Literary (and, especially, Archetypal) Criticism Literary criticism, starting from Aristotle in the 4th century BCE, studies the art of literature and explores the ways that literature affects us emotionally, intellectually, and aesthetically. Purpose: • to interpret the meaning of a literary work and evaluate its quality • to promote high standards in literature and encourage a general appreciation of literature What can we do when we approach a novel as “critics”? • analyze the reasons for our responses • discover why we feel the way we do • search for relationships between the works we read • draw connections between our reading and our life experiences
Archetypal Criticism Archetypal criticism depends heavily on symbols and patterns operating on a universal scale. It is based on Carl Gustav Jung’s (1875-1961) psychological theory. Jung believed in a collective unconscious that lay deep within all of us and contained the “cumulative knowledge, experiences, and images of the entire human race” (Bressler, 1994, p. 92). Jung identified certain archetypes, which are simply repeated patterns and images of human experience found in literature, such as the changing seasons; the cycle of birth, death, rebirth; the hero and the heroic quest; the beautiful temptress. The basis of archetypal criticism is that all literature consists of variations on a great mythic cycle within the following pattern: 1. The hero begins life in a paradise (such as a garden) 2. The hero is displaced from paradise (alienation) 3. The hero endures time of trial and tribulation, usually a wandering (a journey) 4. The hero achieves self-discovery as a result of the struggles on that journey 5. The hero returns to paradise (either the original or a new and improved one) The journey motif is very common and usually takes one of the two forms: 1. The linear journey: The hero moves away from home, encounters adventures, and finds a new home better than the first. 2. The circular journey: The hero moves away from home, encounters adventures, and returns home a better person. Strength: It allows us to see the larger patterns of literature Limitation: It tends to ignore the individual contributions of the author and the specific cultural and societal influences.
