women, allowing feminist theories to develop.
• These theories reveal gender biases in literature, helping both women and men read against these biases.
• The conflict in feminist theories is between feminists and anti-feminists, rather than between women and men.
• Feminist theories often emphasize the difference between sex (biological differences) and gender (cultural conditioning).
• Feminist critiques of patriarchy expose biases in literature and challenge male dominance.
• These theories also investigate cultural differences and their relationships with other critical approaches like Marxism and new historicism, which focus on class and race issues respectively.

British Cultural Materialism

Literary Heritage

• British Cultural Materialism is a critical approach rooted in Marxism that examines the relationship between cultural artifacts, such as literature and language, and their historical contexts, including socio-political and economic factors.
• This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding how cultural texts are shaped by and, in turn, shape the material conditions of society.

American Cultural Studies

• American Cultural Studies is an interdisciplinary field that explores the cultural, social, and political dynamics of the United States.
• It draws on various theoretical perspectives, including Marxism, feminism, postcolonialism, and queer theory, to analyze cultural texts and practices.
• This field often focuses on issues such as race, class, gender, sexuality, and national identity, examining how these categories intersect and inform each other.

Postcolonial Studies

• Postcolonial Studies is an academic field that examines the cultural, political, and social legacies of colonialism and imperialism.
• It focuses on the experiences and representations of people in formerly colonized countries, as well as the ongoing impacts of colonial histories in contemporary societies.
• This field often critiques dominant narratives and seeks to amplify marginalized voices, exploring issues of identity, power, resistance, and hybridity.

Cultural Studies in India

• Cultural Studies in India is an evolving field that investigates the diverse cultural practices, beliefs, and social dynamics of Indian society.
• It draws on various theoretical frameworks to analyze literature, media, art, and everyday life, considering factors such as caste, class, religion, and regional identities.
• This field aims to understand the complexities of Indian culture, including traditions, modernity, and globalization, and how these elements interact and influence each other.

Cultural Studies in the Global South

• Cultural Studies in the Global South focuses on the cultural, social, and political issues faced by countries in the Southern hemisphere, often emphasizing postcolonial perspectives.
• This field examines how global processes, such as migration, environmental change, and economic shifts, impact local cultures and vice versa.
• It seeks to highlight the resilience and creativity of communities in the Global South, exploring how they navigate and resist global challenges while preserving and transforming their cultural identities.

Cultural Studies

Cultural Heritage

In Britain, cultural studies are referred to as cultural materialism. This movement originated in the 1950s, influenced by F. R. Leavis and Matthew Arnold ’s analysis of middle-class culture. British theorists inspired by Karl Marx were also impacted by various thinkers such as György Lukács, Theodor W. Adorno, Louis Althusser, Max Horkheimer, Mikhail Bakhtin, and Antonio Gramsci.

New Historicism

New Historicism is an approach that gained prominence in literary studies from the late twentieth century. It involves examining the author’s life and the historical context of a literary work to understand its significance. New Historicism emerged in the late 1970s as a reaction against traditional historicism and New Criticism. Here are some key points about New Historicism:

• Examining the Author’s Life: New Historicism involves investigating the author’s background, experiences, and intentions to gain insights into their writing.
• Studying Historical Context: This approach emphasizes the importance of understanding the historical context in which a literary work was produced. By studying the zeitgeist (spirit of the time), New Historicism aims to uncover the social and cultural influences on the work.
• Rejection of Traditional Historicism: New Historicism rejects the notion that literature is separate from history. It argues that literature is deeply intertwined with historical events and social discourses.
• Critique of New Criticism: New Historicism challenges New Criticism’s focus on the literary text as a timeless and self-contained artifact. Instead, it views literary texts as cultural artifacts that reflect and engage with their historical context.
• Cultural Artifacts: New Historicism posits that literary texts are cultural artifacts that reveal the interaction of various discourses and their social meanings. These texts do not simply reflect the author’s intentions or the spirit of their time; they are products of complex social and cultural interactions.
• Mutual Shaping: In New Historicism, both the literary text and its historical context shape each other. The text is not a passive reflection of history but an active participant in shaping historical narratives and social meanings.

Overall, New Historicism offers a nuanced understanding of literary texts as products of their historical and cultural contexts, emphasizing the dynamic relationship between literature and history.