Liberal Humanism - notes on Barry and Summary Unit 1 - Shakespeare PDF

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Notes about Liberal Humanism, taken from Barry's textbook, and summary of authors / main ideas studied in Unit 1. Course: Aproximación crítica al teatro de Shakespeare....

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

Education Until 1828, only Oxford and Cambridge: Anglican Church monopoly Teachers: male unmarried ministers Greek - Latin Literature, Mathematics and Divinity (for future ministers) The change = education aimed for the middle class: 1828: University College London - English language with literature for examples only. 1831: King’s College London - English Literature Features: Political purpose Substitute for religion Victorian mixed class-guilt. Oxbridge’s catch-up: 1894 - First English course at Oxford: Oriented to language history (Anglo-Saxon, Middle English, etc.) Tought Literature along with language. 1911 - First English course at Cambridge: Break between Literature and language Method for English learning at use today Practical Criticism: Literary study = close study of poetry through verbal analysis Texts isolated from History or context Close-reading; first only for poetry; later expanded to novels and other texts Basically, early English studies (English Literature) aimed to become a discipline on its own, independent from the teaching of English language, History and Philosophy. From the 60’s on it would wish to rebuild links with those disciplines.

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

LIBERAL HUMANISM - Main tenets of this critical line: Literature that is good is timeless literature: Trascends limitations of the time when it was written Speaks to what is constant in human nature: “not for an age, but for all time.” Literary text contains its own meaning within itself: Literary text makes sense without need of elaborate process of placing or contextualizing. Analysis and criticism focus on “on-sight close-reading”; only what is seen printed. Nothing out. For the above, text must be analyzed in isolation from context. Purely verbal analysis. Human nature is essencially unchanging: Passions, emotions and situations remain the same throughout History (Samuel Johnson’s “genuine proginy”) Individuality is each person’s unique “essence” which cannot be transformed either: It changes and evolves (as do characters in novels). Due to this underlying assumption, LH criticism distrusts characters that seem to become totally different from what they were, and keeps looking for reasons for such change (Dickens). Purpose of Literature: Enhancement of life Propagation of humane values Keats: “we distrust literature which has a palpable design upon us.” We distrust literature that overtly aims to manipulate us (propaganda). Form and content are fused in Literature in an organic way: Form is not a “decoration” that may be applied to a finished work. Form somehow dictates content and content, form. Imagery (and other poetic resources): Are not product of flight of imagination and fully integrated in the work BUT detachable from the text without its message changing (Remember Coleridge mechanic / organic form) Sincerity is also contained within the text itself -notion stems from the above: A Literary work is not sincere in the sense that it is true to its author’s belief or behaviour. BUT sincere in itself; shown in avoidance of: Clichés Overinflated forms of expression Obscure language Literature reveals thorugh silence and demonstration rather than explanation: Overexplicative texts are non-intellectual FRLeavis’s “tactile enactment” - words must: Mime demonstrate act out sound out what they signify. Job of criticism: To interpret the text Mediate between text and reader (Forget leaving it up to reader to interpret!!) This point presuposes that the critic is prepared to interpret the text free of preconceived ideas (hence, Liberal Humanism). Underlying notion = ALL ideas are preconceived; they WILL influence a critic’s reading if allowed. BUT, why are all ideas preconceived? Because they are the product of thought triggered by sensual or experiential perception; aka, empirical and ONLY BECAUSE OF THIS, trustworthy. (John Locke’s philosophy; 1690). Introspective speculation is NOT a valid source of knowledge in this frame of thinking. Only experience and evidence.

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

FROM CRITICISM TO THEORY - Timeline of critical schools. After WWII, waves, one per decade, AIMED AGAINST LIBERAL HUMANISM. 30s - 50s: Liberal Humanism 60s: Marxist Criticism Psychoanalytic Criticism Linguistic Criticism Feminist Criticism 70s: Structuralism Post-Structuralism 80s: New Historicism Cultural Materialism 90s: Post-Colonialism Post-Modernism Others (Queers, Womanim [black women], etc)

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

OVERVIEW OF UNIT 1 17th CENTURY - NEO-CLASSICAL CRITICISM Ben Jonson

John Dryden

Thomas Rymer

Analysis based on: How much S’s plays followed classical conventions about tragedy (Aristotle, Horatio): Form: unities and parts Aim: moralizing; catharsis. Boast 18th ct intellectual superiority (language superior to S’s). S’s ability for realistic representation = genius. Ben Jonson: Reveres S; symbol of national pride. Focus on S’s: Lack of cultural background BUT genial representation of nature Neglection of Aristotelian rules Exceptional talent Atemporallity - universality John Dryden: Focuses on S’s: Double action (tragedy - comedy) resulting in lack of moral purpose (they cancel each other) Language inferior to 18th ct language (very obscure, many metaphors, but always genial) Thomas Rymer: Hated S, who: Did not follow classical rules (unities, moral aim) Uses language very poorly (words do not match characters; low diction).

