A Handbook of Critical Approaches to Literature-Oxford University Press, USA (2004) PDF

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A Handbook of Critical

to Literature

A Handbook of CriticalApproaches to Literature F IF T HED IT ION

WILFRED L. GUERIN Louisiana S ate Uniaersity .t

EARLELABOR CentenaryCoIIege

LEE MORGAN CentenaryCollege

IEANNE C. REESMAN Uniaersityof Texasat SanAntonio

IOHN R. WILLINGHAM Uniaersityof Kansas

New York . Oxford OXFORDUNIVERSITY PRESS 2005

Oxford University Press Oxford NewYork Aucklmd Bangkok BuenosAires Cape Town Chermai DaresSalam Delhi HongKong Istanbul Karachi Kolkata Kuala Lumpur Madrid Melboume Mexico City Mumbai Nairobi SdoPaulo Shanghai Taipei Tokyo Toronto

Copyright @ t992,1999,2005by Oxford University Press @1966,1979by WtJred L. Guerin" Earle Labor, Lee Morgan, and fohn R. WiJlingham. Published by Oxford University Press,Inc. 198 Madison Avenue, New Yorl New York 10016 ww.ouP.com Oxford is a registered trademark of Oxford University Press All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or Uansmitte4 in my fom or by any mems, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior permission of Oxford Universi$r Press. Library of CongressCataloging-in-Publication Data A hmdbook of critical approaches to literature / Wilfred L. Guerin . . . [et al.].-Sth ed. P.cm. Includes bibliographical referencesmd index. -8 ISBN-l3: 97&0-19-51.6077 (pbk.) ISBN 0-19-516017-7 1. Criticism. I. Guerin,l,Vilfred L. PNS1:G82004 801'.95-dc22 2004054708

PrintingNumber:9 8 7 6 5 4 3 21 Printed in the United Statesof America on acid-free paper

TO OURFIRSTCRITICS Jeannine Thing Campbell Carmel Cali Guerin Rachel Higgs Morgan Sylvia Kirkpatrick Steger Grace Hurst Willingham

Contents* v II. Historical and Biographical Approaches in Practice 54 A. "To His Coy Mistress" 54 B. Hamlet 57 C. HuckleberryFinn 6l D. "Young Goodman Brown" 66 E. "EvervdavIJse" 69 F. Frankinstiin 73

Contents

4. MoralandPhilosophicalApproaches

Illustrations Preface x

I. General Observations 77 II. Moral and Philosophical Approaches in Practice A. "To His Coy Mistress" 79 B. Hamlet 80 C. HuckleberryFinn 81 D. "Young Goodman Brown" 82 E. "EvervdavUse" U F. Frankenstiin 87

ix

1 . Getting Started: The Precritical Response I. II. III. IV. V. VI. VII.

1 5.

Setting 7 Plot 8 Character 8 Structure 9 Style 10 Atmosphere 11 Theme 13

2 . First Things First: Textual Scholarship, Genres, and Sourct studv

z7

15

I. First, a Note on Traditional Approaches 15 II. Three Foundational Questions 17 A. Textual Scholarship:Do We Have anAccurate Version of What We Are Studying? 17 1. General Observations 17 2. Text Study in Practice 20 B. Matters of Genre:WhatAre We DealingWith? 29 1. AnOverviewof Genre 29 2. Genre Characteristicsin Practice 33 C. SourceStudy: Did Earlier Writings Help This Work Come into Being? 46

3 . Historicaland BiographicalApproaches I. GeneralObservations

51

51

The Formalist Approach

90

I. Reading a Poem:An Introduction to the Formalist Approach 90 II. The Processof Formalist Analysis: Making the Close Reader 93 III. A Brief History of Formalist Criticism 96 A. The Course of a Half Century 96 B. Backgroundsof Formalist Theory 97 C. The New Criticism 100 IV. Constants of the Formalist Approach: Some Key Concepts,Terms, and Devices 102 A. Form and Organic Form 102 B. Texture,Image, S)'rnbol 105 C. Fallacies 106 D. PointofView 107 E. The Speaker'sVoice 109 F. TensioryIrony,Paradox 110 V. The Formalist Approach in Practice L11 A. Word, Image, and Theme:Space-TimeMetaphors in "To His Coy Mistress" tll B. The Dark, the Light, and the Pink: Ambiguity as Form in "Young Goodman Brown" 11,6 1. Virtues and Vices 118 2. SymbolorAllegory? 120 3. Lossuponloss 121,

