110 pages • 3 hours read
Lois TysonCritical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide
Nonfiction | Reference/Text Book | Adult | Published in 1998A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Chapter 5Chapter Summaries & Analyses
Chapter 5 Summary and Analysis: “New Criticism”
New criticism is a form of literary criticism that “dominated” from the 1930s to the 1960s. While it is no longer widely used today, it impacted contemporary literary criticism, as seen in the mainstream acceptance of the need to provide textual support for literary interpretations.
“The Text Itself”
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, it was common to evaluate literary works through the lens of authorial intent. In contrast, the new critics argued that the author’s intent is unknowable and that the text itself provides all the necessary information for its interpretation. Further, the reader’s impressions of, or feelings about, the work are not a relevant criterion for analysis. Instead, new criticism argued that literary analysis should focus on the formal elements of the text itself through close readings. The new critics saw a literary work as “a timeless, autonomous (self-sufficient) verbal object” with eternal, consistent meaning (123).
Literary Language and Organic Unity
New criticism focused on literary language, meaning the connotations evoked by choice and arrangement of words and the resulting aesthetics. A literary work is an “organic unity” where the various elements work together to express both complexity and order.
