2. Class (9) Items
â˘20th Century Critics
â˘Modernism & Postmodernism
⢠Henry James
⢠Mikhail Bakhtin
3. 1. Realize the importance of the critic in literary
theory and criticism.
2. Explain the main ideas of the critic.
3. Discuss some ideas of the critic.
4. Explore the application of the criticâs ideas to
literature.
5. Relate the criticâs ideas to critical practice.
6. Criticize the criticâs ideas and critical practice.
7. Realize the main features of the Modernism
and Postmodernism.
Class (9)
Objectives
By the end of this part, you will be able to:
4. Class (9)
Questions
1. Write abut Modernism and the main features of
the modernist Critical Ideals.
2. Write abut Postmodernism and the main features
of the modernist Critical Ideals.
3. How important is Henry James in literary criticism
and theory?
4. What are the main features of Henry Jamesâs
theory of fiction?
5. How important is Mikhail Bakhtin in literary
criticism and theory?
6. What are the main features of Mikhail Bakhtinâs
concept of the dialogic, heteroglossia and
Polyphony?
7. Explain the idea of polyphony and non- polyphony
to a novel you have read.
5. Modernism
Modernist period (1890sâ1940s) is a major literary
period and movement in English literature. It is a
literary and artistic movement that provided radical
breaks with traditional modes of Western art,
thought, religion, social conventions, and morality.
6. Modernism
Major themes of this period
include the attack on notions of
hierarchy and experimentation
in new forms of narrative, such
as stream of consciousness.
7. Postmodernism
Postmodernist period (c. 1945â
present) is a major literary period and
movement in English literature. It can
be seen as a response to the
elitism of high modernism as well
as to the horrors of World War II.
8. Postmodernism
Postmodern literature is characterized by
a disjointed, fragmented pastiche of high
and low culture that reflects the absence
of tradition and structure in a world
driven by technology and consumerism.
11. Importance
⢠In his critical essay "The Art of Fiction" (1884), James provides us with the first well-
articulated theory of the novel in English literature.
⢠The Romantic and Victorian eras witnessed a proliferation of the novel. Few were
providing for either the writers or the readers of the novel a body of criticism
comparable to that continually being formulated for poetry.
⢠He says:
âthe English novel had no air of having a theory, a conviction, a
consciousness of itself behind itâof being the expression of an artistic
faith, the result of choice and comparison.â
⢠Thanks to Henry James, the genre of the novel becomes a respectable topic for
literary critics. With his emphasis on realism and "the stuff of life," James
formulates a theory of fiction that is still discussed and debated today.
12. The Art of Fiction
â˘James states that: -
"a novel is in its broadest definition a personal, a direct
impression of life: that, to begin with, constitutes its
value, which is greater or less according to the
intensity of the impression"
"the only obligation to which in advance we may hold
a novel, without incurring the accusation of being
arbitrary, is that it be interesting.
13. The Art of Fiction
⢠James's theory rejects the romantic notion of either Wordsworth or Coleridge that
the readers suspend disbelief while reading a text.
⢠For James, a text must first be realistic, a representation of life as it is and one that
is recognizable to its readers.
⢠Bad novels are either romantic or scientific; good novels show us life in action and,
above all else, are interesting.
⢠Bad novels are written by bad authors, whereas good novels are written by good
authors.
⢠Good writers are good thinkers who can select, evaluate, and imaginatively utilize
the "stuff of life" (i.e., the facts or pictures of reality) in their work.
14. The Art of Fiction
⢠A work of art is organic. The work itself is not simply the amassing of realistic data
from real-life experiences but has a life of its own that grows according to its own
principles or themes.
⢠Writers must acknowledge this fact and distance themselves from directly telling
the story.
⢠Shunning the omniscient, third-person narrator as a vehicle for telling a story,
James asserts that a more indirect point of view is essential so the author shows
characters, actions, and emotions to readers rather than telling us about them.
⢠By showing rather than telling us about his characters and their actions, James
believes that he creates a greater illusion of reality than if he were to present his
story through one point of view or one character.
15. The Art of Fiction
⢠James declares that the reader must decide the worth of
the text,
"nothing of course, will ever take the place of the
good old fashion liking of a work of art or not
liking it: the most improved criticism will not
abolish that primitive, that ultimate test."
18. Importance
⢠Perhaps more than any other modern-day literary theorist, Mikhail
Bakhtin exemplifies present-day literary theory because Bakhtin
himself represents diverse academic disciplines and interests.
