Topic 6 of 6 · Form 6
Critical approaches and contexts
Use critical views to sharpen your argument – agree, disagree or qualify, always supported by the text.
Notes for this topic 1 file, in order
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Critical theory
- Historicist and new historicist readings.
- Marxist criticism (class and power).
- Feminist and gender criticism.
- Postcolonial criticism (Said's Orientalism, Achebe's critique of Heart of Darkness, Ngũgĩ on language).
- Psychoanalytic and reader-response criticism.
- Ecocriticism.
Using critics
Use critical views to sharpen your argument – agree, disagree or qualify, always supported by the text.
Context
Link texts to their historical and literary contexts without letting context replace analysis.
Exam tip: One well-applied critical perspective is better than several name-dropped critics.
Check yourself
- What does postcolonial criticism examine?
- What is new historicism?
- How should you use a critic's view?
Show answers
- Representations of colonialism, power, identity, resistance and language.
- Reading literature alongside other texts of its time to show how power and culture shape meaning.
- As a point to engage with – agreeing, challenging or refining it with textual evidence.
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