Please POST a summary of your group's discussion today. Group leader gets credit for the post.
*****Please post for credit a short response about the literary approach you can most identify with. Why do you like this approach? What is interesting about this way of looking at fiction, poetry, and prose?
I will use these posts to provide you with daily participation credit and more grades this marking period.
My Antonia by Willa Cather
ReplyDeleteErin, Mary, Eliza, Meredith, Malkah, Celia, Marguerite and Micah.
Today we discussesd the role of setting in My Antonia. Nebraska as a bland setting will eventually be contrasted with city life. (Ms. Gamzon you spoiler you.) We talked about the arrival of the immigrants and what the setting around them means. Nothing much happens in Nebraska, even in a novel.
The Reader-Response approach is the most interesting critical approach to me. I think this has a lot to do with my involvement in theatre and the importance of communication between the audience and the performers. The elements put into a book by the author are obviously important, but to me, I care more about the purpose of the book and how it's going to make the reader feel. What's the point of writing a book if there is no response in the reader? I also think this will be complex for My Antonia because it's very personal to the author and thus may have less of a purpose in inducing a response.
ReplyDeleteThe feministic approach to the way a novel is written is the most interesting to me because it enlightens a womans role in society. At the time of My Antonia, women did not have a very large or important part in society, and a WOMAN writer, writing about a woman at this time was very rare, and tells the story from a different point of view. For a woman to be educated enough and have the motives to write their own book, and push it to get published, really displays exactly what the author is trying to establish, that women have a prominent and important role in society, and should be aknoleged.
ReplyDeleteThe Psychoanalytic approach seems the most interesting to me. This approach originally focused on the mental state of the author but has shifted to analyze the way an author writes to appeal to the reader's desires. When reading novels of any kind, I naturally find myself analyzing the book in these ways. I often think about how the story could relate to the author's own life and what elements of the fiction, poetry, or prose the author used to interest not only to me, but to other readers as well. I find this type of critical approach intriguing because it allows the piece of literature to become more personal and intimate and provides a deeper understanding of the author's motivations for the reader.
ReplyDeleteI think I like deconstruction because it has the clearest technique and is more about studying individual elements that make up a literary work. A lot of these sound sort of similar, I mean ripping apart a text and studying it probably utilizes several of these critiques but I felt as if we had used all of them as I was reading about them. I just like Deconstruction because its sort of black and white and your searching for contradictory meanings, not connections to nature or something.
ReplyDeleteI personally think that the reader-response is the most fascinating of the critical approaches because it completely incorporates the audience - who are the main objective for an author to even write for - into the novel. The author does their part by creating the world of their novel, but it is the reader who interprets that world into something that they can relate to. I, for one, tend to picture the novels that I read as though they are a movie, but that isn't to say that what I imagine the setting and the characters to look like is the exact same as what someone else does. I think that the reader-response critical approach is why there are so many different tastes in books in the first place: the novel is what WE are the reader makes it. We just go off of what the author has given us.
ReplyDeleteI was drawn to New Historicism, because the time in which a literary work was written can explain the style, theme, tone, and/or focus of the work. History does not need to be written in a textbook--in fact, New Historicism rejects the fact that a single source can be totally objective or absolutely correct. Instead of placing literature in neat categories like earlier historians, New Historicism treads the path more toward sociology and anthropology, allowing us to study real culture through fictional characters. This lets the reader see patterns and parallels between a work and the setting in which it was written.
ReplyDeleteI am personally fascinated by the psychoanalytic criticism, because I find it really interesting that by analyzing a piece of literature one can find out some things about the author's subconscious manifesting in their writing. I also like the idea of being able to apply this to the reader as well, and judging their response to an author's work as a reflection of their subconscious as well. I like the idea that we can study literature to discover more about the unconscious. It seems intriguing the way that multiple areas of study can coincide like that.
ReplyDeleteReading this blog makes me feel more intelligent sometimes :)
ReplyDeleteThe Awakening Group: (sorry, I'm not going to try to copy all of our names, because I would forget someone or someone or something else bad...)
