The main argument in The Philosophy of Modern Literary Theory by Peter. V. Zima (original) (raw)

LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM LITERARY CRITICISM: Its Nature and importance

The Import of Literary Criticism, 2019

Abstract With the present global inclination to science, technology, and agriculture, criticism seems to have been tilted in that direction. The flame of reading literature seems to be going out gradually but steadily and with it, the reading and mastery of its prescriptive theories and their application to literary texts. If we consider that literature is concerned with life’s affairs which are more pressing than the reading black and white symbols of a text and their abstract interpretation, if we consider that literature is a vortex where distant and usually seemingly unrelated areas of human knowledge meet and interact, that war, the environment, the economy and even politics are involved in literary studies, then we would try to value the text more, and its criticism which is the decoding of the message of the text, which sometimes has a problem solving perspective, would be given its due import, since literature is in fact, a pattern of infinite potentialities, proffered by an absence presence, which have to be investigated through the right procedures. Because this domain is involved with every sphere of life, the import of getting its message cannot be overrated. However, the shade of meanings got without the use of literary theories would be highly informal, judgmental, and oftentimes superficial. Literary criticism is meant to throw light into the text through theories, and to assess the public comprehension of the text. In this vein, criticism is more important than the text, for it says in several ways what the text says. The main thrust of this paper is its attempt at encouraging literary criticism by showing how beneficial it is to the reader, writer and critic as individuals and to the society as a whole. Keyword: Criticism