Literary Criticism

Literary Genre: Novel

Dictionary of the Khazars

by Milorad Pavic

Postmodernism is in general the era that follows Modernism. It frequently serves as an ambiguous overarching term for skeptical interpretations of culture, literature, art, philosophy, economics, architecture, fiction, and literary criticism. Because postmodernism is a reactionary stereotype, it is often used pejoratively to describe writers, artists, or critics who give the impression they believe in noabsolute truth or objective reality. For example, it may derogatorily refer to "any of various movements in reaction to modernism that are typically characterized by... ironic self-reference and absurdity (as in literature)" or to "a theory that involves a radical reappraisal of modern assumptions about culture, identity, history, or language". It is also confused with deconstruction and post-structuralismbecause its usage as a term gained significant popularity at the same time as twentieth-century post-structural thinkers.

The Plot Summary

Dictionary of the Khazars: A Lexicon Novel (Serbian: Хазарски речник / Hazarski rečnik) is the first novel by Serbian writer Milorad Pavić, published in 1984. Originally written in Serbian, the novel has been translated into many languages. It was first published in English by Knopf, New York in 1988.


The novel takes the form of three cross-referenced mini-encyclopedias, each compiled from the sources of one of the Abrahamic religions (Christianity, Islam, and Judaism). In his introduction to the work, Pavic wrote:"No chronology will be observed here, nor is one necessary. Hence each reader will put together the book for himself, as in a game of dominoes or cards, and, as with a mirror, he will get out of this dictionary as much as he puts into it, for you [...] cannot get more out of the truth than what you put into it."

The Interpretation

This novel falls under the Post Modernism Theory simply because even the author itself believes in absolutely no truth.

There is no easily discerned plot in the conventional sense, but the central question of the book (the mass religious conversion of theKhazar people) is based on an historical event generally dated to the last decades of the 8th century or the early 9th century when the Khazar royalty and nobility converted to Judaism, and part of the general population followed.

However, most of the characters and events described in the novel are entirely fictional, as is the culture ascribed to the Khazars in the book, which bears little resemblance to any literary or archeological evidence.

Film

THE SIXTH SENSE

Directed by M. Night Shyamalan

Inherent in Saussure’s reasoning a structuralist approach to literature began in the 1950s  to assess the literary text, or utterance, in terms of its adherence to certain organising conventions which might establish its objective meaning. Again, as for Saussure, structuralism in literary theory is condemned to fail on account of its own foundation: ‘...language constitutes our world, it doesn’t just record it or label it. Meaning is always attributed to the object or idea by the human mind, and constructed by and expressed through language: it is not already contained within the thing’.

The Plot Summary

The Sixth Sense is a 1999 American psychological horror/drama film written and directed by M. Night Shyamalan. The film tells the story of Cole Sear (Haley Joel Osment), a troubled, isolated boy who is able to see and talk to the dead, and an equally troubled child psychologist (Bruce Willis) who tries to help him.

The Interpretation

Literary Genre: Film

The Rise of the Planet of the Apes

Directed by Rupert Wyatt

Darwinism originally included the broad concepts of transmutation of species or of evolution which gained general scientific acceptance when Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species, including concepts which predated Darwin's theories, but subsequently referred to specific concepts of natural selection, the Weismann barrier or in genetics the central dogma of molecular biology. Though it usually refers strictly to biological evolution, the term has been misused by creationists to refer to the origin of life and has even been applied to concepts of cosmic evolution which have no connection to Darwin's work.

The meaning of "Darwinism" has changed over time, and varies depending on its context. In the United States, the term "Darwinism" is often used by creationists as a pejorative term in reference to beliefs such as atheistic naturalism, but in the United Kingdom the term has no negative connotations, being freely used as a shorthand for the body of theory dealing with evolution, and in particular, evolution by natural selection.

The Plot Summary

Will Rodman (James Franco) is a scientist at biotechnology company Gen-Sys who has been trying to develop a cure for Alzheimer's disease and is testing a new gene therapy drug on chimpanzees. The drug, a modified virus, mutates a chimpanzee, giving her a human level of intelligence. She later goes on a rampage which is seen as a side effect of the drug. When Will's boss Steven Jacobs (David Oyelowo) subsequently orders chimp handler Robert Franklin (Tyler Labine) to euthanize the remaining test chimpanzees Franklin discovers the chimp had given birth and was only protecting her baby. Unable to bring himself to kill the baby chimp, Robert gives him to Will, who takes him home to raise.

A terrible battle follows as the apes force their way past a police blockade on the Golden Gate Bridge to escape into the Redwood forest. Buck sacrifices his life to save Caesar, jumping into a police helicopter (with Will's boss Jacobs aboard) as they try to shoot Caesar. Buck damages the helicopter severely forcing it to crash on the bridge. A still alive Jacobs trapped in the helicopter is finally killed when Koba, an ape who had spent a lifetime being tested on, kicks the helicopter off the bridge. As the apes find their way into the Redwood forest, Will arrives and warns Caesar that the humans will hunt them down, and begs him to return home. To Will's surprise Caesar speaks like a human, telling him that "Caesar is home" among his fellow apes. The final image shows the apes climbing to the tops of the Redwood trees, looking out over the Golden Gate Bridge and the San Francisco Bay.

