A framework for interpreting literature as inextricable from the power structures between colonizer and colonized produced by European imperial rule.

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

San Jose State University

Arizona State University

The study of what literature means, both as a category (what counts as “literature”) and as a subject (how should this text be interpreted).

Literary Theory

Elam, J.D. (2019, January 15). Oxford Bibliographies: Postcolonial Theory. Oxford University Press. 
https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780190221911/obo-9780190221911-0069.xml

Oxford Bibliographies: Postcolonial Theory

Postcolonial Theory in Literature

Formalism is an interpretive method that focuses on literary form and the study of literary devices within the literature. Formalism attempts to study literature on a scientific basis through the objective analysis of motifs, devices, techniques, etc.. Importance was on distinguishing the literary works from other forms of writing; however, both author and context were considered unimportant.  

Formalism 

Marxist literary theories focus on the representation of class conflict and the reinforcement of class distinctions through literature. Marxist theorists use traditional techniques of literary analysis but subordinate aesthetic concerns to analyze the social and political meanings of literature. The Marxist paradigm seeks new ways of understanding the relationship between economic production and literature and all cultural production. 

Marxism in Literary Theory 

Structuralism was to be used as a metalanguage, a language about languages, used to decode actual languages or systems of signification. The focus of analyses is on the structure versus social or historical context. Structuralism challenged the belief that a work of literature reflected a given reality. Structuralist critics analyzed texts by examining underlying structures, including characterization and plot. It attempts to show how these patterns are universal and are used to develop general conclusions about both individual works and the systems from which they were created. 

Structuralism in Literary Theory 

New Historicism is a theory based on the parallel reading of literary and non-literary texts, usually of the same historical period, and studies literary and non-literary texts with equal weight. This includes intensive close reading of non-literary texts. The theory reviews canonical texts by defamiliarising' the past weight of the literature to study as new. This theory analyzes issues of State power and how it is maintained, on the patriarchy, and colonialization. Theorists analyze the textual history of the past because it is “embedded" in the textuality of the present and concerns; therefore, text and context are less distinct in practice. Texts are studied for how they reveal economic and social realities, ideology, representation of power, or subversion. New Historicism, particularly, is interested in representations of marginal/marginalized groups and non-normative behaviors, such as witchcraft and revolts to demonstrate the need for power to represent subversive alternatives to legitimize itself.

New Historicism

Feminist Criticism analyzes how literature (and other cultural creations) reinforce or undermine the economic, political, social, and psychological oppression of women. This theory analyzes aspects of our culture that are inherently patriarchal (male-dominated) and exposes misogyny in literature writing about women. Attention is also placed on the need for women to be given new prominence, focus on the exclusion of women writers from the traditional literary canon, and explore the "nature of the female world and outlook." 

Feminist Literary Theory 

Queer Theory is "not synonymous with gender theory, nor even with the overlapping fields of gay and lesbian studies, but does share many of their concerns with normative definitions of man, woman, and sexuality." This theory questions the categories of sexual identity and the paradigms created from what is considered normative sexual ideology. 

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