79

vi * Contents

Contents* vli

C. Romanceand RealiW,Land and River: The |ourney as Repetitive Form in HuckleberrvFinn 123 D. Dialectic as Form: The Trap Metaphor inHamlet 129 1. The Trap Imagery 129 2. The CosmologicalTrap 130 3. "Seeming" and"Betng" 132 4. "Seeing" and "Knowing" 136 E. Irony and Narrative Voice:A Formalist Approach to "EverydayUse" 137 F. Frankenstein: A Formalist Reading,with an Emphasis onExponents t4L '1.49 VI. Limitations of the Formalist Approach 6.

The Psychological Approach: Freud

rs2

I. Aims and Principles 152 A. Abuses and Misunderstandings ofthePsychologicalApproach 153 B. Freud's Theories I54 II. The Psychological Approach in Practice 7GL A. Hamlet:The Oedipus Complex 161 B. RebellionAgainst the FatherinHuckleberryFinn 164 C. PrometheusManqu6: The Monster Unbound 168 D. "Young Goodman Brown": Id VersusSuperego lG9 E. Death Wish in Poe'sFiction 172 F. Love and Death in Blake's "Sick Rose" LTg G. Sexuallmageryin"ToHisCoyMistress" I74 H. Morality over the PleasurePrinciple in"EverydayUse" 177 III. Other Possibilities and Limitations of the Psychological Approach 180 Mythological and Archetypal Approaches I. Definitions and Misconceptions 182 II. Some Examples of Archetypes 184 A. Images 185 B. Archetypal Motifs or Patterns I89 C. Archetypes as Genres I90 III. Myth Criticism in Practice 19't A. Anthropology and Its Uses 192 1. The SacrificialHero: Hamlet 195 2. Archetypes of Time and Immortality: "To His Coy Mistress" 199 B. Jungian Psychologyand Its Archetypal Insights 1. SomeSpecialArchetypes:Shadow,Persona, andAnima 204

2. "Young Goodman Brown": AFailure of Individuation 207 3. Creatureor Creator:Who Is the Real Monster inFrankenstein? 208 4. Slmthesesof jung and Anthropology 210 C. Myth Criticism and the American Dream: Huckleberry Finn as theAmericanAdam 211 D. "Everyday Use": The Great [Grand]Mother 21.6 IV. Limitations of Myth Criticism 218 8.

Feminisms and Gender Studies

222

I. Feminisms and Feminist Literary Criticism: Definitions 222 IL Woman: Created or Constructed? 224 A. Feminism and Psvchoanalvsis 227 B. Multicultural Feminisms 231 C. MarxistFeminism 234 D. Feminist Film Studies 234 III. Gender Studies 236 IV. Feminisms in Practice 240 A. The Marble Vault: The Mistress in "To His Coy Mistress" 240 B. Frailty, Thy Name Is Hamlet: Hamlet and Women 242 C. "The Workshop of Filthy Creation": Men and Women inFrankenstein 249 1. Mary and Percy,Author and Editor 250 2. Masculinitv and Femininitv in the FranicensteinFamily 253 3. "IAm Thy Creature . . ." 255 D. Men, Women, and the Loss of Faith in "Young Goodman Brown" 257 E. Women and "Sivilizatton" inHuckleberryFinn 259 F. "tr Real Life": Recoveringthe Feminine Pastin "EverydayUse" 264 V. The Future of Feminist Literarv Studies and Gender Studies: Some Problems and Limitations 268

