Literary Criticism in Theory and Practice

About the Book

Literary Criticism in Theory and Practice presents a penetrating analysis of the major theories and practices of all the dominant groups of literary critics of our times. In the course of the critical survey of the critical principles and methods of all the major critics, the Chicago Critics attempt a critique of Contemporary Criticism in their monumental work, Critics and Criticism: Essays in Method by a Group of the Chicago Critics. The group's members, associated from the 1940s with the University of Chicago, often were called "Aristotelian", or more accurately, "Neo-Aristotelian", because of their concern with form and genre. Their approach emphasises an evaluation of the author's solutions to specific problems in the construction of a text. Therefore, the focus of this book is on the pluralistic approach of these critics who were aware of the powers and limitations of all the critical methods. The present book is significant in the sense that it has the capacity to train teachers and students of literature in the art of literary appreciation that enhances the enjoyment of literary works. Since every literary piece is a constructed whole, Aristotle's method provides clues to its specific constructive principle through a process of regressive reasoning, a posteriori approach. The special discussion of the Chicago method in this book explains the Aristotelian bias of the Chicago Critics who were actually "Neo-Aristotelians" in a limited sense. As the Chicago School of Criticism is a brilliant exercise in remedial criticism, this book may serve as materia medica of critical theories and practices for students and teachers of literary criticism. Advanced students of literary criticism would definitely find this book stimulating as well as illuminating as it presents a penetrating analysis of the major theories and practices of all the dominant groups of literacy critics of our times.