The Interpretation

Although some of its plot elements are similar to the fourth Planet of the Apes film, Conquest of the Planet of the Apes, this reimagining doesn't feature time travel or the widespread domestication of apes. The story is simple and, in this highly medicated culture, surprisingly easy to conceive: Medical experiments that alter animal development aren't a fantasy, they're reality. RISE OF THE PLANET OF THE APES is equal parts family drama and sci-fi-lite action, and the poignant, complicated relationship between Will, his ailing-then-improved father, and their beloved Caesar is a bona fide tearjerker in a couple of scenes. It also showed some of the theories of Charles Robert Darwin as the evolution of man from being apes.

Literary Genre: Film

Titanic

Directed by James Cameron

Narratology, in literary theory, the study of narrative structure. Narratology looks at what narratives have in common and what makes one different from another.

Like structuralism and semiotics, from which it derived, narratology is based on the idea of a common literary language, or a universal pattern of codes that operates within the text of a work. Its theoretical starting point is the fact that narratives are found and communicated through a wide variety of media—such as oral and written language, gestures, and music—and that the “same” narrative can be seen in many different forms. The development of this body of theory, and its corresponding terminology, accelerated in the mid-20th century.

The Plot Summary

In 1912, 17-year-old first class passenger Rose boards "Titanic" in Southampton with her fiancé Cal and her mother Ruth DeWitt Bukater. Ruth stresses the importance of Rose's engagement, as the marriage would solve the DeWitt Bukaters' secret financial problems. Distraught by her engagement, Rose considers suicide by jumping off the ship's stern; a drifter and artist named Jack Dawson intervenes. Discovered with Jack on the stern, Rose tells Cal that she was looking over the ship's edge in curiosity and that Jack saved her from falling. Pressed, Jack confirms her account. Cal is at first aloof to Jack, but when Rose indicates that recognition is due, he offers him a small amount of money. After Rose mocks Cal for this, asking if saving her life means so little, he invites Jack to a first-class dinner the following night. Jack and Rose develop a tentative friendship, even though Cal and Ruth are wary of the young third-class man. Following the dinner that night, Rose secretly joins Jack at a party in the ship's third-class quarter.

Rose and the other survivors are taken by the RMS Carpathia to New York, where Rose gives her name as Rose Dawson. She hides from Cal on Carpathia's deck as he searches for her. She learns later that he committed suicide after losing his fortune in the Wall Street Crash of 1929.

Her story complete, Rose goes alone to the stern of Lovett's ship. There she takes out the Heart of the Ocean, which has been in her possession all along, and drops it into the ocean. While seemingly asleep in her bed, the photos on her dresser are a visual chronicle that she lived a free life inspired by Jack. The young Rose is then seen reuniting with Jack at the Grand Staircase of the RMS Titanic, applauded and congratulated by those who perished on the ship.

The Interpretation

This movie perfectly fits the Narratology theory because when Rose heard about the drawing and claimed that she is the woman in it wearing the diamond necklace, she was asked if she knows the whereabouts of the necklace, Rose recalls her time aboard the Titanic, revealing that she is Rose DeWitt Bukater, a passenger believed to have died in the sinking. She then begins her story.

Titanic started its story through recalling what Rose experienced in the past.

Literary Genre: Film

Jason and the Argonauts

Archetypal literary criticism is a type of critical theory that interprets a text by focusing on recurring myths and archetypes (from the Greek archē, or beginning, and typos, or imprint) in the narrative, symbols, images, and character types in a literary work. As a form of literary criticism, it dates back to 1934 when Maud Bodkin published Archetypal Patterns in Poetry.

Archetypal literary criticism’s origins are rooted in two other academic disciplines, social anthropology and psychoanalysis; each contributed to the literary criticism in separate ways, with the latter being a sub-branch of the critical theory. Archetypal criticism was its most popular in the 1940s and 1950s, largely due to the work of Canadian literary critic Northrop Frye. Though archetypal literary criticism is no longer widely practiced, nor have there been any major developments in the field, it still has a place in the tradition of literary studies.

The Plot Summary

Pelias (Douglas Wilmer) usurps the throne of Thessaly by killing King Aristo. However, there is a prophecy that he will be overthrown by a child of Aristo wearing one sandal. When he kills one of Aristo's daughters after she had sought and been granted the protection of Hera, Pelias makes an enemy of the goddess.

Twenty years later, Jason (Todd Armstrong), Aristo's son grown to manhood, saves the life of Pelias during a chance encounter, but loses a sandal doing so. He does not know that he has rescued his father's murderer, but Pelias recognizes his nemesis. Pelias keeps his identity secret. However, he cannot just kill Jason; the prophecy also says that he himself would die.

Jason is taken to Mount Olympus by Hermes (Michael Gwynn) to speak to the gods Zeus (Niall MacGinnis) and Hera (Honor Blackman). Hera tells him that she wishes him well, but that Zeus has imposed restrictions on her assistance (Jason, like all mortals, is a piece in the game which the gods play against each other. This is an accurate portrayal of Greek theology and rarely found in any modern medium). Jason is told that he can only invoke Hera's aid five times (the same number of times his sister called on the goddess by name for help before she was slain). In response to Jason's unasked questions, Hera tells him to search for the Fleece in the land of Colchis, on the other side of the world.