9. CulturalStudies

201,

I. What Is (or Are) "Cultural Studies"? 275 II. Five Types of Cultural Studies 280 A. British Cultural Materialism 280 B. New Historicism 282 C. American Multiculturalism 287 1,. AfricanAmericanWriters 289 2. Laina/oWriters 292 3. American Indian Literatures 295 4. AsianAmericanWriters 297

viii * Confenfs D. Postmodernismand Popular Culture 300 1. Postmodemism SOO 2. Popular Culture 902 E. PostcolonialStudies 303 III. Cultural Studies in Practice 305 A. TWoCharactersinHamlet: Marginalization with a Vengeance 30S B. "To His Coy Mistress": Implied Culture Versus Historical Fact 311 C. From ParadiseLostto Frank-N-Furter: The Creature Lives! 914 1. RevolutionaryBirths Zl4 2. The Frankenpheme rnpopular Culture: Fiction, Drama, Film, Television 3L7 D. "The Lore of Fiends,,:Hawthome g2S and His Market E. "Telling the Truth, Mainly": Tricksterism in HuckleberruFinn 330 F. Cultures in Conflict: A Story Looks at Cultural Change 937 IV. Limitations of Cultural Studies 342 10.

The.Play of Meaning(s): Reader-ResponseCriticism,

Dialogics, andStructuralism andpoitstructuralism, IncludingDeconstruction 350 I. Reader-ResponseCriticism 3S0 II. Dialogics 962 III. Structuralism and Postructuralism, Including Deconstruction 368 A. Structuralism: Context and Definition 36g B. The Linguistic Model 369 C. RussianFormalism: Extending Saussure 970 D. Structuralism, L6vi-Strauss,and Semiotics gT2 E. French Structuralism:Codesand Decoding 372 F. British and American hterpreters 376G. Poststrucfuralism:Deconstruction 377

lllustrations

Followingpage324 1. Engraving from Luigi Galvani, De Viribus Electricitatis inMotu Musculari 2. Harry H. Laughlin, Massachusetts Departmentof Mental Diseases Exhibits:Picturesof 50 Criminal Brains 3. TheEdisonKnetogramfrom March L5,1910 4. Boris Karloff as the CreatureinFrankenstein,193'J. 5. Poster for TheBride of Frankenstein,t935 6. Victor Frankenstein embracesElizabet}l.rn Maru Shellev's "Frankenstein,"L994 7. Robert De Niro as the Creaturein Mary Shelley's"Frankmstein" 8. Dolly, the sheep cloned by the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh, Scotland 9. "The Bovine Cloning Process"

Epilogue 381 AppendixA AndrewMarvell,"ToHisCoyMistress,, 38S Appendix B Nathaniel Hawthorne, ,,young Goodman Brown" 382 Appendix C Alice Walke r, "Everyday Use: for your grandmama" 40! Index 4t1

1X

Preface* xi

Preface

This book, now in its fifth edition, has been from the first the product of our sharedconviction that the richnessof great literature merits correspondingly rich responses-responses that may be reasonedas well as felt. Corollary to this conviction is our belief that such responses come blst when the reader appreciatesa great work from as many perspectivesas it legitimately opensitself to. Nothing, of course,replacesthe reader,s initralfelt responses:the sound of poetry on both the outer and the inner ear; the visions of fiction in the mind's eye; the kinesthetic assault of "total theater." But human responsesseldom remain dead-level:they reverberatethrough multiple planesof sensibility, impelled toward articulation-in short, toward crit-

inevitable as breathing, and that we should be none the worse for articulating what passesin our minds when we read a book and feel an emotion about it." Eliot's reminder was instrumental in the genesisof the first edition of A Handbookof Critical Approaches in the early 1960s, when the four original coauthorswere colleaguesin the English Department at Centenary Collegeof Louisiana.At that time we had becomesensitiveto the problems of teachingliterary analy-

