ENGLISH LITERATURE (CBSE/UGC NET)

LITERATURE QUESTIONS

LITERARY THEORY AND CRITICISM

Question [CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
What fundamental idea does psychoanalytic criticism hold about literary texts?
A
Literary texts should not be read as a projection of the author’s psyche.
B
Literary texts solely reflect an author’s intentions.
C
Literary texts reveal secret elements of an author’s unconscious.
D
All of the above answers are correct.
Explanation: 

Detailed explanation-1: -Psychoanalytic criticism adopts the methods of “reading” employed by Freud and later theorists to interpret texts. It argues that literary texts, like dreams, express the secret unconscious desires and anxieties of the author, that a literary work is a manifestation of the author’s own neuroses.

Detailed explanation-2: -Psychological Criticism, also known as Psychoanalytical Criticism, is the analysis of an author’s unintended message. The analysis focuses on the biographical circumstances of an author. The main goal is to analyze the unconscious elements within a literary text based on the background of the author.

Detailed explanation-3: -Psychoanalytical literary criticism, on one level, concerns itself with dreams, for dreams are a reflection of the unconscious psychological states of dreamers. Freud, for example, contends that dreams are “the guardians of sleep” where they become “disguised fulfillments of repressed wishes.”Sigmund Freud.

Detailed explanation-4: -Psychological criticism in literature refers to the way in which the work of a particular writer is analyzed through a psychological lens. This approach psychologically analyses the author of the work or a character in his work. It helps the readers understand the motivations of the writer as well as the characters.

Detailed explanation-5: -Freudian criticism, literary criticism that uses the psychoanalytic theory of Sigmund Freud to interpret a work in terms of the known psychological conflicts of its author or, conversely, to construct the author’s psychic life from unconscious revelations in his work.

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