18th CENTURY - EDITORIAL CRITICISM Samuel Johnson Analysis: By S’s editors Purely textual; close-reading Essentialist; characters as representation of human essential traits. Samuel Johnson: Secular Humanism Relaxation of neo-classical conventions: Unities not that important anymore; Mingled Drama Aim: moralizing, but admittedly through entertainment (Ovid’s docere delictendo)

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

19th CENTURY CRITICISM - ROMANTICS AND VICTORIANS Romantics: Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Victorians: Edward Dowden AC Bradley

Analysis: Focus on characters; psychological realism: characters analyzed as human beings with whom spectators would id. No more Classical rules Coleridge: Unity of Feeling Analysis of mental illenss in Hamlet On form: mechanic vs organic form. Eliot’s objective correlative Barry’s tactile enactment (told, not explained). Edward Dowden: Chronological - Biographical analysis; S as man, not artist. How writing the Historical Plays boosted S’s inner life. Contextualized analysis: aims to discover the author through his art. AC Bradley Definition of Shakespearean Tragedy; hero’s fall = loss of good. Psychological realism: intestinal struggles - inner vs outer = conflict; example in King Lear. Essentialist - Humanist approach: Man = unified self; independent from context Criticized by New Historicism and Cultural Materialism.

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

20TH CENTURTY, 1ST HALF : Emphasis on poetry and language: Wilson Knight Caroline Spurgeon Wolfgang Clemen The Play as theatrical artifice: Harley Granville-Barker Muriel C. Bradbrook The Historical Approach Hardin Craig Theodore Spencer EMW Tillyard New Criticism: Cleanth Brooks Analysis based on: Style (especially, imagery and symbolism) Performance Historical and Social context Hence, some critics did isolated analysis; others contextualized. New Criticism: Decontextualized analysis; irrelevancy of: Historical and Social contexts Authorial intention; “intentional phallacy” theory Influence of readers’ reaction on interpretation; “affective phallacy” theory. Wilson Knight: Interpretation vs Criticism Rejects psychological realism: real man dramatic person real-life ethichs from artistic ethics Imagery = for atmosphere (example: Macbeth’s nightmare and delirium). Caroline Spurgeon: Statistical analysis of S’s images (content RATHER THAN form) Links imagery to: author’s personality (garden images in Richard III; country images in As You Like It). general atmosphere (As You Like It)

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UNIT 1 Notes on Barry - LIBERAL HUMANISM - Overview of Unit 1

Wolfgang Clemen: Analizes dramatic elements in relation to one another to trace S’s artistic development. Expands previous analyses of imagery: Imagery for atmosphere, but also plot, character and dramatic effect; content AND form Function and meaning of images as context-dependant; rejects statistical analysis. Example: the supernatural in The Tempest. Harley Granville-Barker: Perspective NOT of critic, but of actor, producer, director and writer. Characters analyzed in performance: Verse as naturally spoken speech Importance of actors’ input. Muriel Clara Bradbrook: Formulates Elizabethan theatrical conventions (hitherto, only matter of common use). Factors-in the audience’s expectations (violence and instruction). Characters as stereotypes (especially, the Machiavellian villain in Iago [Othello]) Hardin Craig: Shakespeare was Elizabethan, hence, thought accordingly. E-thought reflects in plays. Theodore Spencer: Conflict in S’s characters (dignity vs wretchedness) Reflects Conflict in S’s age: Positive ideas stressing human dignity (Plato, Aristotle, Christianity) Vs Pessimist view of divergent Christianity (Machiavelli, Copernicus). EMW Tillyard: Analyzes S’s plays against Elizabethan conception of world order: The Great Chain of Being represented and not questioned Critiziced by New Historicism and Cultural Materialism Examples: King Lear: correspondance microcosm - macrocosm Julius Caesar: correspondance macrocosm - body politic Correspondance microcosm - body politic Representation of universal harmony as dancing to music. Cleanth Brooks: Close-reading reveals how certain metaphors and images traditionally considered textual mistakes are actually central to the overall structure of plays. Examples from Macbeth: Duncan as newborn baby Daggers unmannerly breeched with gore...