The Literary Theory: An Introduction to Theory and the Critical Approach
By Dr. Madhu Grover
“There are no universal ideas.”
On the 2nd of September, Jabberwock hosted the first lecture in The Literary Theory Series: An Introduction to Theory and Critical Approach, delivered by Dr. Madhu Grover.
She began by addressing the lecture’s intention, which was to introduce literary criticism as it is known today, and how it had developed over centuries of political, social and cultural change. She drew upon Barry's 'Beginning Theory' and Eagleton's 'The Function of Criticism' to emphasize some essential questions: What is a text? What are the assumptions behind it? What does it do?
These are uneasy to answer. Dr. Grover believes so because texts have multiple meanings, contained within them as well as produced by them. Despite readers coming from different worlds, a reservoir of shared values, institutions and languages may remain. She drew attention to the fullness with which the qualities of texts speak: through history, but also through each reader.
Interdisciplinarity truly functions in ecology – different fields exchange and even replace ideas. Dr. Grover described literary texts as alternate realities. They archive the forgotten human realities of other areas. She illustrated this with examples such as that of Sigmund Freud being mostly studied in literature classrooms today.
The text’s utopian dream of a just society and better future was explained. Periods of great turmoil have often led to great art. This led her to highlight the importance of literary criticism. We must atomize texts to find value, not to devalue.
“Always historicize”, said Frederic Jameson. Thus, the audience listened as Dr. Grover spoke of the origin of literary criticism in the seventeenth century – it began with the middle class freely assembling in coffee houses, exchanging rational discourse. The literary critic came to be imagined as a “disinterested cultural commentator.” She quoted periodicals from later centuries to make several interesting anecdotes, such as the tension between public and private thought, of politically motivated criticism in the wake of the February Revolution as opposed to a perceived ‘sage figure’ critic, and the estrangement of literary figures by capitalist culture. She traced the journey up until Victorian ideological turmoil, and how literary criticism came to embody social criticism as well.
Concluding her thoughts, Professor Madhu Grover reflected on elitism and the canon of texts set by conceived literary standards in universities. Following this, she offered her insight to every audience member who had questions.
On the 2nd of September, Jabberwock hosted the first lecture in The Literary Theory Series: An Introduction to Theory and Critical Approach, delivered by Dr. Madhu Grover.
She began by addressing the lecture’s intention, which was to introduce literary criticism as it is known today, and how it had developed over centuries of political, social and cultural change. She drew upon Barry's 'Beginning Theory' and Eagleton's 'The Function of Criticism' to emphasize some essential questions: What is a text? What are the assumptions behind it? What does it do?
These are uneasy to answer. Dr. Grover believes so because texts have multiple meanings, contained within them as well as produced by them. Despite readers coming from different worlds, a reservoir of shared values, institutions and languages may remain. She drew attention to the fullness with which the qualities of texts speak: through history, but also through each reader.
Interdisciplinarity truly functions in ecology – different fields exchange and even replace ideas. Dr. Grover described literary texts as alternate realities. They archive the forgotten human realities of other areas. She illustrated this with examples such as that of Sigmund Freud being mostly studied in literature classrooms today.
The text’s utopian dream of a just society and better future was explained. Periods of great turmoil have often led to great art. This led her to highlight the importance of literary criticism. We must atomize texts to find value, not to devalue.
“Always historicize”, said Frederic Jameson. Thus, the audience listened as Dr. Grover spoke of the origin of literary criticism in the seventeenth century – it began with the middle class freely assembling in coffee houses, exchanging rational discourse. The literary critic came to be imagined as a “disinterested cultural commentator.” She quoted periodicals from later centuries to make several interesting anecdotes, such as the tension between public and private thought, of politically motivated criticism in the wake of the February Revolution as opposed to a perceived ‘sage figure’ critic, and the estrangement of literary figures by capitalist culture. She traced the journey up until Victorian ideological turmoil, and how literary criticism came to embody social criticism as well.
Concluding her thoughts, Professor Madhu Grover reflected on elitism and the canon of texts set by conceived literary standards in universities. Following this, she offered her insight to every audience member who had questions.
Written by Poulomi Deb