ReplyDeleteToday in class we discussed the new characters that we met in the latest few chapters of the book. We also discussed the relationships between the characters and how the third person narration limits how much the reader can get into the characters' head and understand where they are coming from. We also talked a little bit about the piano playing of the different characters in chapter 9 and the different stles of the players affeted the reactions they got. We answered a few of the study guide questions in the back of the binder, but we mostly stayed within our own discussion with different people asking quesions about other peoples' reactions to different parts of the book.
The approach that I can most indentify with is the Feminist approach which is a major theme in the book The Awakening. Although this book is fiction the readers are still able to connect and relate with how women may be confined by marriage and gender and soon awaken and discover a way to express themselves the way they want to. This feminist approach emphasizes on the role of women and their capability to grow just as Edna is starting to grow in the book. This approach reminds readers the thrill of being an indivdual and resisting the unwanted expectations and the traditional duties of a woman as the desire of freedom is aroused.
ReplyDeleteThe approach that appeals most to me is the psychoanalytic criticism because it focuses on the unconscious and the subconscious of the author as well as the characters. I am very interested in the way the mind works, why people react to things in a certain way and how we relate to other people. Being able to express ourselves is something that comes up in psychology and using this approach allows the reader to see some of the author in the text because inevitably, some of who the author is as a person is going to be conveyed through her writing. I am interested in psychology in general, and so it sounds interesting to me to look at a book through that perspective and the mind set of looking into the minds of the author and the characters for answers about human behavior in general and why the characters feel the need to react in the way they are. It makes the relationships between characters clearer and allows for a deeper connection between the reader and the book, and therefore the reader and the author.
ReplyDeleteThe literary approach that I found most compelling was that of structuralism. The idea that the different approaches to writing, even down to word choice, are indicative of a structure of thought is an empowering yet also troubling theory. This approach can technically go hand in hand with Freudian psychology, but it seems to be a broader topic because it isn't restricted to the area of psychoanalysis, only literature. I love the idea that each word and sentence structure is a sign of my mental capacity for understanding and reason, two key elements that have been studied by anthropologists and psychologists. Some where along the way, our theoretical free will comes into direct conflict with our psyche.
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of reader response...I think how you read a book, how you picture the characters and the scenes, says a great deal about who you are. It also makes you more active in the book because it is your imagination as well as the author's that is involved. I enjoy books where character description is held to a minumum, so the characters become in a way your own. I'm rereading the Lord of the Rigns books and something I find very obnoxious is that I can only picture the characters as they appeared in the movies, although Tolkien doesn't spend much time on thier discriptions.
ReplyDeleteI think the reader-response approach is particualarly interesting. The reader is active while reading, that is the way the literary work comes alive. Some readers connect with the characters emotionally, while others use their imagination to visualize what they're reading, even with little discription from the author. Everyone reacts to a literary work differently, but that doesn't make one reaction more right than another. The way someone reacts to a work is personal and can be just as right as someone who has an exact opposite reaction.
ReplyDeleteI am tempted to say that the critical approach that is most appealing to me is the feminist criticism. Part of me wishes to shy away from this approach because it seems easy...too easy. But I think that there is so much more to this topic than what it seems to be at first glance. There are so many ways to analyze the female presence in a novel and understand her development and the authors reasoning and purpose in doing this. As a female I think it is important to understand the change in gender relations and the change in the perceptions people had of the sexes and their roles. I want to learn how to understand why it happened, when, things that helped it progress, literature that exemplifies the womens rights mvmt etc etc.
ReplyDeleteAnother topic that grasps my attention is the reader response approach. I find it interesting that someone gave a name to and event that happens to me all the time: reading a book and getting entranced with it, and feeling as a part of it. Readers, myself included, have very personal relationships with books. It is hard to explain to others the way you picture a character in your head, or the reason a certain part of a book makes you tear up. Reading is personal, and literature "exists" when it is read, due to the way that it is perceived and imagined by different people. The way that authors grasp the reader and involve them in the text with imagery, and emotions and, like the critical approach definitions says, the gaps makes the literature so much more substantial and enthralling.
