Literature The Story of An Hour by Kate Chopin
Literary Criticism Research Paper WHAT IS IT? What is literary criticism? What is its goal? How is a literary article structured? And most importantly for you, how can you use it as evidence in your English research paper? To start: literary criticism makes an argument about how a text works using close readings of that text (or those texts) as evidence. It then adds a theoretical framework or component to its close reading– that is, it will rely on literary theory and prior literary criticism as a lens through which to look at a literary work. PRIMARY TEXT + THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK = LITERARY CRITICISM WHY WE DO IT You will use literary criticism and theory to further your own arguments about a text. When making an argument about a text, you will answer the question: what do critics have to say about a particular text or a particular topic? The idea is that you are creating an interpretive claim about what was going on in a particular text–and creating your own personal contribution to the larger critical discussion surrounding a text–through an argument about how a text works, what it is doing, or what it is saying. As you all start surveying the critical field for evidence for your own arguments, the articles you will use as evidence will be, essentially, doing the same work you will be performing–albeit at a professional level. Take a look at how they incorporate others’ arguments, and how they engage with their primary (source) text(s). HELPFUL TIPS FOR READING & WRITING When reading criticism, it may be helpful to keep in mind the basic structure of a piece of criticism: 1. This is my argument. 2. This is what has been said by other critics about this/closely related topic(s) (this is why it seems that so much of a critical article is comprised of reiterating other people’s arguments). 3. This is how my argument builds on these other people’s arguments. In this assignment, you will really only be concerned with 1 and 3–you don’t need to spend time accounting for what the field at large has to say about your subject, only to explain how the 2-3 critics you have chosen to engage with have contributed to your argument. When writing with literary criticism, you are inserting yourself into a pre-existing critical conversation. It’s your job to figure out, “Where exactly do I fit?” (How is my argument different from everyone else’s? Have I adequately explained how these other critical arguments I’m engaging relate to what I’m trying to argue?) You’ve already written essays in which you provide your own close reading of a text, but so far we’ve been limited to the primary text as our source. In your past essays, you’ve been asked to make an interpretive argument about a text, using evidence from that text to support your interpretation–this is what close reading is. But now you will be looking at the arguments of others as a way of making your own more specific, more powerful, more tailored to your own interests. HOW TO ENGAGE WITH CRITICISM There are a few different ways to engage with criticism: 1) by agreeing with it, using it as evidence to on which to found/with which to further your argument; 2) by disagreeing with it, pointing out how the point it’s making fails to account for something in the text; and 3) looking to it as a source of an idea, term, or concept that you may find especially helpful. For the first, I should point out that this doesn’t mean that you agree with the entire argument of an article, or that the whole argument is pertinent to your argument. It’s not. It couldn’t be, otherwise you wouldn’t be doing anything other than repeating what this other critic has already said. Don’t lose your voice in other people’s. Instead, it might be a sentence, or an idea that you agree with. It may only be part of a sentence. If you can use that to help build your argument, use it. Just be sure to transition satisfactorily from one idea to another; that is, your use of the criticism should flow along with your argument, and you should explain why or how it does. EXAMPLE Here is an example from one of my assignments (Comp 2, in fact) where I pulled in outside criticism into my own argument. I chose two poems to write about, researched literary criticism on them, formulated my own argument, then created a thesis based on where I stood: Self is the key word. Redemption implies a sort of religious experience, by uniting, as Hoxie Fairchild explains in “The Religious Views of the Romantic Poets,” with “some extrapersonal being or cosmic force which has power to confer those qualities [of peace, sureness, goodness, and strength greater than he now possesses]” (56). However, Fairchild observes that “[the Romantic poets’] genuinely religious aspirations are frustrated by their reluctance to believe in any force superior to the force of their own genius. The divine universal interfusion which they attempt to worship is merely the goal of their personal creativity” (56). Percy Shelley’s “To a Sky-Lark” and John Keats’s “Ode to a Nightingale” show the process of redemption by revealing the poets’ symptoms of self before and after redemption, by using symbols to show how redemption is a psychological process, and by reinforcing the theme of redemption through poetic devices. Since it is human nature to yearn for redemption, these poems remain relevant. In this example, I use the arguments of others to propel my own: that the two Romantic poets addressed here were valid at their attempts of revealing spiritual matters in their poems and not just a bunch of good-for-nothing, high-class wordsmiths trying to show off. I used points I agreed with and points I didn’t agree with from the articles I had researched. Oftentimes, it is most helpful to also pull in a term, idea, or argument from a source that isn’t dealing with the work you will be addressing, but nevertheless offers something that you think would be extremely productive in to your argument. If you choose to do this, be sure to clearly define/explain what that term/idea/argument is, in words of the critic/theorist. In any case, make the relevance of any criticism you use extremely clear in your argument: what is it doing here? How are you engaging with it? How are you building on it–adding something new to the critical conversation? EXPECTATIONS • • • • Keep your paper in accordance with MLA formatting guidelines (double spaced, Times New Roman, page numbers, proper heading, 12-point Times New Roman font, and proper quote citations/punctuation). Check if your argument clear. Does it progress logically? Is it interpretive (that is, can you see how your argument seeks to say something new, interesting, or not obvious about the text)? Check if your argument grounded on a close reading of the primary text. How well do you incorporate that text in your argument? Engage with the literary criticism in your paper. Check that it fits with your argument and its inclusion doesn’t seem forced, contrived, or awkward. Remember: I know the vast majority of you are doing this for the first time. Relax–follow my guidelines, let yourself be creative, take chances, and support your argument with the text, and you’ll be fine! REQUIREMENTS Length: 7 pages, double spaced Resources: At least 4 sources of literary criticism from peer-reviewed sources (all sources must be included in an annotated bibliography) Proposal, Annotated Bibliography, Outline, and Works Cited – in MLA format
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