Basic Approaches to Literary Interpretation M H Abrams

Basic Approaches to Literary Interpretation M. H. Abrams “The Mirror and the Lamp” 1. 2. 3. 4. Mimetic Approach Pragmatic Approach Expressive Approach Objective Approach 1

1. Literature as Art: The theory of Imitation, Mimetic o Literature is a form of imitation o It defines literature in relation to “life” o It sees literature as a way of reproducing or recreating of life in words, just as paintings reproduces or recreates certain figure or scenes of life in outline and color. o Example: George Elliot, and Thackeray’s novels imitates middle-class life in 19 th century England 2

1. 1. Plato Republic o Literature and paint is removed twice from reality o Reality is an ideal form, essence, or the absolute – the One behind the many, the light whose shadows only are visible to a man in its cave o Anything in this world and particularly anything man-made, even a chair or a bed, seems to be only a copy at one remove from the real. o The arts, which Plato thought as copies of man-made objects, are only “copies of a copy. ” 3

1. 2. Aristotle Poetics o Literature is a Mode of imitation [mimesis] o It is simply the copying or the representation or recreation of life o Sir Philip Sidney Apology for Poetry o “Poesy is an art of imitation, for so Aristotle termeth it in his word mimesis, that is to say, a representing, counterfeiting, or figuring forth: to speak metaphorically, a speaking picture…. ” o Criticism: . . because a literary work is only an imitation, it is not true or not the real thing 4

2. The theory of effect: pragmatic o Literature and public view or its effect readers or spectators. o Psychological experience of audience o Catharsis [“the purging feeling of pity and fear which he believed the audience undergoes in the course of a tragedy] o Horace “poets either teach or delight”, at their best “combining the two. ” o Interrelation to instruct literature must delight; or to delight, it must also instruct o Criticism: … various people have various psychological responses…It is the psychologists’ field 5

3. Theory of Expression o Literature is seen in the view of its creator o Poets and his work concept: 3. 1. The poet is divinely inspired, a prophet, ‘possessed’ by a muse or divinity who speaks through him: on the process of the creation, the poet is almost out of his senses, in the power of a divine madness (Plato’s term). Literature is the profoundest, divinely inspired wisdom – a testament of prophecycreated spontaneously in an ecstatic state. 6

Continued… 3. 2. The poet is fundamentally craftsman (poeta, “maker”) o He is fully conscious of what he is doing both at the moment of composition and afterwards, when he is willing to polish and re-polish the work. (Horace term: “the labor of the file. ”) o Literary work is regarded as a piece of art in the literal sense – as something man-made which can be labored over, changed, and refined. o Historically, this view was dominant in 17 th and 18 th centuries of neoclassicism. 7

Continued… 3. 3. The poet is capable of extraordinary inspiration. o He is genius who, through his imagination and emotions, is able to grasp and record truths about man which ordinary people may no recognize or feel. o Literature is a form of expression (in the basic sense of a process whereby strong and irrepressible feelings are forced out). o Poetry : ”spontaneous overflow of powerful feeling. ” (Wordsworth’s term). o Criticism: …. It focuses on the poet’s psychology… it is for the sake of psychology than that of literature. 8

Criticism of the approaches o Those approaches are incomplete and unsatisfying o They emphasize the relationship between literature and something else o “its subject matter, its audience, or its originator” o Critics say: “we should look for ways of describing the special and distinctive quality of a literary work per se (in itself: in itself, by itself, or intrinsically)” 9

4. Objective approach o It proposes that one must find what happens within a literary work. o It is a reflection or recreation of the world and of life but it is not the world and not real life. o The best literary work describing the real world where we find familiar characters is moving in the fictional world or their own, not in the real world. o Poet expresses his idea by presenting himself in a single mood: as a lover, mourner, etc. o Thus, he is already fictional character in incipient form, and he is moving about in a fictional world, which may resemble ours but is not world in which we move. 10

Continued… o To explore the world the following ideas are proposed: 1. The Idea of Structure o Literature is regarded as a structure. Fundamentally, each work is a highly complex organization and that its many components or facets are interrelated in such a way that the whole is greater than its parts. o The term does not merely refers only to the formal aspects but it includes the whole of a literary work. o Each work not only has a structure but it is structure. 11

Continued… o A structure used is not just as the mechanical putting together of assorted ingredients but as a vital and dynamic interrelationship of plot, character, tone, style, and all the other component parts. o Integrity and unity of a work of literature can been in this way. o Form and content: “How can we know the dancer from the dance? ” (W. B. Yeats) 12

Continued… o The idea of a virtual world is a useful way of distinguishing literature from actual experience o In literature people are interested not only in what is being said but also in how the language is used. o The plot and the characters owe their very existence to the words which recount them – they have no other being than in these words. o The style is quite as much as integral part of the whole as the larger elements of plot, character, or setting. Paraphrase is not tolerable. 13

Continued… o We may less concerned with how accurately one of these works transcribes an actual occurrences since the characters and actions are invented. o It is a distinctive feature which literature shares with the other arts but which differentiates it from other uses of language that, rather than making us look from what is being expressed to what is being referred to, it makes us look squarely AT ITSELF, at its internal relationships. o Like the other arts, literature can be studies and appreciated for ITS OWN SAKE, AS A VALUE IN ITSELF. 14

Literature: How is it multicultural? Communication of values Readers Literary texts Cultural influences Experience Cultural influences 15