Presented By… Dr. James P. Stobaugh

HOW TO TEACH LITERARY CRITICISM

Dr. James P. Stobaugh

Presented By…

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WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM? Literary analysis or criticism is a way to talk

about literature.

It is the anti-thesis of format writing.

Students must

write about

literature to do

literary analysis.

Whole Book

Essay Evaluation

Classical

Education

ACTIVE READING One cannot analyze literature unless one

reads literature.

ACTIVE READING

Sometimes Students Do not Really Read

Scaffolding the text

Metacognition

Vocabulary

Inference

Scaffolding:

WHAT IS A “CLASSIC”?

Have timeless application.

Survive multiple readings.

Concern world view issues.

Are the first of a theme or genre.

QUESTIONS?

-ARE YOUNGER CHILDREN EDITIONS

BETTER?

-DO I READ ABRIDGED VERSIONS?

-CLASSICS WITH OBJECTIONAL

MATERIAL?

-RELUCTANT CLASSIC READER?

SUMMARY

☞Teaching the classics implies that there is something

better out there than my own desires.

☞Teaching the classics implies there is a corpus of

absolute truth.

☞Teaching the classics implies that our society must

move beyond entertainment to objective standards.

☞Teaching the classics implies that form and truth are

equally important and that there is no legitimate form

separate from appropriate truth.

GREAT WRITERS ARE ALWAYS FANATICAL

READERS.

Students should be

literary critics. It

equips them to

participate in higher

level thinking.

It prepares them

to do apologetics.

WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM? Literary Criticism implies that there is bad and good literature. It invites the student to make

value judgments.

VS.

The underlying question behind

communication (rhetoric) is basic:

What is the form (Plato)

or truth (Augustine)?

FORM Genre (Novel, Short Story, etc.)

Literary Criticism (Plot, Theme, etc.)

Epoch (Sitz im Leben)

Criticism History (What have critics said?)

Redaction (Translation Preferences)

TRUTH OR FICTION? World View: Theism

Deism

Romanticism

Plausibility Structure: Does it work?

Credibility: Is narration believable?

Propagandistic

Naturalism Realism Existentialism Absurdism

WHAT IS LITERARY CRITICISM?

Literary analysis or criticism is a way to talk about literature.

SKILLS FOR LITERARY ANALYSIS CONCEPT BUILDER WORKSHEETS

Literary Terms: Plot

Theme

Tone

Setting

Narration o Omniscient

o Limited Omniscient

o Third Person Objective

PLOT COMPONENTS

Match each component of this story with the literary component of The Runaway Bunny by Margaret Wise Brown.

Exposition : The reader learns that the principle characters are a baby bunny and his mom. We also learn that the young bunny is planning to run away.

Rising Action: The little bunny runs away and begins to realize that he cannot run away from his mom.

PLOT COMPONENTS

Climax: The little bunny finally understands that he cannot escape the pursuing love of him mother. Denouement The reader learns that no matter where the bunny runs, the mommy bunny pursues and catches him.

Resolution: The little bunny happily accepts a carrot and decides to stay at home permanently.

THE PLOT

THEME

CHARACTERIZATION

TONE: SUSPENSE

MOOD/STYLE

SETTING

Time

Place

Setting

NARRATION

SELECTED WORKS

The Iliad, by Homer, Oedipus Rex, Sophocles, Confessions, Augustine, Divine Comedy, Dante, Faust,

Goethe, The Doll House, Ibsen, Crime and Punishment, Dostoevsky, War and Peace, Tolstoi, The Unvanquished,

William Faulkner, The Stranger, Camus, The Aeneid, Virgil, Beowulf, Unknown, Ecclesiastical History of the

English People, Bede, Macbeth, Shakespeare, The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne, Huckleberry Finn, Twain, Red

Badge of Courage, Crane, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Stevenson, A Farewell To Arms, Hemingway, Cry the

Beloved Country, Paton.

THE ILIAD BY HOMER

One of the earliest and most influential epic narratives. Characterization is strength. Notion of fate. Heroism set pattern for all later prose narratives.

