LiteraryCriticismfromPlatotothePresent Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present: An Introduction M. A. R. Habib © 2011 M. A. R. Habib. ISBN: 978-1-405-16034-6 Also available: The Blackwell Guide to Literary Theory Gregory Castle Literary Theory: An Introduction, 25th Anniversary Edition Terry Eagleton A History of Literary Criticism: From Plato to the Present M. A. R. Habib Modern Literary Criticism and Theory: A History M. A. R. Habib Literary Theory: An Anthology, Second Edition Edited by Julie Rivkin and Michael Ryan Literary Theory: A Practical Introduction, Second Edition Edited by Michael Ryan The Encyclopedia of Literary and Cultural Theory Edited Michael Ryan, Gregory Castle, Robert Eaglestone and M. Keith Booker LITERARY CRITICISM from Plato to the Present AN INTRODUCTION M. A. R. 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LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Habib,Rafey. LiterarycriticismfromPlatotothepresent:anintroduction/M.A.R.Habib. p.cm. Reviseded.of:Ahistoryofliterarycriticism: fromPlatotothepresent.Malden,Mass.: BlackwellPub.,2005. Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex. ISBN978-1-4051-6034-6(hardcover:alk.paper)–ISBN978-1-4051-6035-3(pbk.:alk.paper) 1. Criticism–History. I.Habib,Rafey.Historyofliterarycriticism.II.Title. PN86.H232011 801’.9509–dc22 2010021915 AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary. SetinSabon10/12ptbyThomsonDigital,Noida,India. PrintedinSingapore 1 2011 For Mughni Tabassum Contents Acknowledgments xi Introduction 1 Part I Classical Literary Criticism and Rhetoric 7 1 Classical Literary Criticism 9 IntroductiontotheClassicalPeriod 9 Plato(428–ca.347BC) 10 Aristotle(384–322BC) 15 2 The Traditions of Rhetoric 23 GreekRhetoric 23 RomanRhetoric 27 TheSubsequentHistoryofRhetoric:AnOverview 30 TheLegacyofRhetoric 31 3 Greek and Latin Criticism During the Roman Empire 35 Horace(65–8BC) 35 Longinus(FirstCenturyAD) 37 Neo-Platonism 39 Part II The Medieval Era 47 4 The Early MiddleAges 49 HistoricalBackground 49 IntellectualandTheologicalCurrents 51 5 The Later MiddleAges 57 HistoricalBackground 57 IntellectualCurrentsoftheLaterMiddleAges 58 TheTraditionsofMedievalCriticism 60 Transitions:MedievalHumanism 71 Part III The Early Modern Period to the Enlightenment 77 6 The Early ModernPeriod 79 HistoricalBackground 79 viii Contents IntellectualBackground 80 ConfrontingtheClassicalHeritage 86 DefendingtheVernacular 89 PoeticsandtheDefenseofPoetry 91 PoeticFormandRhetoric 94 7 NeoclassicalLiterary Criticism 98 FrenchNeoclassicism 100 NeoclassicisminEngland 102 8 The Enlightenment 114 HistoricalandIntellectualBackground 114 EnlightenmentLiteraryCriticism:Language,Taste, andImagination 119 9 The Aesthetics of Kant and Hegel 129 ImmanuelKant(1724–1804) 129 Hegel(1770–1831) 134 Part IV Romanticism and the Later Nineteenth Century 143 10 Romanticism 145 Germany 148 France 151 England 153 America 160 11 Realism,Naturalism, Symbolism,and Aestheticism 168 HistoricalBackground:TheLaterNineteenthCentury 168 RealismandNaturalism 169 SymbolismandAestheticism 174 12 The Heterological Thinkers 181 ArthurSchopenhauer(1788–1860) 181 FriedrichNietzsche(1844–1900) 182 HenriBergson(1859–1941) 185 MatthewArnold(1822–1888) 185 Part V The Twentieth Century: A Brief Introduction 189 Introduction 189 13 From LiberalHumanism to Formalism 193 TheBackgroundofModernism 194 ThePoeticsofModernism:W.B.Yeats,EzraPound,andT.S.Eliot 196 Formalism 197 