sis to young collegestudents in the absenceof a comprehensive yet elementaryguide to someof the major critical approachesto works of literature. No work of that sort existed at the time, yet students clearly could have profited from a more formalized and contemporary introduction to the serious study of literature than they generally had received in lower levels of education. We found that most lower- and many upper-division students were entering and emerging from courses in literature still unenlightened about the most rewarding critical techniques that a keen reader could apply to good imaginative writing. Even studentswhose exposureto literafure had beenextensive often possessedonly a narrow and fragmented concept of such interpretive approaches.Consequently, one of our first aims-then and now-has been to help establisha healthy balance in the student's critical outlook. We-a group that now includes another coauthor-still fervently believe that any college or university student-or, for that matteq,any advanced high school student-should have at hand the main lines of the most useful approachesto literary criticism. With theseassumptionsin mind, we marked off our areasof concernand laid claim to fill the need we sensed.We have been gratified with the successof that claim, indicated by the acceptance of the book by our professional colleaguesand by hundreds of thousands of students throughout the land and abroad. (The book has now been published in Spanislg Portuguese, fapanese, Chinese, and Korean ftesides an English version in Korea].) However, there has also been an acceptance we did not anticipate.Our original concernwas to offer critical approachesto students in the early years of college work, but we have found that in instanceafter instancethe book is being used at upper-division levels and in graduate classes.Even so, this extended use has not precluded the book's acceptanceby numerous high school teachersas well. We hope that in this fifth edition we have preservedthat versatility, and we have worked skenuously to improve upon it. Since the publication of our first edition in the mid-1960s,we have wihressed a veritable explosion of critical theories,along with a radical expansion and revision of the literary canon. Theseextraordinary developmentshave prompted corresponding revisions in eachsucceedingedition of our handbook. For

Preface * >ia7i

urltlclsm/

lJialogics, structuralism

and poststructuralism,

In-

cluding Deconstruction." The most dramatic changein this fifth edition has been moti-

and literary form, but also one that would lend itself to multiple levels of interpretation. Among the several well-known tities that came to mind were Charlotte Brontd,s WutheringHeights, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The ScarletLetter,Herman Melvillle,s

FrankensteinThe very name has infiltrated our lexicon as "a monstrous creation;esp:aworkor agencythat ruins its originator." What word-and work-could be more timely? As merely one of many examples,a recentissue of Neznsweekrematks that "Islamic terrorism has becomea Frankensteinmonster that has turned on the regimesthat nurtured them." Beyond Islamic terrorism are the terrors, real and imagined, attendant upon the brave new Frankensteinian world of human cloning. Arnold Schwarzenegger'sTerminatorand, more recently, The 6th Day appear to be increasingly more "science" and less"fiction." What elsemade our colleague'ssuggestionsoapt?Lr addition to Frankenstein'stimeliness,its spellbinding horror, and durable popularity, was the striking personageof the novel's creator:a woman-not just any woman-but a brilliant teenagerno older than most first-year college students, the daughter and namesake of one of the most eloquent crusaders for the rights of women, and the wife of one of the greatestRomantic poets.The creation of her great work of fiction was in many ways no less astonishingthan the work of Victor Frankenstein. Mary WollstonecraftShelleyattestedthat her novel had been inspired by a haunting noctumal "visitation" after listening to a lengthy philosophical discussion between Lord Byron and her husband conceming "the nature of the principle of life": Night waned upon this talk, and even the witching hour had goneby beforewe retiredto rest.IA/henI placedmy headon my pillow, I did not sleep,nor could I be said to think. My imagina-

perenniallypopular but not yet quite canonical. "How about Frankenstein?',volunteered a Centenarv col_ league and resident film expert Jeff Hendricks. ,,Eureku!', *" cried in response."Perfectl" Frankensteinl\A/hoamong us does not know the name?\rVho among us has not thrilled to the visual horrors perpetrated by Boris Karloff look-alikes, act-alikes,and worse-much worse?