⢠Bakhtin is one of the most original thinkers of the twentieth
century.
⢠Bakhtin received little attention during his lifetime, but by the
1980s and '90s, Bakhtin was regarded as one of the most profound
scholars of the twentieth century.
⢠His most renowned academic writings include his first work,
Problems of Dostoevsky's Poetics (1929, 2nd ed., 1963); and The
Dialogic Imagination: Four Essays by M. M. Bakhtin (edited,
translated, and published in 1981).
⢠Bakhtin's interest in language, culture, literature, religion, and
politics encompasses much of contemporary literary theory and
criticism.
⢠His ideas have become starting points for conversations and
dialogues among competing and often conflicting voices in
various contemporary cultural theories.
19. The Dialogic
⢠Central to Bakhtin's critical theory is the concept of the dialogic.
⢠According to Bakhtin, all language is a dialogue in which a speaker and a listener
form a relationship.
⢠Language is always the product of at least two people in a dialogue, not a
monologue.
⢠It is language that defines us as individuals.
⢠Our personal consciousness consists of the inner conversations we have only in our
heads, conversations with a variety of voices that are significant for us.
⢠In one very real sense, no individual can ever be completely understood or fully
known.
⢠That any person always has the capability to change or never fully be known in this
world Bakhtin labels unfinalizability.
20. Heteroglossia
⢠The term heteroglossia (a translation of the Russian word
raznorecie, meaning "other or different tongues" or
"multilanguagedness") to demonstrate the multiplicity of
languages that operate in any given culture.
⢠Bakhtin thus expands the traditional definition of the word
language from being defined only as the spoken tongue of a given,
cultural people.
⢠Each individual speech act is a dialogic utterance that is oriented
toward a particular listener or audience, demonstrating the
relationship that exists between the speaker and listener.
21. The Dialogic in Novels
⢠In his essay "Discourse in the Novel" (1935), Bakhtin applies his ideas directly to the
novel.
⢠He believes that the novel is characterized by dialogized heteroglossia.
⢠Within the novel, multiple world views and a variety of experiences are continually
dialoguing with each other, resulting in multiple interactions, some of which are real
and others of which are imagined.
⢠Whatever meaning the language of the text possesses resides not in the intention of
the speaker nor in the text, but somewhere between the speaker or writer, or between
the listener or reader.
⢠Such dialogized heteroglossia is continually occurring, for even within a single
utterance, two different languages clash, a process Bakhtin calls hybridization.
22. Polyphony
⢠Bakhtin maintains that some novels, especially those written by Dostoevsky, are
polyphonic.
⢠In nonpolyphonic novels, the author knows the ending of the novel while writing the
novel's beginning. The writer knows all the characters' actions and choices, and the
author also knows the work's entire structure.
⢠In a polyphonic novel, there is no overall outlined structure or prescribed outcome, nor
is the text a working out of the author's worldview or understanding of truth.
⢠The truth of the polyphonic novel is an active creation in the consciousnesses of the
author, the readers, and the characters, allowing for genuine surprises for all concerned.
⢠All participantsâauthor, reader, and charactersâinteract as equals in creating the
novel's "truth," for truth requires a plurality of consciousnesses.
⢠For Bakhtin, the polyphonic nature of the novel implies that there are many truths, not
just one.
23. Carnivalism
⢠Polyphonic novels develop a carnivalistic atmosphere, a sense of joyful
relativity.
⢠This sense of carnival is one of Bakhtin's most significant contributions
to literary theory and helps describe the novel's polyphonic style,
especially the novels of Dostoevsky.
⢠Polyphonic novels have a carnival sense of the world, a sense of joyful
abandonment where many voices are simultaneously heard and directly
influence their hearers.
⢠Each participant tests both the ideas and the lives of other participants,
creating a somewhat seriocomic environment.
24.
25. Explain the idea of polyphony
and non- polyphony to a novel
you have read.
26. Class (9)
Questions
1. Write abut Modernism and the main features of
the modernist Critical Ideals.
2. Write abut Postmodernism and the main features
of the modernist Critical Ideals.
3. How important is Henry James in literary criticism
and theory?
4. What are the main features of Henry Jamesâs
theory of fiction?
5. How important is Mikhail Bakhtin in literary
criticism and theory?
6. What are the main features of Mikhail Bakhtinâs
concept of the dialogic, heteroglossia and
Polyphony?
7. Explain the idea of polyphony and non- polyphony
to a novel you have read.