RussianFormalism 197 TheNewCriticism 202 Contents ix 14 SociallyConscious Criticism of the Earlier Twentieth Century 206 F.R.Leavis 206 MarxistandLeft-WingCriticism 207 TheFundamentalPrinciplesofMarxism 208 MarxistLiteraryCriticism:AHistoricalOverview 210 EarlyFeministCriticism:SimonedeBeauvoirand VirginiaWoolf 212 15 Phenomenology, Existentialism, Structuralism 219 Phenomenology 220 Existentialism 220 Heterology 223 Structuralism 224 16 The Era of Poststructuralism (I): Later Marxism, Psychoanalysis, Deconstruction 230 LaterMarxistCriticism 231 Psychoanalysis 233 Deconstruction 240 17 The Era of Poststructuralism (II): Postmodernism, Modern Feminism, GenderStudies 247 Ju€rgenHabermas(b.1929) 250 JeanBaudrillard(1929–2007) 251 Jean-Fran¸coisLyotard(1924–1998) 252 bellhooks(GloriaJeanWatkins;b.1952) 253 ModernFeminism 253 GenderStudies 258 18 The Later Twentieth Century: New Historicism, Reader-ResponseTheory, Postcolonial Criticism, CulturalStudies 264 TheNewHistoricism 265 Reader-ResponseandReceptionTheory 268 PostcolonialCriticism 270 CulturalStudies 276 Epilogue New Directions: Looking Back, Looking Forward 279 Index 289 Acknowledgments I would like to thank the following people for their encouragement, inspi- ration, and support or endorsement: Michael Payne, John Carey, Mughni Tabassum,JoeBarbarese,RobertGrant,RonBush,PeterWiddowson,Frank Kermode,EmmaBennett, and Yasmeen. Introduction Our English word “criticism” comes from the ancient Greek noun krites, meaning“judge.”Butwhat doesitmean tobe a“judge” ofliterature?We might break this down into several basic questions: what is the purpose of literarycriticism?Howbroadisthisfieldofinquiry,andwhogetstodefineit? What are its connections with other disciplines such as philosophy and religion? How does it relate to the realms of morality, of knowledge, and oflearning?Doesithaveanypoliticalimplications?Howdoesitimpingeon our practices of reading and writing? Above all, what significance does it have,orcoulditpossiblyhave,inourownlives?Whyshouldweevenbother tostudyliterarycriticism?Isitnotenoughforustoreadthegreatworksof literature,ofpoetry,fiction,anddrama?Whyshouldwetroubleourselvesto read what people say about literature? And surely, after all the obscure “theory”ofthelast50yearsorso,whatweneedtogetbacktoisthetexts themselves.Weneedtoappreciateliteratureforitsbeautyanditstechnical artistry.Inshort,weneedtoreadliteratureasliterature–withouttheinter- ference of some “judge”tellingus what to look foror how toread. How can we answer such skepticism? We might begin by recalling that “theory”andcriticalreflection onliteraturebeganatleast 2500yearsago, and have been conducted by some of the greatest Western thinkers and writers,rangingfromPlatoandAristotle,throughAugustineandStThomas Aquinas,Johnson,Pope,andthegreatRomanticstothegreatmodernfigures suchasLocke,Hume,Kant,Hegel,Freud,W.B.Yeats,andSartre.Until200 years ago, most great thinkers, critics, and literary artists would not have understoodwhatwasmeantbyreadingliteratureasliterature.Theyknewthat literature had integral connections with philosophy, religion, politics, and morality;theyknew,inotherwords,thatliteraturewasrichlyrelatedtoall aspects ofpeople’s lives. If we had no tradition of critical interpretation, if we were left with the “texts” themselves, we would be completely bewildered. We would not Literary Criticism from Plato to the Present: An Introduction M. A. R. Habib © 2011 M. A. R. Habib. ISBN: 978-1-405-16034-6