Literary Theories of the Web
From digitalhumanities
[edit] Traditional Literary Theory
In the mid 20th century literary scholars in America and Europe began to develop theories about different ways to study and derive meaning from literature. Literary theories are methods or frameworks through which text is read to reveal deeper meaning and understanding of literature.
Co-editor of Contemporary Literary Theory, G. Douglas Atkins, describes the purpose and value of literary theory as being a framework by which we understand the meaning of texts. Critics of literary theory sometimes feel that theory has gotten away from practice and that as William E. Cain says "Theorists address each other and meditate upon themselves in self congratulatory terms." (Atkins, Morrow, 1989, p.7) But literary theory does have value in its diversity of perspective. Atkins is a subscriber to the practice of literary theory because he believes it has value as a pedagogical tool in the classroom. However he says that it is underused especially on the undergraduate level because "there is a resistance to theory... by those ill informed about its work" and because the "proliferation of theories" is overwhelming even for professionals in the field. (Atkins, 1989, p.viii).
Some of the categories of literary theory are as follows:
- New Criticism
- Archetypal Criticism
- Structuralism/Semiotics
- Reader response
- Phenomenology
- Hermeneutics
- Deconstruction
- Psychoanalysis
- Feminism
- Political
- Dialogical Criticism
- New Historicism
Click here for Definitions of Literary Theories
From this partial list it can be seen that the field of Literary Theory is diverse and controversial. However the ability of these theories to generate scholastic arguments is an essential tool by which deeper learning can be achieved. Atkins argues that rather than literary theories just being a "set of directions...for interpreting...texts'...[it is] 'the unsettling nature of...juxtaposition [that is]...characteristic of the theoretical"(Atkins, 1989, p.xi) and from which is derives its value.
Theories therefore are ways in which to interpret texts. Prior to the advent of digital technology, texts have been primarily bound in books. Now texts can be read and analyzed on a computer screen. In addition, digital texts can be manipulated and interacted with, a dramatic difference from the static experience of reading a book. Literary theories of the web are concerned with those differences and how they might be fundamentally changing language as we know it.
What is literature?
lit·er·a·ture (lĭt'ər-ə-chʊr', -chər) pronunciation n.
- The body of written works of a language, period, or culture.
- Imaginative or creative writing, especially of recognized artistic value: “Literature must be an analysis of experience and a synthesis of the findings into a unity”
- (Rebecca West).
- The art or occupation of a literary writer.
- The body of written work produced by scholars or researchers in a given field: medical literature.
- Printed material: collected all the available literature on the subject.
- Music. All the compositions of a certain kind or for a specific instrument or ensemble: the symphonic literature.
Middle English, book learning, from Old French literature, from Latin litterātūra, from litterātus, lettered. See literate.
American Psychological Association (APA): literature. (n.d.). The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition. Retrieved March 13, 2007, from Dictionary.com website: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/literature
