Biographical approach examples
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3 What Is Biographical Criticism?
This chapter will demonstrate how subsequent chapters will be organized throughout the book.
At some point in your educational journey, you’ve probably been asked to write a book report. As part of that report, you probably did some brief research about the author’s life to better understand what factors influenced his/her/their work.
Critical Lens: Biographical Criticism
When we look at biographical or historical information to help us interpret the author’s intent in a text, we are practicing historical or biographical criticism. With this type of criticism, popular throughout the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the author—and the author’s intent—are the targets of our analysis. We read the text in tandem with the author’s life, searching for clues about what the author meant within the words of the text and life events. Throughout most of literary history, this is what we meant when we talked about literary criticism or literary analysis.
- Using a literary theory, choose appropriate elements o
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What Is Literary Criticism? Definition, Types, and Examples
Anyone can have an opinion about a book (loved it, hated it, page-turner, total drag), but the ability to substantiate and evaluate that opinion is the work of literary criticism. Literary criticism is the interpretation, analysis, and judgment of a piece of literature. Not only is literary criticism an important form of cultural production, but learning how to read and write literary criticism can broaden your worldview and deepen your connection to writing and literature.
What is literary criticism?
Literary criticism is the interpretation, analysis, and judgment of a text. The purpose of literary criticism is to help a reader better engage with or challenge that writing. Good criticism deepens our understanding of literature and contributes to literature’s development over time. It’s also a great place to pick up some writing techniques of your own.
Despite its name, literary criticism is not just about being critical. It takes a lot of effort to write a book, and the job of the critic is not to (necessarily) tea
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Since ancient times, readers have debated and critiqued literature from a variety of perspectives. Some have looked at a story or play from a moral stance, considering how values are represented in a text. Another critic might evaluate a poem in terms of its form. Recent critics have looked at literature to see what it might be saying about our lives in society, our political or power relations, gender roles, or sexuality. Below I have summarized some types of literary criticism you might consider when reading or writing about literature. If you're interested in knowing more, see the Purdue Online Writing Lab or OWL or read Critical Theory Today: A User-Friendly Guide, by Louis Tyson.
The Gavilan library website offers resources for students conducting research on literature. (You will need a Gavilan library card to access this information and can apply for a card in person or online.) The library also has a helpful website on Academic Research Guidelines that will help you identify legitmate sources for your research and avoid plagiarism. See me, a librarian, and/or a writing
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