OEDIPUS REX BY SOPHOCLES

Early example of western drama. Notion of love/hate among family members sets paradigm for Sigmund Freud. Introduces the use of the chorus as the voice of the gods and human reason.

CONFESSIONS BY AUGUSTINE

Powerful example of Christian apologetics. Setting is in a post-Christian era. Compelling Non-fiction. Early didactic narrative.

THE AENEID BY VIRGIL

Roman epic narrative Characters--Dido, Aeneas Clearly attempt by Virgil to develop his characters; more complex than Homer

BEOWULF AUTHOR UNKNOWN

An example of Christian redaction. Best of Anglo-Saxon literature.

ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY OF THE ENGLISH PEOPLE

BY BEDE

Sacred history. Episodic Serious attempt at history since Herodotus, Histories

DIVINE COMEDY BY DANTE

Medieval didactic literature. Written in Italian. Clearly Theistic in tone and substance. Early Allegory

MACBETH BY SHAKESPEARE

Shakespeare’s genius. One of the most enduring villains. Foreshadowing.

FAUST BY GOETHE

Best of European Romanticism. The twilight of Theism: Off the Hook Faust The best of German Literature Humanism

THE DOLL HOUSE BY IBSEN

The first modern female character. Thoroughly modern transition to Pragmatism and Existentialism.

THE SCARLET LETTER BY HAWTHORNE

Last of American Theistic novels for 150 years.

CRIME AND PUNISHMENT BY DOSTOEVSKY

Thoroughly Theistic novel. One of the greatest foils--Sonya Powerful writing. Theme of redemption.

WAR AND PEACE BY TOLSTOY

Arguably the best novel ever written. Theistic. Complicated and well-developed characters. Multiple themes.

HUCKLEBERRY FINN BY TWAIN

First Modern Novel

BIBLICAL APPLICATION

Compare Huckleberry Finn to the young Samuel (1

Sam.1-3).

LITERARY CRITICISM A. As this book progresses we learn to love Jim. Loyal to a fault, trusting, and hardworking, the reader is drawn to this pillar of fecundity. Describe in detail the way that Twain develops this character.

B. Huck is not a static character. As the novel progresses, he matures. What additional knowledge about the problems of life has Huck acquired by the time he gets to the Phelps' farm? In an essay, explain how Huck changes to this point.

C. At the end of the novel Huck abdicates leadership to Tom. However, Huck's more mature grasp of the realities of this situation is still quite evident. How? Contrast Huck in the beginning of the novel with the Huck who emerges at the end.

CRITICAL THINKING

Jim and Huck are ironically trying to escape from slavery by floating down

the Mississippi River. Why is this escape ironical?

CHALLENGE QUESTIONS A. Some critics find the end of the novel to be very disappointing. They feel that after Huck arrives at the Phelps' house the plot deteriorates rapidly. On the other hand, many critics find the end of the book to be entirely consistent with the tone of the book. What do you think? Defend your answer with specific details from the book.

B. Twain's handling of Christianity wavers between outright scorn and mockery [Chapter I] to veiled superstition. Describe Twain's attitudes toward Christianity in Huckleberry Finn. Defend your answer with specific passages from the book.

C. Give at least one example of Twain's cynicism.

D. Every journey must have a goal. What is the goal of Huck's journey?

THE RED BADGE OF COURAGE BY CRANE

Not a Civil War novel. Naturalism.

BIBLICAL APPLICATION Naturalism stresses the discoverable, deterministic laws of nature. If God exists in the Naturalistic word, He is, like nature, cold and indifferent. As the fleeing Henry trips over his dead friend, he notices that a squirrel is playing innocuously around his dead friend's body. The birds sing beautiful songs impervious to the death occurring all around them. Naturalism posits that nature is both ubiquitous and impersonal. What Scripture verses can you find that contradicts this view? Write an essay that argues your perspective.

LITERARY CRITICISM A. Describe the way Crane develops his plot.

B. The plot, to some critics, has major flaws. For instance, after running farther and faster than anyone else, Henry Fleming proves to be one of the bravest soldiers in the regiment. Some critics feel that this is unbelievable. Do you agree? If you feel that the transformation is believable, explain with reasons from the book why you do. C. Describe Crane's tone and writing style.

