This essay is going to be focused
on the analysis of the Biographical Criticism of Literary
Theory. First of all I would like to have a look what this critical
approach is about and then we will study its characteristics and its most
important representative authors.
To begin with the analysis we should
define what theory literary means; it is the theory (or the philosophy)
of the interpretation of literature and literary criticism. (Literary Theory, Wikipedia). Also it is important
to define literary criticism; it is the study, discussion,
evaluation, and interpretation of literature.
Modern literary criticism is often informed by literary theory,
which is the philosophical discussion of its methods and goals. Though the two
activities are closely related, literary critics are not
always, and have not always been, theorists. (Literary Criticism, Wikipedia)
Now its time
to define the term biographical approach; as the keyword says something that is
biographical means that it contains life aspects. If we look the word biography up in a dictionary it says the
following; Individual life history. (Universal, Dictionary, Collins). So it
implies the over course, the personal career of somebody.
Biographical information can be direct or
indirect and almost always the author life tries to explain some work aspect.
This critical approach is one of the most traditional methods, and the author
is considered as a work motive power. The main idea is that the author is the
first work literary cause and it is only a creator reflection of the personal
circumstances; but sometimes we can make mistakes because the author could
adopt a false mask by which he/she can invent his/her own personality, he/she
probably could be dreaming and all those aspects it doesn’t appear in the
author life. (Narrative Fiction, Ana García)
Subjective authors exist and most of them
use his/her works as a kind of confession to show that inside world which own.
Even with these subjective authors we should take care because their works
don’t leave to be conventionally aspects since their biographical or experience
facts suffer some transformation and they adopt them in some way. (Narrative Fiction, Ana García)
The biographic
criticism contributes to complete the work comprehension but it can not
constitute in the main objective. A biographical approach can help us to
explain things like allusions or certain words in a work: we can place the author
in a literary tradition with sources in which the author is based. (Narrative Fiction, Ana García)
Historical / Biographical critics
see works as the reflection of an author's life and times (or of the
characters' life and times). They believe it is necessary to know about the
author and the political, economical, and sociological context of his times in
order to truly understand his works. (Historical
/ Biographical Approach, Skilar Hamilton)
Advantages:
This approach works well
for some works like those of Alexander Pope, John Dryden, and Milton which are
obviously political in nature. One must know
Disadvantages: New Critics refer to the
historical / biographical critic's belief that the meaning or value of a work
may be determined by the author's intention as "the intentional
fallacy." They believe that this approach tends to reduce art to the
level of biography and make it relative (to the times) rather than universal. (Historical / Biographical Approach, Skilar Hamilton)
It is important that real
life experience can help shape (either directly or indirectly) an author's
work; understanding an author's life can help us better understand the work.
Facts from the author's life are used to help the reader better understand the
work; the focus is always on the literary work under investigation. (Critical Approaches to Literature, X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia ).
The most Major theorists of Autobiographical theory
include Bella Brodski, Paul de Man (de-MAHN), Jacques
Derrida (dair-ree-DAH), Paul John Eakin,
Leigh Gilmore, Georges Gusdorf, Carolyn Heilbrun, Philippe Lejeune,
Françoise Lionnet, Mary G. Mason, Nancy K. Miller,
Shirley Neuman, Felicity Nussbaum, James Olney, Roy
Pascal, Adrienne Rich, Sidonie Smith, Patricia Meyer Spacks, Domna Stanton, Julia
Watson, and Karl Weintraub. (Modern Literary Theory, Autobiographical criticism)
In addition to this I think
that historical
criticism it is important too because it investigates the social,
cultural, and intellectual context that produced it. This investigation
includes the author's biography and
the social milieu. Historical criticism often seeks to understand the impact of
a work in its day, and it may also explore how meanings change over time.
Historical criticism explores how time and place of creation affect meaning in
the work. (Critical Approaches to Literature,
X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia ).
Personally, the majority authors
and poems that I have analysed during the course year in a chronological order,
beginning with Tennyson’s poem “To the Queen”, with William Butler Yeats’ poem “The Lover Tells Of the Rose In His Heart”, with Siegfried Sassoon’s “Suicide in the Trenches” and finally Dylan Thomas’s “Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night” all their woks are related
with his own life, his own experiences as it was stated in previous papers.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
· Literary
Theory – Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Wikimedia foundation, may 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_theory 19.05.06
· Literary
Criticism
- Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia, Wikimedia
foundation, may 2006.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literary_criticism 19.05.06
·Literary
Criticism Study Guide, Skylar Hamilton Burris, 1999.
http://www.literatureclassics.com/ancientpaths/litcrit.html#historical 23.05.06
· Critical Approaches to Literature, X.J. Kennedy and Dana Gioia, 2002.
http://brainstorm-services.com/wcu-2002/critical-approaches.html
23.05.06
· Modern
Literary Theory, Dr. Kristi Siegel, ©
Kristi Siegel.
http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#auto 20.05.06
·
Narrative Fiction from the 18th century, Ana García
Herráez, 2004 – 2005.