Sara Dill
Personally I find the Psychoanalytic Criticism very interesting and developing to the book itself. It shows how the book can effect people's psychology while they are reading a book. This interests me greatly, it brings a new way to develop and understand a book for the reader.I like that the Psychoanalytic Criticism is put more towards the reader, rather then the writer. Most criticism are focused around what the writer did and meant when they wrote the book. But this lets the reader's feelings of the book make a difference in their development of the book. I just find it enthralling in a way.
ReplyDeleteI would have to say either the reader response or the feminist criticism. For the reader response it seems more personal for each person who reads the book, the connections and emotions they feel with the literature. For the Feminist criticism these seems interesting because of the author of The Awakening and the main character. This novel is a lot about feminism at the time and how women were treated and the feminist criticism really analyzes that.
ReplyDeleteI found the New Historicism approach very interesting. The new historicists bring history into a new light, not only looking at the events which have happened but actually connecting the past to the present to what shall be the ending. I also like the fact that they look at literature as a part of history and really don't categorize books or novels. Mostly the studies of Michael Foucalt that really draw me to this critical approach.
ReplyDeleteI find the reader-response approach interesting, especially with a book like The Awakening because it seems to lack a real sense of emotional connection to the reader in some ways. It seems like most writers attempt to establish a connection between themselves or their characters with the readers as a way to capture the reader's attention. This approach is also very important to every reader, and every reader uses this response in one way or another as they analyze what they are reading, and how they are affected by it. I also really like the feminist approach because it is a main focus of this book and the era that it was written in. Though this approach comes off as bias to me, I think it is good to read The Awakening with this view, as feminist freedom is a main focus of the novel.
ReplyDelete“Everything happens for a reason, Martin,” my grandmother told me when I burnt my favorite childhood hat next to the wood burning stove. It was a lovely hat, made of wool so colorful it brightened my day every time I wore it. From A Structuralistic point of view, the burning of the hat would be only a sign of the painful times to come. That winter would be the coldest winter in my past. You see, structuralism states that all of humankind’s characteristics: our actions, our deeds, our literature and our lives are a system of signs which are not to be overlooked. Structuralists such as Roman Jacobson, Claude Lévi-Strauss, and Roland Barthes attempted to develop a semiology; a form of science which analyzes these signs in our history and literature. Naturally, the Science of English would greatly appeal to me. So, why Structuralism? Why study the events of the past, hoping to decode what may take place in the future? Because it cannot easily be done, and a good mind always accepts the challenge. I would have never guessed that the burning hat, the symbol of the “cold winter” could have meant anything more than my ears would be frostbitten. I would never have known that that particular winter would play host to the death of my grandmother there with me when my hat burned. Nor would I ever have guessed that the rosebush she planted many years before would not grow that spring. A sign so seemingly, painfully obvious was cast aside as I scorned at my silly mistake of putting my hat too close to the fire. And yet, who knows how many symbols are left enduring undiscovered by me at this very moment. Structuralism would dictate that everything, all these little actions, feelings, and decisions, will return to influence the system of life in my future.
ReplyDeleteThe most interesting lens for me is the psychoanalytic criticism; it allows for speculation into the subconscious and unconscious of the writer, as well as the reader. It can explain the author's intent for the piece in the first place, and the reader's reaction to parts of a literary work, or the entire thing. In taking both the author's intentions and audience's reactions into account, I believe it to be the most objective form of literary criticism listed, because others exist as extreme retaliations to one another, or completely ignore the author or the audience.
ReplyDelete-David
I will evaluate My Antonia using the Marxist lens. I like this approach because it is always interesting to look at the economic and social aspects of literature. Also, this novel specifically revolves around an immigrant family in the States, and it should be interesting to analyze the roles of the oppressors and the oppressed in My Antonia.
ReplyDeleteThe 9th period My Antonia focused on furthering our understanding of critical approaches and understanding how different ones relate to the book. We also talked about Book II and how the roles of different characters are developed and how we felt about the family's move to a town.
ReplyDelete