The Interpretation

An archetype is an original model of a person, ideal example, or a prototype after which others are copied, patterned, or emulated; a symbol universally recognized by all.

Archetypes are likewise supposed to have been present in folklore and literature for thousands of years, including prehistoric artwork. These are cited as important to both ancient mythology and modern narratives. Jason and the Argonauts is one of the examples of this theory because it has the presence of gods and goddesses. Jason, like all mortals, is a piece in the game which the gods play against each other. This is an accurate portrayal of Greek theology and rarely found in any modern medium

Literary Genre: Short Story

We Filipinos Are Mild Drinkers

Alejandro Roces

Cultural studies is an academic field of critical theory and literary criticism initially introduced by British academics in 1964 and subsequently adopted by allied academics throughout the world. Characteristically interdisciplinary, cultural studies is an academic discipline aiding cultural researchers who theorize about the forces from which the whole of humankind construct their daily lives. Cultural Studies is not a unified theory, but a diverse field of study encompassing many different approaches, methods and academic perspectives. Distinct from the breadth, objective and methodology of cultural anthropology and ethnic studies, cultural studies is focused upon the political dynamics of contemporary culture and its historical foundations, conflicts and defining traits. Researchers concentrate on how a particular medium or message relates to ideology, social class,nationality, ethnicity, sexuality and/or gender, rather than providing an encyclopedic identification, categorization or definition of a particular culture or area of the world.

The Plot Summary

There was an American who wanted some more whiskey. So what he did was to go to a Filipino and ask him where to find some. Joe was the name the American's were given. The Filipino said he doesn't drink beer or whiskey, vodka and such because "Filipinos are mild drinkers". But the Filipino offered Joe (the American) for some native Filipino beer. Of course, Joe didn't refuse. So they went to the FIlipino's place and drank the drink. Joe got so drunk he couldn't think anymore and then he passed out. So the Filipino had to bring Joe all the way to his camp, where his friends where looking for him too. The American soldiers all thank the Filipino for bringing Joe back.

The Interpretation

The story falls under Cultural Studies because as you can see, it shows the hospitality of the Filipinos. The story clearly depicted the attitude of the Filipinos when it comes to our "drinking traditions".

Literary Genre: POEM

PARADISE LOST

John Milton

Genre criticism is a method within rhetorical criticism for analysing speeches and writing according to the symbolic artifacts they contain. In rhetoric, the theory of genre provides a means to classify and compare artifacts of communication and to assess their effectiveness and/or contribution to a community. By grouping artifacts with others of similar formal features or rhetorical exigencies, rhetorical critics can shed light on how authors use or flout conventions in order to meet their needs. Genre criticism has thus become one of the main methodologies within rhetorical criticism.

The Poem's Synopsis

Milton's story has two narrative arcs: one is of Satan (Lucifer) and the other is of Adam and Eve. It begins after Satan and the other rebel angels have been defeated and banished to Hell, or, as it is also called in the poem, Tartarus. In Pandæmonium, Satan employs his rhetorical skill to organise his followers; he is aided by Mammon and Beelzebub. Belial and Moloch are also present. At the end of the debate, Satan volunteers to poison the newly-created Earth and God's new and most favoured creation, Mankind. He braves the dangers of the Abyss alone in a manner reminiscent of Odysseus or Aeneas. After an arduous traverse of the Chaos outside Hell, he enters God's new material World, and later the Garden of Eden.

At several points in the poem, an Angelic War over Heaven is recounted from different perspectives. Satan's rebellion follows the epic convention of large-scale warfare. The battles between the faithful angels and Satan's forces take place over three days. The final battle involves the Son of God single-handedly defeating the entire legion of angelic rebels and banishing them from Heaven. Following the purging of Heaven, God creates the World, culminating in his creation of Adam and Eve. While God gave Adam and Eve total freedom and power to rule over all creation, He gave them one explicit command: not to eat from the Tree of the knowledge of good and evil on penalty of death.

The story of Adam and Eve's temptation and fall is a fundamentally different, new kind of epic: a domestic one. Adam and Eve are presented for the first time in Christian literature as having a full relationship while still being without sin. They have passions and distinct personalities. Satan, disguised in the form of a serpent, successfully tempts Eve to eat from the Tree by preying on her vanity and tricking her with rhetoric. Adam, learning that Eve has sinned, knowingly commits the same sin. He declares to Eve that since she was made from his flesh, they are bound to one another so that if she dies, he must also die. In this manner, Milton portrays Adam as a heroic figure, but also as a greater sinner than Eve, as he is aware that what he is doing is wrong.

After eating the fruit, Adam and Eve have lustful sex, and at first, Adam is convinced that Eve was right in thinking that eating the fruit would be beneficial. However, they soon fall asleep and have terrible nightmares, and after they awake, they experience guilt and shame for the first time. Realizing that they have committed a terrible act against God, they engage in mutual recrimination.

