Nature and functions of Literary Criticism (Criticism1)

 

Etymologically the word criticism is derived from the Greek word ‘krinein’ meaning judgement and hence criticism is the exercise of judgement and literary criticism is the exercise of judgement on works of literature.  Criticism is the play of the mind on work of literature and its function is examining its excellencies and defects and finally to evaluate its artistic worth.

          Criticism is the art of estimating the quality and character of a work of art and the function or work of a critic - New English dictionary. 

To set up as a critic is to set up as a judge of values – I. A. Richards.

 Criticism is a disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world – Mathew Arnold.

The sole task of criticism is to answer the three questions:

What has the artist tried to express?

How has he succeeded in expressing it?

Was it worth expressing? – Spingarn

The view of criticism is varied from critic to critic and age to age.  There are as many theories of criticism as there are critics. The view of criticism is directly related to the critic's own intellectual preoccupation and his philosophy or out look of life. So, a critic with moral and religious bias would be of the view that the function of criticism is to examine the moral worth and significance of a work of literature.  On the contrary, one with an artistic bent of mind would be of the view that the function of criticism would revolve around the aesthetic appreciation.

Moreover, the idea of criticism varies in accordance with the idea of literature.  So, the neo-classical criticism is built upon neo-classical theory of literature whereas the Romantic criticism is built upon individualism and impressionistic view.  Besides, the critical views of the critics echo the intellectual and moral environment where they live.  Thus, the development in social and behavioural sciences have brought psychological, and sociological approaches to criticism. 

Since Plato (427-347 BC) condemned poetry as immoral and untruthful, Aristotle (384-327 BC) and Horace (65-8 BC) established dogmatic ‘rules’ and writers were advised to follow them strictly.  The Augustans were of the view that the chief end of criticism was to devise rules and regulations for the guidance of writers and then to judge a work on the basis of these rules.  However, with the rise of romantic individualism, Wordsworth and Coleridge came out with impressionistic criticism.  Thus, the romantic poet critics made minute and subtle studies of the poetic execution and tried to formulate principles of poetic composition.  But the wayward and unbalanced impressionistic criticism was neglected by Victorians.  They decided to discipline the personal likes and dislikes, prejudices and pridelections of the critics.  That was why Mathew Arnold designed criticism as the disinterested endeavor to learn and propagate the best that is known and thought in the world.

The Modern age has widened the function of literary criticism.  It created two kinds of criticism.  The extrinsic criticism takes the cultural, sociological and psychological concepts into consideration and relates a work of literature closely to the life and age of its writer.  But, on the other hand the ‘new critic’ of the Ontological criticism examines the studies the work of literature word by word and line by line without any reference to any other extrinsic considerations.  Thus gets a better and clearer understanding of the work. 

The new critics of the 20th century began to look for paradox, ambiguity, irony and tension to have a better interpretation of the text, whereas the contemporary critics deal with all that belong to the present and occur in the present.  Because, the 21^st century literature deals with current theme or issues and reflects a technological culture.  Authors from diverse cultures and back grounds gain more recognition.  This has enriched the global literary landscape too.  Moreover, they are data-rich and Media-driven too.  Since the 21^st century learners have command over the digital and informational world, the writers too have to equip themselves with the same.  So, the writings have also become learner-centered.  However, Derrida’s Deconstructive approach and Foucault’s discourse theory have influenced the literary criticism of the 21^st century to some extent.

Since the functions of literary criticism are evaluations, interpretations and elucidations, the critic should be aware of the three principles of criticism – the principle of truth, principle of symmetry (balance of size, form, shape) and the principle of idealism.  A critic should be a man of sound common sense, understanding and clear thinking.  A critic must be a man widely read not only in the literature of his own language, but in that of as many languages as possible.  He must have proper training and technical skill in the different branches of literature.  He must rise above all personal, religious, national, political and literary prejudices and pridelections.  He must have imaginative sympathy too.  Above all he must posses a sound knowledge of human psychology.  He must also have a thorough knowledge of human life and nature.  Apart from all these qualities he must be able to put his responses before his reader effectively, clearly and lucidly.

 

----Thulasidharan V