The Literary Theory: Critical Theory
By Dr. Mohinder Singh
On 11th September 2021, Jabberwock hosted a session on Critical Theory as part of its 'Literary Theory' Series. The lecture was led by Dr. Mohinder Singh from the Centre of Comparative Politics and Political Theory, School of International Studies in Jawaharlal Nehru University.
Students of the English department gathered on Saturday morning to tune into Dr. Singh's look at literary critique and it's evolution across vast space and time. Dr. Singh described critique as the practice of exposing the historical and social basis underlying the object of critique, a theory, a text or a work of art. He invoked several familiar and new examples from history to impress upon the students, a fresh vision of literary critique.
His lecture explored several areas of literary critique and criticism. His description of Marxist critique as a "generally immanent critique", that is, critique springing from inside a theory of an argument showing a theory's situatedness in a historical context, was especially notable.
From his discussion, students were able to infer this 'context' to be one of power and domination. Dr. Singh's lecture traversed several boundaries and as he delivered his concluding remarks, students were left with a greater understanding of the nuances of critical theory.
Students of the English department gathered on Saturday morning to tune into Dr. Singh's look at literary critique and it's evolution across vast space and time. Dr. Singh described critique as the practice of exposing the historical and social basis underlying the object of critique, a theory, a text or a work of art. He invoked several familiar and new examples from history to impress upon the students, a fresh vision of literary critique.
His lecture explored several areas of literary critique and criticism. His description of Marxist critique as a "generally immanent critique", that is, critique springing from inside a theory of an argument showing a theory's situatedness in a historical context, was especially notable.
From his discussion, students were able to infer this 'context' to be one of power and domination. Dr. Singh's lecture traversed several boundaries and as he delivered his concluding remarks, students were left with a greater understanding of the nuances of critical theory.
Written by Shyla Sharma