Eve's pleas to Adam reconcile them somewhat. Her encouragement enables Adam and Eve both to approach God, to "bow and sue for grace with suppliant knee", and to receive grace from God. Adam is shown a vision by the angel Michael, in which Adam witnesses everything that will happen to mankind until the Great Flood. Adam is very upset by this vision of humankind's future, and so Michael also tells him about humankind's potential redemption from original sin through Jesus Christ (whom Michael calls "King Messiah").

Adam and Eve are cast out of Eden, and Michael says that Adam may find "a paradise within thee, happier far". Adam and Eve also now have a more distant relationship with God, who is omnipresent but invisible (unlike the tangible Father in the Garden of Eden).

The Interpretation

It could be classified as an epic poem because of its focus on the struggle between good and evil and its characters, who fit the archetypes of heroes and villains. Although this is not the standard interpretation, it also might be classified as satire or comedy because of its exaggerated characters, humorous dialogue and absurd situations. The character of God, for example, often finds humor in some of the ridiculous mistakes of Satan’s character in this work.

Paradise Lost is ultimately about the human condition, the Fall that caused 'all our woe,' and the promise and means of restoration. It is also about knowing and choosing, about free will. The reason Milton wrote in fetters when he wrote of Angels & God, and at liberty when of Devils & Hell, is because he was a true Poet and of the Devil's party without knowing it.

Literary Genre: NOVEL

Robinson Crusoe

Daniel Defoe

Neoclassicism (from Greek νέος neos, Latin classicus and Greek -ισμός ismos) is the name given to Western movements in the decorative and visual arts, literature, theatre, music, and architecture that draw inspiration from the "classical" art and culture of Ancient Greece or Ancient Rome. The main Neoclassical movement coincided with the 18th century Age of Enlightenment, and continued into the early 19th century, latterly competing with Romanticism. In architecture the style continued throughout the 19th and 20th centuries and into the 21st.

The Plot Summary

Robinson Crusoe is a young man that lives with his parents, they advise him to choose a suitable life, but Robinson is attracted by a different kind of life, a sea life.

On 1 September 1651, Hull,a Robinson's friend invites him for a trip on a ship going to London. A big storm caught them, and Robinson is so scared that he promises himself to give up his dreams and obey his parents.

Once the storm is over and they reached the coast, Robinson soon forgets everything and decides to set sail to Guinea. Robinson also goes on a second voyage to Guinea, but this time he is captured by Moorish pirates and sold as a slave in North Africa. After sometime, providing himself with a gun and some provisions, Robinson escapes in a little boat with Xury, another slave. In their adventure sailing with no direction, Robinson is aware of the threats of the unknown West African coast, inhabited by wild animals and savage tribes. After an initial examination of the land, Robinson is able to rescue some provisions from the shipwrecked: muskets, pistols, gunpowder, food, clothes, ink, paper, tools, bibles, two cats and a dog. He builds a hut incrusted in a rock to protect himself from the tropical climate and to store safely all his provisions. He sets a calendar and writes a journal with his experiences, and teaches a parrot some words.

Initially, Robinson hunts goats and turtles to feed himself. Later, he explores deeply the island and found rich grapes. He set traps to get goats alive to get them domesticated in order to assure him meat provision during the seasons of bad weather. He also sows wheat and he makes pottery and baskets.

One night, Robinson dreams that he saves a savage from death in a cannibal ritual, and like a premonition it happens later. The savage is named Friday and becomes his servant. Robinson teaches him English language, Christian religion principles and civi lised habits. Friday reveals Robinson that the cannibals have Spanish prisoners. Eventually, after twenty years living on the desert island, Robinson returns to England with Friday. Robinson is a rich man, his wealth proceeds from the Brazilian plantation and from the shipwrecked. Robinson goes to Portugal crossing Spain and France, and passing the Pyrenees, his convoy is attacked by wolfs and a wild bear, which is killed by Friday with amazing skill.

In his latest days, his adventurous spirit makes him to travel to the East Indies as a tradesman. Robinson also revisits his solitude island. He also travels to China, where he is involved in a real battle against looters. Finally, he returns to England.

The Interpretation

Robinson Crusoe is based on a real incident. In 1704, Alexander Selkirk, a Scottish sailor, was thrown onto a desolate island by the mutinous crew of his ship. He lived there alone for 5 years. Defoe read about his adventures in a newspaper and went to interview him to get first-hand information. He then embellished the sailor’s tale with many incidents out of his own imagination. Robinson Crusoe has the appearance of a picaresque novel, showing a lowly person’s wonderings over the world.

MOVIE

Click

Directed by: Frank Coraci

The term “moral criticism” has sometimes been applied to a tendency in modern anglophone Literary CRITICISM since  Arnold , and particularly to the positions of such critics as F.R. Leavis and Lionel Trilling. Distinguishing these critical positions from various kinds of Formalism , it indicates the prominence of moral and ethical vocabularies in their terms of judgment: maturity, sincerity, honesty, sensitivity, or courage become important criteria in the valuation of literary and other works. From a strict formalist standpoint, such terminology betrays habits of reading that are imperfectly emancipated from the Intentional FALLACY in their apparent confounding of textual with authorial characteristics. And although moral criticism is rarely as theoretically naive as its opponents claim, it encounters genuine problems of this kind in its attempts to read through the text to the originating “quality of mind” that has produced it. Moral criticism should by no means by confused with a merely censorious or moralistic attitude to culture.

