Difference Between Literary Theory and Literary Criticism
Although it seems that there is little distinction between literary theory and literary criticism, yet when applied, it becomes a huge difference. Criticism in the past was applied without any theoretical perspective which in some cases was labeled as a type of practical criticism. It involves more attention to the interpretation of words and their usages, literary devices, and structural features of literary pieces. With the passage of time and the emergence of theories in other social sciences, literature, too, borrowed theoretical perspectives to interpret literary pieces. Therefore, literary theory and literary criticism differ not only in their applications but also in the usage of terms and examples.
The literary theory applies to naming theoretical perspectives and their attendant features, techniques, tropes, and their study. It is also called theoretical perspective, theoretical lens, or theoretical aspect of something. However, the term literary criticism means the critical study of a certain text even without the application of a theoretical lens. Similarly, a theoretical perspective can also be studied alone and in isolation just to understand its major assumptions and its social relation, and its reflection through or from a culture. There could be various examples as given earlier.
Application of Literary Theory and Criticism
As far as the application is concerned, a literary theory is a set of principles, ideas, and techniques that are used for the interpretations of different words, texts, or literary pieces. If a theory is just interpreted for the sake of interpretation in a classroom setting where students are present and they need to understand what it is, how it is applied, and what meanings it can deduce from a text, it is a simple theoretical perspective. However, when it is truly applied, it means that readers are going to interpret a given text from a specific point of view. For example, an African American would interpret Langston Hughes from a racial critical point of view, while he would interpret an Afghani text from the colonial, postcolonial, or indigenous perspective. Here are more examples to make it easy to understand.
Examples of Using Literary Theory and Criticism
Example # 1
For example, structuralism and its interpretations in literature fall under the category of literary theory. However, when some of its ideas, principles, techniques, or tropes are applied to understand say a story such as “Take Pity” by Bernard Malamud, it is literary criticism. If Marxism is generally studied to understand it, it is a theoretical perspective, but when it is used to understand the story mentioned earlier, it is its application. It is, then, literary criticism. Hence, both terms are used in different senses.
Example # 2
To understand both of these terms further, it is imperative to have some examples. For example, if a critic is using a postcolonial theoretical perspective to study a text of an American Indian or South Asian literary writer, he would be trying to find out enunciations about indigenous culture, colonial culture, their interaction, powerplay, and so on. Edward Said’s attempt about studying culture and the impacts of imperialism fall under this category. Home K. Bhabha’s attempts, too, are categorized as such. However, literary criticism involves using the Bhabhain (of Homi K. Bhabha) trope of hybridity to Chinua Achebe’s novel, Things Fall Apart, or using orientalism and any of its features to texts written by some South Asian or Arab writer.
Example # 3
Take the novel, Animal Farm, by a British writer George Orwell. Although the novel has various shades and could be interpreted in several ways including rhetorically, it has various theoretical perspectives. The first one is the Marxian perspective which it shows how communism or socialism has evolved and reached the state of deterioration. The animals represent the general masses while the leaders such as Snowball and Napolean represent public figures or leaders who hoodwink the masses and make the sincere people flee the lands. Similarly, Old Major represents Karl Marx as an ideologue. However, in common criticism, a reader would interpret it differently without applying the Marxian assumptions of labor, market, indoctrination, wages, etc.
Conclusion of Difference Between Literary Theory and Criticism
Summing it up, it gets clear that literary theory is an umbrella that provides various shades to study different literary texts in different ways. A theory provides ways, techniques, and principles to study different texts in different ways to understand the culture in which it is written, to understand the man who writes them, and to understand his/her relationships with the situation, environment, language, culture, and wider cultural issues. The application to do so amounts to criticism. Therefore, the difference lies in understanding theory and its proper application.
Suggesting Readings
- Eagleton, Terry. Literary Theory: An Introduction. John Wiley & Sons, 2011. Print.
- Hawthorn, Jeremy. A Concise Glossary of Contemporary Literary Theory. London: Edward Arnold, 1992. Print.
- Selden, Raman, Peter Widdowson, and Peter Brooker. A Reader’s Guide to Contemporary Literary Theory. Routledge, 2013. Print.
