William Yarrow

LITERARY CRITICISM

Literature presents the general truth of specific instances. It begins in the real, is concrete before it can be abstract. Marianne Moore, in a brilliant phrase, described poetry (in its most inclusive sense) as being about real toads in imaginary gardens. Literature doesnt have to be (and often isnt) literally true; its world can be wholly imagined or simply refashioned through selection and arrangement, yet it expresses what is true over time. It is, in Picassos words, a lie that tells the truth. Literature, said Aristotle, is not what happened (which is history) but what happens (the type of thing that happens). To put it more modernly, Literature is news that STAYS news (Ezra Pound). Literary criticism first sees whats there and then reasonably speculates as to its purpose and function. Your function as a literary critic (reader and writer about literature) is to notice what is there and then to ask why it is there. Your

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function is to say to your reader what the novelist Joseph Conrad said to his readers:

What I am trying to do is to make you SEE.

Your first burden is to establish clearly and convincingly (that is, with corroborative evidence) the pattern (of images) or structure (of events) or relationships (between characters) that you perceive. Then you need to address the purpose of what you have found in terms of the larger meaning of the work, addressing why what you have found is important to an understanding of your text.

First notice what.

Then ask and answer the question why.

A thesis is an answer to a question that interests you.

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The question or series of questions you ask about what you have noticed or been intrigued by in a work is your topic.

Your thesis is not the question itself but the answer to this question.

Insofar as the thesis has to be first tested against the work itself, evaluated against the potential evidence, it is a hypothesis (an assertion subject to verification or proof). Once it has found to be testable, supportable, it becomes the foundation of your paper.

Rememberthe thesis is an answer; it is an idea. The writing of a good paper starts with the writing of a good thesis.

A good thesis is 1. specific and detailed

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2. significant and important 3. precise and clearly stated

The more specific and detailed your thesis is (that is, the more parts or qualifications it has), the easier it is to write your paper. A good thesis does your organizational work for you, arranging its parts into paragraphs.

There is room for idiosyncratic maneuvering in a paper and within paragraphs, but as a general rule, the thesis presents a kind of essay map to the reader, announcing the subject or territory and presenting in miniature the argument or route.

All good essays should lead to a conclusion, which is not a mere restatement of the thesis but rather a development of it and a placing of it in a broader context. Essays must have conclusions; they should not just stop.

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The task of a literary critic is to come to a valid interpretation through thorough inspection of a text. The task of a literary critic is attempt to understand the meaning (rather than the personal or historic significance) of the work before the critic.

More than one valid interpretation of a text is possible; some (but not all) understandings can coexist.

The validity of an interpretation is judged by:

1. the cogency of its reasoning 2. the relevant and sufficient evidence that is garnered to support it 3. the significant light it sheds upon the work 4. its ability to take into account or reconcile the largest number of facts or parts of the story.

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Interpretation (to clarify the meaning of, elucidate; to expound the significance of) does not mean summary (brief restatement). Summary is a form of proof. You summarize only to prove your point. Excessive or meaningless summary is a blemish.

Dont be afraid of analytical interpretation. Analysis is a breaking down into parts to see whats there, but books, unlike Humpty Dumpty, can be put together again. They dont suffer damage from analysis. A good book is always larger than our comments about it.

Even though there can be more than one valid interpretation of a text, this does not mean that all interpretations are equally valid. Invalid interpretations of a text are also possible.

An interpretation can be judged invalid if it:

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1. asserts the unprovable, is based on wild speculation or conjecture unsupported by evidence. It will do this if it moves beyond the events narrated in the work (what happens before the beginning or after the ending or something analogous) or attributes motives, which exceed the limits imposed by the book itself. These kinds of statements may be interesting but are unprovable and are therefore meaningless in terms of analysis of the work.

Ungrounded speculation imposes your story on the authors. In literary criticism, thats a foul. You are bound and limited by the facts presented by the words in the text. Imagination inflamed by reading (a natural and healthy response) needs, while doing literary analysis, to be reined in, must not be allowed to gallop away with the authors events and ideas.

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2. asserts the untrue, bases its reading on a misreading or misunderstanding of facts. If you begin a process of reasoning based on something initially untrue, no matter how logical or cogent your argument, ultimately it will be false. It is therefore crucially important to read carefully and get the facts straight, to see exactly what is happening (admittedly easier in some authors than others), and to understand the words you readtheir denotations (dictionary definitions), their connotations, and their historical meanings when relevant.

Do not assume that the author you are reading believes exactly what you believe. He or she may have an entirely different way of looking at people and the world. You need to be open to that possibility and to read as carefully and as sensitively as possible to see what he or she might be saying. You may disagree, but before

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you do so, you must first find out what the author is saying. That is your mission as a literary critic.

3. asserts an interpretation as a fact, does not provide proof for something that demands it, and argues that it doesnt need proof when it does. Sometimes an interpretation seems so convincing to a writer that he or she no longer sees it as an interpretation (and therefore needing substantiation) but comes to believe it is literally and unquestionably true and cannot see why it cannot be accepted as fact. Be careful, as you build your argument, to support everything capable of being supported; otherwise your interpretive edifice might collapse.

4. asserts falsely, is biased in its discussion or presentation of material, draws large conclusions on too limited a sampling of material, leaves out

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important contradictory or modifying evidence, or fails to consider all the evidence, the whole. Stacking the deck, jumping to conclusions, hasty generalization, and oversimplification are types of false assertions.

5. asserts based on faulty reasoning. A flaw in thinking causes an invalid conclusion to be drawn. Non sequiturs (things that dont follow or flow from one another), improper syllogisms (faulty deductive reasoning), reasoning from improper analogies, asserting the identity of two things only analogous, asserting that there are only two alternatives when more exist, mistaking causes for effects, taking a train of thought too far, among many others, are types of faulty reasoning.

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6. asserts without proof, does not back up judgments with evidence from the texte.g. exact quotation, pointed summary, apt analogy, or other forms of support.

Part of the pleasure of reading is the pleasure of discovery. Discovery is meaningless unless shared. The writing of papers of literary analysis presents the opportunity to share your discoveries. Thus, we write papers of literary analysis because, in sharing what weve discovered, we gain pleasure. When papers are a pleasure to write, they become a pleasure to read.