Literary Critiques

If a book review is considered to be a more in-depth version of a book report, then a literary critique goes deeper still. All three forms of response to a given text are intended to give the reader a sense of the text. But while summary and evaluation are required of a book review, they are not yet enough for a literary critique. The writer must analyze and interpret the text as well depending upon the particular approach, or school, that is utilized.

There are many such schools, as they are called, of literary criticism. The Traditional school seeks meaning through the historical context of the text, as well as (to some extent) the history of the author him or herself. New Criticism rejects the idea that the value of a text rests in its historical or societal context, and sought meaning solely in the text itself, through symbolism, word usage, form, and other text-based attributes. The Structuralist school draws to some extent from sociology, and seeks meaning in texts as they relate and fit into the world at large, while the Post-Structuralist school looks at how texts reject or otherwise do not conform to the world at large. The Feminist school places texts squarely in the context of a patriarchal society and seeks to find meaning in them through this consciousness.

There are many other schools of literary criticism, and of course the definitions above are not meant to be comprehensive or exhaustive. Scholars in each school fight bitterly to defend their particular approach to literary critique, all claiming to know the best way to analyze the written word.

Because of this, professors who understand the value of multiple interpretations of a given text tend to teach a variety of schools of literary criticism. One way to teach such an approach is to assign the interpretation of one or more texts using the tools of the given approach. Thus, a typical assignment will ask a student to write a literary critique of a chosen text from an already-identified school of criticism. For example, a student might be asked to critique Homer's “Odyssey” from a feminist perspective; another student might be asked to critique Shakespeare's “MacBeth” from a post-structuralist perspective.

Regardless of the text and/or approach, writing a literary critique is a difficult process. The level of analysis and depth that must be achieved is intense, not to mention the level of knowledge about the given school which must also be acquired. Contact us now to see how we can help. Our writers are extremely well-versed in all schools of literary criticism, and can provide a model critique tailored to your exact needs.