Details
Genre/form term
Literary criticism
Use for
Analysis, Literary
Criticism, Literary
Literary analysis
Criticism, Literary
Literary analysis
See also
Discursive works
Note
Works that evaluate, study, and discuss literature of any genre.
Found in
Work cat.: Wyatt, Jean. Love and narrative form in Toni Morrison's later novels, 2017.
Alice Munro's miraculous art : critical essays, 2017.
Britannica online, Oct. 16, 2017: Literary criticism (Literary criticism, the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It applies, as a term, to any argumentation about literature, whether or not specific works are analyzed. More strictly construed, the term covers only what has been called "practical criticism," the interpretation of meaning and the judgment of quality. Criticism in this narrow sense can be distinguished not only from aesthetics (the philosophy of artistic value) but also from other matters that may concern the student of literature: biographical questions, bibliography, historical knowledge, sources and influences, and problems of method; Criticism will here be taken to cover all phases of literary understanding, though the emphasis will be on the evaluation of literary works and of their authors' places in literary history. For another particular aspect of literary criticism, see textual criticism)
Oxford dictionaries website, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: The art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of literary works)
Cambridge dictionary online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: the formal study and discussion of works of literature, for example by judging and explaining their importance and meaning)
Collins English dictionary online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: the evaluation, study and discussion of literature)
Baldick, C. The Oxford dictionary of literary terms, 2015, via Oxford reference online, Oct. 16, 2017 (criticism. The reasoned discussion of literary works, an activity which may include some or all of the following procedures, in varying proportions: the defence of literature against moralists and censors, classification of a work according to its genre, interpretation of its meaning, analysis of its structure and style, judgement of its worth by comparison with other works, estimation of its likely effect on readers, and the establishment of general principles by which literary works (individually, in categories, or as a whole) can be evaluated and understood. Contrary to the everyday sense of criticism as "fault-finding", much modern criticism (particularly of the academic kind) assumes that the works it discusses are valuable; the functions of judgement and analysis having to some extent become divided between the market (where reviewers ask "Is this worth buying?") and the educational world (where academics ask "Why is this so good?"))
Mississippi State University Libraries Research guides website, Oct. 16, 2017: Subject guides > Literary criticism (Literary criticism is the term given to studies that define, classify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of literature. There are many types of literary criticism: some examples include historical criticism, textual criticism, feminist criticism, and formalist criticism. Literary criticism may examine a particular literary work or it may look at an author's writings as a whole)
ipl2 website (hosted by iSchool at Drexel University), Oct. 16, 2017 (Literary criticism is the evaluation, analysis, description, or interpretation of literary works. It is usually in the form of a critical essay, but in-depth book reviews can sometimes be considered literary criticism. Criticism may examine a particular literary work, or may look at an author's writings as a whole)
Art & architecture thesaurus online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism. UF criticism of literature; literary analysis. SN The discipline of describing, interpreting, and evaluating literary works, including the exposition of principles, methods, and theories for the analysis of such works. BT criticism; literature (discipline))
LCSH, Oct. 16, 2017 (Criticism. UF Evaluation of literature; Literary criticism. BT Literature; Rhetoric. RT Aesthetics)
Alice Munro's miraculous art : critical essays, 2017.
Britannica online, Oct. 16, 2017: Literary criticism (Literary criticism, the reasoned consideration of literary works and issues. It applies, as a term, to any argumentation about literature, whether or not specific works are analyzed. More strictly construed, the term covers only what has been called "practical criticism," the interpretation of meaning and the judgment of quality. Criticism in this narrow sense can be distinguished not only from aesthetics (the philosophy of artistic value) but also from other matters that may concern the student of literature: biographical questions, bibliography, historical knowledge, sources and influences, and problems of method; Criticism will here be taken to cover all phases of literary understanding, though the emphasis will be on the evaluation of literary works and of their authors' places in literary history. For another particular aspect of literary criticism, see textual criticism)
Oxford dictionaries website, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: The art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of literary works)
Cambridge dictionary online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: the formal study and discussion of works of literature, for example by judging and explaining their importance and meaning)
Collins English dictionary online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism: the evaluation, study and discussion of literature)
Baldick, C. The Oxford dictionary of literary terms, 2015, via Oxford reference online, Oct. 16, 2017 (criticism. The reasoned discussion of literary works, an activity which may include some or all of the following procedures, in varying proportions: the defence of literature against moralists and censors, classification of a work according to its genre, interpretation of its meaning, analysis of its structure and style, judgement of its worth by comparison with other works, estimation of its likely effect on readers, and the establishment of general principles by which literary works (individually, in categories, or as a whole) can be evaluated and understood. Contrary to the everyday sense of criticism as "fault-finding", much modern criticism (particularly of the academic kind) assumes that the works it discusses are valuable; the functions of judgement and analysis having to some extent become divided between the market (where reviewers ask "Is this worth buying?") and the educational world (where academics ask "Why is this so good?"))
Mississippi State University Libraries Research guides website, Oct. 16, 2017: Subject guides > Literary criticism (Literary criticism is the term given to studies that define, classify, analyze, interpret, and evaluate works of literature. There are many types of literary criticism: some examples include historical criticism, textual criticism, feminist criticism, and formalist criticism. Literary criticism may examine a particular literary work or it may look at an author's writings as a whole)
ipl2 website (hosted by iSchool at Drexel University), Oct. 16, 2017 (Literary criticism is the evaluation, analysis, description, or interpretation of literary works. It is usually in the form of a critical essay, but in-depth book reviews can sometimes be considered literary criticism. Criticism may examine a particular literary work, or may look at an author's writings as a whole)
Art & architecture thesaurus online, Oct. 16, 2017 (literary criticism. UF criticism of literature; literary analysis. SN The discipline of describing, interpreting, and evaluating literary works, including the exposition of principles, methods, and theories for the analysis of such works. BT criticism; literature (discipline))
LCSH, Oct. 16, 2017 (Criticism. UF Evaluation of literature; Literary criticism. BT Literature; Rhetoric. RT Aesthetics)
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