tiorl unbidder; possessedand guided me, gifting the successive images that arose in my mind with a vividness far beyond the usual bounds of reverie. I saw-with shut eyes,but acute mental vision,-I saw the pale student of unhallowed arts kneeling beside the thing he had put together.I saw the hideous phantasm of a man stretched out, and then, on the working of some powerful engine, show signs of life, and stir with an uneasy,half vital motion. Frightful must itbe; for supremely frightful would be the effect of any human endeavour to mock the stupendous mechanism of the Creator of the world. His successwould terrify the artist. . . . What terrified me will terrify others. . . . (172) Indeed! What terrified Mary Shelley on that ]une night nearly two centuries ago has terrified others beyond her wildest dreams, for hers has since become a universal nightmare.

xiv * Preface Finally and conclusively,what has made this novel such an

tions: to provide a basic introduction to the major criticalinterpretive perspectives that a reader beginning a serious study may bring to bear on literature. This book delcribes and demonstratesthe critical tools that have come to be regardedas indispensablefor the sensitive reader; these tools u."-*hut *" call " approaches."Furthermore, becausethis is a handbookof

But heuristics can be guided, and for that reason we have

Preface" xv treatment of critical reading should be the student's recognition of the need to selectthe most suitable approach for a given literary work. Thesesix works were chosenbecausethey lend themselves exceptionallywell to multiple interpretations and becausethey will make the beginning student aware of the joys of reading at increasingly higher levels of ability. Three of thern-Frankenstein, Adaenturesof HuckleberryFinn, and Hamlet-are easily available in paperback,if not in the student's literature anthology. The other three-"To His Coy Mistress," "YotJrrgGoodman Brown," ar.d"Everyday f|ss//-a1g included in this book. Regardlessof the availability of these six works, we hope that this book will serve as a model or guide for the interpretation of many literary works. In short, while our handbook possesses an integrity of its own, it may be used most instructively as a complementary text in conjunction with an anthology or a set of paperbacks. This handbook may be read from cover to cover as a continuous unit, of course,but it has been organized for both flexibility and adaptability. For example, although it is primarily organized by "approaches" rather than genres,at the beginning of a course the instructor may assign the introductory section of eachchapter,later assigningthe sectionsdealing with a certain genre.Thus, the instructor who decidesto begin with the short story may assign "Young Goodman Brown" and "Everyday Use" along with the introductory sectionsof selectedchapters and the accompanyingdiscussionsof thesetwo stories.Another possiblestrategy is to have students read severalliterary works early in the term and discussthem in classwithout immediate recourse to this handbook. Then they might read this text, or pertinent sectionsof it, and bring their resulting new insights to bear onthe literature read earlier,aswell ason subsequentreadings. This double exposurehasthe advantageof creatinga sense of discovery for the perceptivereader. For the continuing successof this handbook over the past four decades,we owe many thanks. Our debt to the canonof literary scholarship-the breadth and depth of which is reflected in the Quick Referencesectionsof this text-is obvious, and we acknowledgeit with gratitude. Equally considerableis our debt to the many friends and colleagueswhose assistanceand sug-

xvi * Preface gestions-havehelped to ensure this success.To these we give special thanks: Laurence perrine, William B. Allmory a. 1ame"s Gowery Donald F.Warders,Arthur Schwartz,RichardCoanda, JamesWilcox, Kathleen Owens, CzarenaStuart, Irene Winter_ rowd, Yvonne B. Willingham, Mildred B. Smith, Melinda M.

1 GettingStarted: ThePrecriticalResponse

sity Press,particularly our editol, JanBeatty,and our produc_ tion editor, Christine D'Antonio. On a final note, we are especiallyindebted to Gayle Labor for her editorial efforts, to Greg Guerin for technical assistance, and to Jeff Hendricks for critical insights. WL.G. E. L. L. M.

l.c.R. I.R.W. Q U r C KR E F E R E N C E N ewsweek, Aprll 12,2004,p. 35. Shelley,Mary. Mary SheIIey, Frankenstein. Hunteq,|., Ed. New york W. W. Norton, 1996.

It may come as a surprise to contemporary students to leam that well into the nineteenth century, courses in British and American literature were not offered in universities. For centuries in western Europe, only the literature o...