Literary Theory

What do formalist critics focus on when they read a text, and what do they tend to bracket or set aside? How can close attention to sound, rhythm, imagery, and structure change your interpretation of a poem or story? What is gained and what is lost when you read a text purely as a self-contained object, ignoring history or biography? How might two readers performing close readings of the same passage arrive at very different conclusions? Can you recall a time when carefully examining specific words or lines shifted your understanding of a whole work?

How do Marxist or materialist critics connect literary texts to economic systems and class relations? What kinds of questions might a Marxist critic ask about who benefits and who suffers in a given narrative? How can seemingly ‘personal’ conflicts in literature reflect larger struggles over labor, property, or power? What are the risks of reading every text primarily through class and economics, and what insights might still make that worthwhile? Is there a story or novel in which money, work, or property quietly drive the plot more than the characters admit?

How do feminist and gender-based approaches highlight which voices and experiences are missing or silenced in a text? What might it mean to read a classic story ‘against the grain’ to uncover the perspectives of marginalized characters? How do ideas about masculinity, femininity, and sexuality shape the roles characters are allowed to play? What contributions has queer theory made to how we understand identity, desire, and normativity in literature? Can you think of a work where reading it through gender or queer perspectives opened up interpretations you had not seen before?

What questions do postcolonial critics ask about how literature represents colonization, empire, and resistance? How can paying attention to whose language, culture, or knowledge is treated as ‘normal’ reveal power imbalances in a text? In what ways do writers from formerly colonized regions challenge or rewrite stories told by imperial powers? How does the choice of language—colonial or indigenous—matter for authors and readers in postcolonial contexts? Is there a book you know that reads differently once you consider histories of colonization and cultural domination?