CRITICAL THINKING A. "Let a thing become a tradition and it becomes half a lie," Crane said. He never created a Hester Prynne who gave her life to absolute truth or to a Huck Finn who had affectionate tolerance toward differing opinions. Crane's world was cynical and very dangerous. His world was full of opportunistic "demons" who sought to do him in. He was "A man adrift on a slim spar/A horizon smaller than the rim of a bottle/Tented waves rearing lashy dark points/The near whine of froth in circles./God is cold." [from the poem "Adrift on a Spar"] In a short story entitled "The Open Boat" Crane hauntingly described the frustration of being in an open boat near enough to see the shore but unable to reach the shore and safety:

CRITICAL THINKING If I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned--if I am going to be drowned, why, in the name of the seven mad gods who rule the sea, was I allowed to come thus far and contemplate sand and trees? Was I brought here merely to have my nose dragged away as I was about to nibble the sacred cheese of life? The morbidity expressed by Crane becomes a recurring theme in American literature. Gone is the God of the Puritans and even the Tone: is the author's attitude toward his subject as expressed in a literary work. Tone is conveyed through the author's choice of words, his inclusion of certain details, and his description of characters and events. God Hester Prynne so faithfully served. The great-great-grandchildren of Anne Bradstreet doubted God really loved them at all. "Fate" was the true power that determined their future. Find examples of this hopelessness in modern movies, television programs, and music. Why, as Christian believers, should we reject this pessimism?

CRITICAL THINKING B. Crane had never seen a battle when he wrote this book. Can you tell? C. Define maturity. How was Henry more mature at the end of the novel than he was at the beginning? D. Pretend that Henry was court marshaled for desertion. Should he be convicted? Why or why not? E. To Crane, nature has lost all contact with humanity. "It was surprising that Nature had gone tranquilly on with her golden process in the midst of so much devilment." Contrast this view with some of the earlier Romantic writers [e.g., Hawthorne].

CHALLENGE QUESTIONS King Ahab in 1 Kings 16 is an example of a modern man. He is everything to everyone. What bothers Ahab is that Elijah is so parochial. That is, Elijah believes in God--as Ahab does--but Elijah claims there is one and only one God. We Christians rarely get into trouble for standing up for Christ until we suggest that Christ is the one and the only Christ. Then the modern world punishes us.

Find evidences in your own life where you have taken a stand for absolute truth and experienced rejection or persecution.

FURTHER ENRICHMENT A. How was Crane affected by Social Darwinism? Social Darwinism was a social theory popular at the end of the nineteenth century. It argued that a social structure and a human organism both survive according to natural laws; i. e., survival of the fittest. B. Read Upton Sinclair, The Jungle, or Frank Norris' MacTeague and tell why these are naturalistic novels.

THE UNVANQUISHED BY FAULKNER

Not the best Faulkner, but, along with Intruder in the Dust, a high school novel. Memorable character, Bayard. Faulkner may be the greatest writer of prose of all time. Southern literature.

A FAREWELL TO ARMS BY HEMINGWAY

Naturalism and Realism Thoroughly modern in style and theme.

THE STRANGER BY CAMUS

One of the most dangerous novels written. Existentialism Hopelessness and despair of modernism Template for serious modern novels.

CRY THE BELOVED COUNTRY BY PATON

Theistic novel written in the 20th century Themes of racial reconciliation, love, and forgiveness.

HONORABLE MENTION Intruder in the Dust, William Faulkner To Kill a Mockingbird, Harper Lee Histories, Herodotus Poetics, Aristotle The Republic, Plato Lives, Plutarch Fairie Queen, Edmund Spenser Robinson Crusoe, Daniel Defoe The Rivals, Richard Sheridan Frankenstein, Mary Shelley Emma, Jane Austen

SUMMARY

☞Teaching the classics implies that there is something better out there than my own desires. ☞Teaching the classics implies there is a corpus of absolute truth. ☞Teaching the classics implies that our society must move beyond entertainment to objective standards. ☞Teaching the classics implies that form and truth are equally important and that there is no legitimate form separate from appropriate truth.