English 102 Process Guide

Step 2

Literary Criticism:  What It Is and

What to Look For

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Literary Criticism

You have now read (let's hope) your literary work and know something about the author's life and career.

So at this point you are ready to begin a search for materials relating to the literary work you have chosen to study.  Broadly speaking, analyses and interpretations of literary works are referred to as literary criticism.

For this project, you are looking for literary criticism of a particular kind, so you will want to evaluate carefully each source that you turn up.  As always in the research process, you will want to be highly selective in the sources you choose to use.

What you are looking for here are studies that analyze the setting of the literary work and its historical and cultural context, as opposed to studies that focus on more aesthetic matters like structure, language, metaphors, and symbolism.  What is the nature of the book's portrayal of a particular time and place?  How accurate, historically, is that portrayal?  What does it tell you about the society and culture and values that inform the book?

There is a huge body of literary criticism, and it may require your looking at a large number of sources to find a few that concentrate on the time, the place, the setting, and the historical/cultural context of your literary work.  Again, some patience may be required.

 

Where to Find Literary Criticism

Works of literary criticism may be published as essays or chapters in books or reference works, or as articles in scholarly journals.  To find the critical studies in books, you will want to search our library catalog; to find the journal articles, you will want to search our online databases.