Literary Genre: POEM

THE WASTE LAND

T. S Elliot

Literary Modernism has its origins in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, mainly in Europe and North America. Modernism is characterized by a self-conscious break with traditional styles of poetry and verse. Modernists experimented with literary form and expression, adhering to the modernist maxim to "Make it new." The modernist literary movement was driven by a desire to overturn traditional modes of representation and express the new sensibilities of their time.

The Summary of the Poem

The poem begins with a section entitled "The Burial of the Dead." In it, the narrator -- perhaps a representation of Eliot himself -- describes the seasons. Spring brings "memory and desire," and so the narrator's memory drifts back to times in Munich, to childhood sled rides, and to a possible romance with a "hyacinth girl." The memories only go so far, however. The narrator is now surrounded by a desolate land full of "stony rubbish."
He remembers a fortune-teller named Madame Sosostris who said he was "the drowned Phoenician Sailor" and that he should "fear death by water." Next he finds himself on London Bridge, surrounded by a crowd of people. He spots a friend of his from wartime, and calls out to him.

The next section, "A Game of Chess," transports the reader abruptly from the streets of London to a gilded drawing room, in which sits a rich, jewel-bedecked lady who complains about her nerves and wonders what to do. The poem drifts again, this time to a pub at closing time in which two Cockney women gossip. Within a few stanzas, we have moved from the upper crust of society to London's low-life.

"The Fire Sermon" opens with an image of a river. The narrator sits on the banks and muses on the deplorable state of the world. As Tiresias, he sees a young "carbuncular" man hop into bed with a lonely female typist, only to aggressively make love to her and then leave without hesitation. The poem returns to the river, where maidens sing a song of lament, one of them crying over her loss of innocence to a similarly lustful man.

"Death by Water," the fourth section of the poem, describes a dead Phoenician lying in the water -- perhaps the same drowned sailor of whom Madame Sosostris spoke. "What the Thunder Said" shifts locales from the sea to rocks and mountains. The narrator cries for rain, and it finally comes. The thunder that accompanies it ushers in the three-pronged dictum sprung from the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad: "Datta, dayadhvam, damyata": to give, to sympathize, to control. With these commandments, benediction is possible, despite the collapse of civilization that is under way -- "London bridge is falling down falling down falling down."

The Interpretation

The Waste Land is a 434-line modernist poem by T. S. Eliot published in 1922. It has been called "one of the most important poems of the 20th century." Despite the poem's obscurity—its shifts between satire and prophecy, its abrupt and unannounced changes of speaker, location and time, its elegiac but intimidating summoning up of a vast and dissonant range of cultures and literatures—the poem has become a familiar touchstone of modern literature. Among its famous phrases are "April is the cruellest month," "I will show you fear in a handful of dust," and the mantra in the Sanskrit language "Shantih shantih shantih."
Since the human level is an extension of the societal level, the basic themes are the same for both. The main theme is "modern life as a waste land." Eliot supports the theme by showing what was wrong with society in the early twentieth century. These shortcomings include lack of faith, lack of communication, fear of both life and death, corruption of the life-water symbol, and corruption of sex.

Literary Genre: ESSAY

NATURE

Ralph Waldo Emerson

Ecocriticism  is the study of literature and environment from an interdisciplinary point of view where all sciences come together to analyze the environment and brainstorm possible solutions for the correction of the contemporary environmental situation.

Ecocritics investigate such things as the underlying ecological values, what, precisely, is meant by the word nature, and whether the examination of "place" should be a distinctive category, much like class, gender or race. Ecocritics examine human perception of wilderness, and how it has changed throughout history and whether or not current environmental issues are accurately represented or even mentioned in popular culture and modern literature. Other disciplines, such as history, philosophy, ethics, and psychology, are also considered by ecocritics to be possible contributors to ecocriticism.

The Text

The essay tries to implies us that we should protect and support our nature. Nature always wears the color of our spirits. People need to be responsible enough in protecting and saving our nature. It shows us ecological values that we must try to practice for us to save and preserve our natural resources. We also need to be aware about the environmental issues we may encounter as we continue to ignore the dying condition of our nature.

 MOVIE

THE FILMS OF JOHN CASSAVETES: 

PRAGMATISM, MODERNISM, AND THE MOVIES

 MOVIE

FISHING A BORDERLESS SEA

Brian J. Payne

Territorialism / Possessions (objects of desire) are metaphors for who we are or how we wish to be perceived—aspects of the “self.”. It may be tangible or intangible (my car or my idea, e.g.)
They occupy mental space: cognitive, affective, and conative.
These spaces strongly resemble territories—with rights of ownership, markers, boundaries, rules of “in” and “out,” defensive strategies, etc.

The Summary:

Over the centuries, processing and distribution of products from land and sea has stimulated the growth of a global economy. In the broad sweep of world history, it may be hard to imagine a place for the meager little herring baitfish. Yet, as Brian Payne adeptly recounts, the baitfish trade was hotly contested in the Anglo-American world throughout the nineteenth century. Politicians called for wars, navies were dispatched with guns at the ready, vessels were seized at sea, and violence erupted at sea.
Yet, the battle over baitfish was not simply a diplomatic or political affair. Fishermen from hundreds of villages along the coastline of Atlantic Canada and New England played essential roles in the construction of legal authority that granted or denied access to these profitable bait fisheries.

