Critical and review writing notes on the theories and History of critisicm

Note : Read up before lecture time in class and respond to the questions following this lecture note. I have also posted the lecture notes on ARTS review as well as the art work to be reviewed. I am also expecting every one to turn in all reviews (music, literature, art, book)Well Done

THEORIES AND HISTORY OF CRITICISM

CLASSICISM

The history of criticism is closely related to the development of classicism and Romanticism. Classicism established the nature of epic poetry and drama. Such work must adhere to “nature” by aspiring to order and regularity and strictly observe the unities of time, place and action in dramatic composition. Such work must be complete and has an aristocrat as a protagonist, must be serious in content (tragedy), purgation of emotion, pity and fear (catharsis). The classical writers based many of their theories on Aristotle’s Poetics. They tried to portray the world objectively. English critics who contributed to classicism include in chronological order: Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Johnson, John Dryden and Samuel Johnson.

ROMANTICISM

Romanticism developed during the last of 1700s as a reaction against classicism. Romantic writers tried to portray their personal views of the world. Unlike the Greek plays, Romanticists mixed comic matters with serious matters, sub plots followed the main plots and lowborn characters sometimes had prominent roles. Romanticism had an especially strong influence in England and Germany. English romantic critics include in a chronological order: Samuel Taylor, Coleridge, William Wordsworth, William Hazlitt e.t.c.

19^th CENTURY REALISM

During the second half of the 19^th century, realism rose to a dominant position in criticism and literature. Realism is used in two ways:

1. To identify a literary movement of the 19^th century, especially in prose fiction

2. To designate a recurrent way, in this was typified by writers of this historical movement.

Realistic fiction is often opposed to romantic fiction. Romantic is said to present life as we would have it; while realism presents an accurate imitation of life as it is. The subject is represented in such a way to give the reader the illusion of actual experience. Daniel Defoe, Henrick Iban were some of such writers on realism.

NATURALISM

This is a product of post-Darwinism biology in the mid 19^th century. It believes that man belongs entirely to the order of nature and does not have a soul or any other connection with a religious or spiritual world beyond nature. They believed that man is therefore, merely a higher order animal whose character and fortunes are determined by two kinds of natural forces- heredity and environment. Work on naturalism portrays the setting, characters, situations, and incidences e.t.c exactly the way they are in life. By the end of the 19^th century, Realism was evolving into Naturalism as exemplified by the novels of Emile Zola, Frank Norris, and Stephen Crane.

20^TH CENTURY CRITICAL MOVEMENT

The chief opposition of naturalism came from a group of American professors. The central figures of the Neo-human movement as it was called were Paul Elmer Moore (1864-1937), Iruing Babbitt e.t.c. It is an attack on Naturalism and called for reaffirmation of human institutions and recognition of human beings as moral, responsible individuals. The theories of Karl Marx and Sigmund Freud have also had enormous impact on 20^th century criticism and writing. This is a socialist realism, which views that the struggle between two classes is the essential dynamics of society. Since 1930, “Socialist Realism” has been the official doctrine directing the work of authors.

NEW CRITICISM

No movement has had so re sounding an impact on 20^th century criticism as the New Criticism, which was greatly influenced by T.S Elliot. The new critics differ from one another in many ways but the following points of view and procedures are common to many of them.

A poem should be treated as primarily as poetry and not other thing- and should be regarded as independent and self-sufficient object.

The distinctive procedure of the new critic is close reading and subtle analysis of the complex interpretation and ambiguities (multiple meaning) of the component elements with a work.

The principles of the new criticism are basically verbal. That is, literature is conceived to be a special kind of language whose attributes are defined by systematic opposition to the language of science and logical discourse, the meaning and interactions of language and words, figures of speech, and symbols.

The distinction between literary genres, although casually recognized, is not essential in New Criticism. The basic components of any work of literature whether lyric, narrative, or dramatic are conceived to be words, images and symbols rather than character, thought and plot.

The New Critics were not concerned with the historical context in which a work was written or with biographical details about the author or with the author’s purpose. Rather, the technique was to discover by close analysis of structure and imagery, precisely those technical devices capable of expressing the particular concrete meaning that the literary work possesses.

LATER 20^TH CENTURY TRENDS

EXISTENTIALISM:

This is based on Kierkegaard doctrine, a Danish philosopher. Existentialism states that man is a unique and isolated individual in an indifferent or hostile universe, responsible for his own actions and free to close his destiny.

STRUCTURALISM:

This emerged in France during the 1960s and 70s. Structuralism criticism views literature as a second order system which uses language, the first order, as its medium and is itself to be analyzed on the model of linguistic theory. Most structuralist critics concern themselves with single work of literature, or else with a limited group of related works which they analyze by applying linguistic concepts such as the distinction between phonemic and morphemic, paradigmatic and syntagmatic e.t.c.

SUMMARY:

In the light of the above, perceptions, feelings and attitude towards arts has not been static. It reflects prescribed principles for the culture of a people at a point in time. It is this transition that evolved what could be called “periods” or history of arts. This also gave rise to theories of each period and its attendant criticism. Each period can be classified with distinctive features but posses a little of its parent movement. This is how literature developed along with criticism from classical Greek period to the 20^th century.