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Biographical and Historical Criticism

Biographical and Historical Criticism. P37 Critical Approaches. What is…. Biographical Criticism: examines the effect and influence of the writer's life on his or her work. knowing something about the writer's life helps us to more fully understand his or her work. Historical Criticism:

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Biographical and Historical Criticism

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  1. Biographical and Historical Criticism P37 Critical Approaches

  2. What is… • Biographical Criticism: • examines the effect and influence of the writer's life on his or her work. • knowing something about the writer's life helps us to more fully understand his or her work. • Historical Criticism: • explores the historical, social, political, and cultural contexts surrounding the creation and reception of a work of literature. • uses history as a means of understanding a literary work more clearly. • understand the work through its historical context and to understand cultural and intellectual history through literature.

  3. Questions for Biographical Criticism • Biographical Criticism Strategies: • Research the author's life. • Research the author's beliefs. • Questions to ask oneself when doing biographical criticism: • Are facts about the writer's life relevant to your understanding of the work? • Are characters and incidents in the work versions of the writer's own experiences? • How do you think the writer's values are reflected in the work? • How do the connections explain the author's purpose and the overall meaning of the work?Note: do not assume the work retells the author's life, and avoid using unsound sources of information about the author's life.

  4. Questions for Historical Criticism • Strategies for historical criticism: • Research the author's time (the political history, literary period, economic history, cultural climate, philosophers of the time, and social environment). • Research the time in which the story takes place. • Research the characteristics of the literary period. • Questions to ask oneself when doing historical criticism: • How does the work reflect the period in which it is written? • What were the common themes and motifs in the literature of the time period? • How important is the historical context to interpreting the work? • What position is the author taking regarding the events or conditions of the time?

  5. Resources Langdahl (2012). Biographical criticism. Retrieved from http://parkrose.orvsd.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=8862 Langdahl (2012). Historical criticism. Retrieved from http://parkrose.orvsd.org/mod/resource/view.php?id=9033

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