LITERARY GENRE: NOVEL

According to Marxists, and to other scholars in fact, literature reflects those social institutions out of which it emerges and is itself a social institution with a particular ideological function. Literature reflects class struggle and materialism: think how often the quest for wealth traditionally defines characters. So Marxists generally view literature "not as works created in accordance with timeless artistic criteria, but as 'products' of the economic and ideological determinants specific to that era" (Abrams 149). Literature reflects an author's own class or analysis of class relations, however piercing or shallow that analysis may be.

The Plot Summary:

The story begins with a description of the Dursleys, an utterly normal family in England, who are left with baby Harry Potter on their doorsteps. Aunt Petunia's sister Lily married James Potter and became a powerful couple in the wizard's world. They were killed by the evil Voldemort, leaving Harry with a large scar on his forehead and legacy as the only wizard to escape Voldemort alive. Head wizard Albus Dumbledore decides to have Harry grow up with the Dursleys until he is ready to attend Hogwarts, the premiere magic school in England. At age 11, Harry is whisked away to Hogwarts by the giant gamekeeper, Hagrid, to find himself lost amongst a new world of magic and power.

Hagrid takes Harry to Diagon Alley, where he retrieves some of his inheritance from Gringotts, the wizard bank, and purchases his books, wand, and robes from the Leaky Cauldron and Ollivanders. On the train to Hogwarts at platform Nine and Three Quarters, Harry meets his new friend Ron Weasley and Hermione Granger. Everyone is amazed to meet the famous Harry Potter. On the train Harry also meets Draco Malfoy, a boy with whom he develops a distrust and hatred. At Hogwarts, the children meet Dumbledore, McGonagall, Snape, and Quirrell, all professors and wizards. At the opening banquet, the Sorting Hat decides in which house the children live, sorting Hermione, Neville, Ron, and Harry into Gryffindor, and Draco Malfoy into Slytherin, the house run by Snape and known to have schooled Voldemort in years past.

Hermione busies herself with studies, Ron with chess, and Harry with learning about his family and powers. He becomes an expert at flying and is allowed to play Quidditch for Gryffindor's team. Draco Malfoy continually tries to get the Gryffindor kids in trouble, by setting them up and dragging them away from their beds at the wrong time. One day, Ron and Harry come across a large troll and rescue Hermione from death. From then on, the threesome spies on Snape and Quirrell and seek to discover the secrets at Hogwarts. They realize that the Sorceror's Stone is hidden by a three-headed dog at Hogwarts and is the secret to eternal life created by Nicholas Flamel. They believe Snape is the culprit behind the evil and try to stop him from destroying Harry and Hogwarts.

Meanwhile, Hagrid keeps an eye on Harry and looks out for him. They visit Hagrid and meet his new pet dragon, Norbert. Norbert causes problems for everyone, as dragons are illegal animals. The three send the dragon away to Romania under Harry's Invisibility Cloak and are discovered out of bed doing so. They are branded and punished with detention and stricken of fifty points each. As detention the kids must help clean up the Forbidden Forest with Hagrid. They find a unicorn slaughtered, with its blood scattered across the ground, and are frightened by an evil spirit. The good centaur Firenze flies Harry away from danger in the forest as soon as he discovers who Harry is.

Harry, Ron, and Hermione discover that Voldemort tricked Hagrid into revealing the method by which to get past the three-headed dog and to the Sorcerer's Stone. They rush past the dog, and through the chambers to stop Voldemort from killing Harry. Ron gets everyone past the life sized Wizard's Chess board, while Hermione breaks the riddle that allows Harry to proceed to the ultimate chamber under ground. He sees the Mirror of Erised, the same mirror that shows the hopes and dreams of the person who looks inside. He finds Quirrell in the chamber without his stutter. He admits to hosting Voldemort and trying to destroy Harry in the forest. When his turban is removed, Harry sees a double face on top of Quirrell's head - it is Voldemort, and he wants to use Harry to get the Stone and then kill him. Harry discovers the Stone in his pocket and tries to kill Voldemort/Quirrel until he blacks out.

Harry awakens in the infirmary to Dumbledore congratulating him. He saved the Stone, Hogwarts, and his own life. Because of his bravery and that of Hermione, Ron, and Neville, Gryffindor wins the House Cup for the year. Harry must go back to the Dursleys for the summer, but looks forward to all the magic he will practice and learn in the future.

THE INTERPRETATION:

Marxist literary criticism is based upon the political and economic theories of the German philosopher Karl Marx. His theory is formulated specifically to analyze how society functions in a state of upheaval and constant change. Harry Potter's world, the Muggle (non-magical) world, but especially his magical world illustrates the properties of a Marxist society.

In Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone a group known as the Ministry of Magic governs the magical world. It is reiterated time after time in the novel that the rules set down by this governing body must be adhered at all times or the punishment shall be severe, for example imprisonment in the Wizard's prison of Azkaban where the mind is virtually erased. Or a much worse sentence could be handed down that being death. This ministry uses the veil of intimidation to coerce the witches and wizards into following their rules much like Karl Marx wanted his followers to do.

