Lord of the Flies, Fahrenheit 451 in the Eyes of New Criticism

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FACULTY OF EDUCATIONAL STUDIES

EDU5276 TEACHING YOUNG ADULT LITERATURE

Semester 1 2015/2016

LITERARY THEORY ANALYSIS:

NEW CRITICISM

Name:

YHOGEETHA A/P THAVAMANI

GS43852

Lecturer:

Mdm. Juridah binti Md. Rashid

Date of Submission

1ST  November 2015

Assignment 1: Theory Analysis

NEW CRITICISM

1. What is New Criticism?

According to Vigil, J in 1929, Ivor Armstrong (I.A) Richards, a literary critic published ‘Practical Criticism’ where it was about ‘responding to poems without knowing who the authors were’.  This offered a scientific approach which was crucial to the development of New Critical Methodology. Besides I.A. Richards, T.S. Eliot has greatly influenced the emergence of the New Critical principle through his critical essays such as “Tradition and the individual Talent”  and “Hamlet and His Problems” in which he introduced his notion of the “Objective correlative” (Wikipedia.2008). It was John Crowe Ransom who gave New Criticism the name with the title of one of his book. So, New Criticism was introduced in the early 20th century and it remained popular till 1960s. During this period of time, close reading became a skill that each could apply and practice (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008).

Prior to New Criticismn, which is before the 20th century, the critics largely used historical background and the history of the language used in the text to understand a literary text (Shmoop Editorial Team, 2008). It was synonym to “judging a book by its cover”. In other words, as if we are making assumptions about someone based on what we have heard about the person and not by their own words and actions during the interaction with them. Most people would want to be judged for their own words and actions. Just like that, New Criticism emphasizes the importance of reading the text independently and as complete art work. This criticism emphasizes on close reading and to discover how the work of literature functioned as self contained. Close reading here means reading every word in order to obtain the meaning of the work’s form and literary devices techniques. According to Shmoop Editorial Team (2008) “if the art is good, if the book is well written, it’ll say everything”.

According to New critics the literary texts do not belong to any particular time, they are universal and surpass the history. New critics view the literary work as aesthetically autonomous and have its own laws.  Readers and readings may change, but the literary text stays the same. This theory is meant to make the interpreting more systematic and scientific. Its meaning is as objective as its physical existence on the page, for it is constructed in a specific order to give specific meaning. This criticism emphasizes the importance of textual evidence which will explain the beauty of the text by using concrete and specific examples to validate the interpretations. It is undeniable to say that New Criticism has the study of literature more democratic and objective because it has created a system for appreciating and criticizing literature.

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