November 1, 2022
The reading and our in-class discussion on literary theories gave me mixed emotions. When I first read the section, I was hoping to God that Dr. Reed didn't give us a quiz on the different theories because there were so many to remember. In addition to that, I was majorly confused which theory was which and they all seemed to blend together. Even though I was confused when I read, the in-class discussion cleared up the theories for me.
A large aspect of the theories I noticed is how much the earliest theories omitted. For example, the early theories tended to focus strictly on what was being said rather than the situations surrounding the works. For example, political, social, world views, and economic interests were left out of consideration for several different theories. Also, most of the early theories didn't take into account who the author/poet was and their background. I believe that by omitting these details, many of the early theorists could not gain a full understanding of the piece.
I feel like I fall under the feminist criticism theory. It is not only the most interesting theory to me, I believe it is the most realistic and takes into account the most details. I had never heard of the term canon before this class, and after learning about the canon, I think I am very against it like feminist critics are. There are so many writers that do not fall in the canon that are much better (in my opinion) than the writers in the canon. Women have long been silenced and oppressed when it comes to works of literature and I think that reading non-canonical works of women helps one gain an open mind and greater worldly view.
My least favorite criticism we read about was formalist criticism/new criticism. These critics, in my opinion, are very narrow-minded. The taboo nature of topics such as politics, sexuality, race, etc. prevents these critics from gaining a full understanding of what is going on in a piece. I also believe that subjectivity is one of the greatest qualities of works of art, and because these critics reject the notion of subjectivity, I do not believe that they truly know how to interpret a piece.
Below is a video on how women invented the novel and never really got credit for it.