LITERARY GENRE: SHORT STORY

Deconstruction criticism posits an undecidability of meaning for all texts. The text has intertwined and contradictory discourses, gaps, and incoherencies, since language itself is unstable and arbitrary. The critic doesn't undermine the text; the text already dismantles itself. Its rhetoric subverts or undermines its ostensible meaning.

Deconstructive critics focus on the text like the formalists, but direct attention to the opposite of the New Critical "unities." Instead, they view the "decentering" of texts and point out incompatabilities, rhetorical grain-against-grain contradictions, undecidability within texts. There is often a playfulness to deconstruction, but it can be daunting to read too.

The Plot Summary:

The story features Stuart, his wife Claire and their son Dean. They live together, as a married couple, we don’t know where they live, but it seems like a small town of some sort.

LITERARY GENRE: NOVEL

Humanist Literary Criticism is a philosophy for the here and now. Humanists regard human values as making sense only in the context of human life rather than in the promise of a supposed life after death. Humanism is, in sum, a philosophy for those in love with life. Humanists take responsibility for their own lives and relish the adventure of being part of new discoveries, seeking new knowledge, exploring new options. Instead of finding solace in prefabricated answers to the great questions of life, Humanists enjoy the open-endedness of a quest and the freedom of discovery that this entails

The Plot Summary:

Alessandra Cecchi is not quite fifteen when her father, a prosperous cloth merchant, brings a young painter back from northern Europe to decorate the chapel walls in the family’s Florentine palazzo. A child of the Renaissance, with a precocious mind and a talent for drawing, Alessandra is intoxicated by the painter’s abilities.

But their burgeoning relationship is interrupted when Alessandra’s parents arrange her marriage to a wealthy, much older man. Meanwhile, Florence is changing, increasingly subject to the growing suppression imposed by the fundamentalist monk Savonarola, who is seizing religious and political control. Alessandra and her native city are caught between the Medici state, with its love of luxury, learning, and dazzling art, and the hellfire preaching and increasing violence of Savonarola’s reactionary followers. Played out against this turbulent backdrop, Alessandra’s married life is a misery, except for the surprising freedom it allows her to pursue her powerful attraction to the young painter and his art.

THE INTERPRETATION:

Alessandra's story, though central, is only one part of this multi-faceted and complex historical novel. Dunant paints a fascinating array of women onto her dark canvas, each representing the various fates of early Renaissance women: Alessandra's lovely (if simple) sister Plautilla is interested only in marrying rich and presiding over a household; the brave Erila, Alessandra's North African servant has such a frank understanding of the limitations of her sex that she often escapes them; and Signora Cecchi, Alessandra's beautiful but weary mother tries to encourage yet temper the passions of her wayward daughter.

Literary Genre: POETRY

Romanticism Literary Theory is most closely associated with the writings of William Wordsworth in his Preface to Lyrical Ballads(1800) and Samuel Taylor Coleridge in his Biographia Literaria (1817). Modern critics disagree on whether the work of Wordsworth and Coleridge constituted a major break with the criticism of their predecessors or if it should more properly be characterized as a continuation of the aesthetic theories of seventeenth- and eighteenth-century German and English writers.

LITERARY GENRE: SONNET

The Sonnet:

THE INTERPRETATION:

The Sonnet XXXVII suits for the New Historicism Theory because as the interlude occurs, the poet takes stock and reflects on what the youth has given him. Though he himself is old and useless, the abundance of the youth's qualities feeds into his soul. This transforms him and removes his lameness and his failures. The youth has everything that is desirable, and the great store of his qualities diffuses its glory around. The poet is contented, for he sees that his beloved has all that is best, all that he could wish for him, and he basks in this reflected glory, his decrepit status now entirely forgotten.

LITERARY GENRE: PLAY

Post-colonialism Theory is the extension of one's rule. It examines the effects of imperialistic views in postcolonial societies. Post-colonial theory also deals with the reading and writing of literature in previously or currently colonized countries, or literatures written in colonizing countries, which deals with colonization or colonized people.

LITERARY GENRE: NOVEL

Feminism Literary Theory is an international peer reviewed journal that provides a forum for critical analysis and constructive debate within feminism. Feminist Theory is also genuinely interdisciplinary and reflects the diversity of feminism, incorporating perspectives from across the broad spectrum of the humanities and social sciences and the full range of feminist political and theoretical stances.

The Plot Summary:

Lover's prose is distinctly postmodern, eschewing conventional narrative for experimental narrative techniques. Incontrast to some lesbian novels of the time, such as Rita Mae Brown's Rubyfruit Jungle (also, incidentally, published by Daughters), which used a prototypical bildungsroman technique with a lesbian placed squarely at the center, Lover reflects complex notions of radical lesbian philosophy, community, family structure, and eroticism by using highly inventive, often fantastical storytelling techniques. In Harris's introduction to the 1993 edition, she writes, "Lover should be absorbed as if it were a theatrical performance. There's tap dancing and singing, disguise, sleights of hand, mirror illusions, quick-change acts, and drag." Amanda C. Gable has argued that Lover "can be considered an exemplary novel within discussions of both postmodern fiction and lesbian (or queer) theory," and calls for "Harris to be added to the group of writers such as Wittig, Anzaldúa, Lorde, and Winterson, who are discussed within the context of a postmodern lesbian narrative."

