Modernism and New Criticism Essay -- Modernism New Criticism Literatur

Modernism and New comment The ways in which we define the importance of texts is constantly changing. We dejection look back and see critical theories roled, such as Historical Criticism, Reader-Response Criticism and Psychoanalytic Criticism. Each of these theories offers a different way to interpret a text. However, when looking back over the texts of a specific era, shouldnt the type of criticism we used for a book be based on that conviction period? Defining the Modernist Era of literature seems almost impossible, since the definition of modernism often seems to constitute anything from being new and common to new and uncommon (Barzun). This endpoint seems to be able to stretch from the 1500s to present but for the sake of this essay the Modernist Era in question is that from the early twentieth century (circa 1910-1940s). off of, and during, this era the critical theory named New Criticism came into play. Although, nowadays, the use of New Criticism is unpopu lar, it is essential to use when defining the Modernist Era. Even though New Criticism isnt used anymore, many of its basic constructs ar. For example, the idea of close reading and using textual evidence (as will be done in this essay) are characteristics that were important to New Criticism. Now it is practically impossible to be in an English class, be it high school or college, and not have to use these skills when talking about a text. New Criticism basically theorized that the text itself was the most important aspect of writing therefore, to understand the meaning of a act of literature one must look to, and in, the text, rather than trying to define it by outside components, such as those used in Historical and biographic Criti... ...120). The text itself is one we can always count on and find meaning in, since it always there, unchanging.Work CitedBarzun, Jacques. The Artist as Prophet and Jester. The American Scholar. 69.1 (Winter two hundred0) 15-33.Bress ler, Charles E. Literary Criticism. New Jersey Pearson Education Inc., 2003.Eliot, TS. The Waste Land. The Norton Anthology of Modern and Contemporary Poetry. Ed. Jahan Ramazani. New York Norton, 2003. 472-487.Eliot, TS. Tradition and the Individual Talent. The Sacred Wood. London Methune, 1920. http//www.bartleby.com/200/sw4.htmlFaulkner, William. Light in August. New York Vintage Books, 1932.Thody, Philip. Twentieth-Century Literature Critical Issues and Themes. New York St. Martins Press, 1996.Tyson, Lois. Critical Theory Today. New York Garland Publishing Inc., 1999. 117-152.