THE INTERPRETATION:

MOVIE

Structuralism Theory relates literary texts to a larger structure, which may be a particular genre, a range of intertextual connections, a model of a universal narrative structure, or a system of recurrent patterns or motifs. Structuralism argues that there must be a structure in every text, which explains why it is easier for experienced readers than for non-experienced readers to interpret a text. Hence, everything that is written seems to be governed by specific rules, or a "grammar of literature", that one learns in educational institutions and that are to be unmasked.

Structuralistic literary criticism argues that the "literary banter of a text" can lie only in new structure, rather than in the specifics of character development and voice in which that structure is expressed.
The film follows the rogue Lancelot's romance with Lady Guinevere of Leonesse, who is to marry King Arthur of Camelot, while the land is threatened by the renegade knight Malagant. The film is noteworthy within Arthurian cinema for its absence of magical elements. It looks for underlying elements in culture and literature that are connected and so that its viewers can develop conclusions about the movie.

MOVIE

The Plot Summary:

Waking Life is about an unnamed young man living an ethereal existence that lacks transitions between everyday events and that eventually progresses toward an existentialism crisis. For most of the film he observes quietly but later participates actively in philosophical discussions involving other characters—ranging from quirky scholars and artists to everyday restaurant-goers and friends—about such issues as metaphysics, free will, social philosophy, and the meaning of life. Other scenes do not even include the protagonist's presence, but rather, show an isolated person or couple speaking about such topics from a disembodied perspective. Along the way, the film touches also upon existentialism, situationist politics, posthumanity, the film theory of Andre Bazin, and lucid dreaming, and makes references to various celebrated intellectual and literary figures by name.


Gradually, the protagonist begins to realize that he is living out a perpetual dream, broken up only by occasional false awakenings. So far he is mostly a passive onlooker, though this changes during a chat with a passing woman who suddenly approaches him. After she eccentrically greets and shares her creative ideas with him, he reminds himself of his recent realization and of the fact that she must, therefore, be a figment of his own dreaming imagination. Afterwards, he starts to converse more openly with other dream characters as well; however, he ultimately begins to despair about being utterly trapped in this unending, irresolvable dream-state.


The protagonist's final talk is with a character who looks somewhat similar to the protagonist himself and whom he briefly encountered previously, earlier on in the film. This last conversation reveals this other character's understanding that reality may be only a single instant that the individual interprets falsely as time (and, thus, life); that living is simply the individual's constant negation of God's invitation to become one with the universe; that dreams offer a glimpse into the infinite nature of reality; and that in order to be free from the illusion called life, the individual need only to accept God's invitation—though he does not explicitly explain how this is achieved.


The protagonist is last seen walking into a driveway when he suddenly begins to levitate, paralleling a scene at the start of the film of a floating child in the same driveway. Unlike the child who grabbed firmly onto the handle of a nearby car, however, the protagonist uncertainly reaches toward the same handle but is too swiftly lifted above the vehicle and over the trees. He now rises into the endless blue expanse of the sky until he disappears from view altogether.

THE INTERPRETATION:

LITERARY GENRE: SHORT STORY

Psychoanalytic Literary Theory  refers to the definition and dynamics of personality development which underlie and guide psychoanalytic and psychodynamic psychotherapy. First laid out by Sigmund Freud, psychoanalytic theory has undergone many refinements since his work . Psychoanalytic theory came to full prominence as a critical force in the last third of the twentieth century as part of the flow of critical discourse after the 1960s. Freud ceased his analysis of the brain and his physiological studies in order to turn his focus to the study of the mind and the related psychological attributes making up the mind, something not many psychologists were willing to do. His study then included recognizing childhood events that could potentially lead to the mental functioning of adults. He examined the genetic and then the developmental aspects that made the psychoanalytic theory become what it was.
Much of Hemingway's writing is characterized by themes of pride, the struggle to maintain masculinity and durability in the face of natural, cultural, or artistic obstacles. In "The Undefeated," the protagonist is Manuel Garcia, a veteran bullfighter, who basically has to beg Retana, a promoter, for work. Retana finally agrees, giving Manuel a fraction (300 pesetas) of what the younger, more popular bullfighters are making. Manuel then goes to a cafe to wait for his friend, Zurito, a picador (a horseman who uses a lance to help the bullfighter). Zurito tells them they're both too old. He pleads with Zurito to "pic" for him, and Zurito only concedes after Manuel agrees that if he does not perform well, he will quit for good. Fighting with Hernandez, another up-and-coming bullfighter, they engage in a long battle with a bull.

Readers get perspectives mostly from Manuel, but also from the audience, a bull-fight critic, Zurito, and even the bull itself. It takes Manuel five tries to stab the bull. In the end, Manuel kills the bull, but is gored and rushed to to the doctor. While Manuel lies on the operating table, Zurito raises a pair of scissors to cut off Manuel's coleta (pigtail), a veritable castration which would symbolically end Manuel's bullfighting career.