New Criticism
As you may remember from the history page, New Criticism has been one of the most influential critical theories--not necessarily because it is still the norm, since it's not, but because some of its most powerful tools have become a necessary part of literary studies. Derived from the Russian Formalism movement, New Criticism eliminates the author and the context in order to focus solely on the work. Much of the literary analysis you have done in school, particularly when close reading, has been in this style. The focus is on the literary elements present in the work and the way that they interact with each other to create meaning, and all evidenced used to support the argument must come from within the text. William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley's essays "The Intentional Fallacy" and "The Affective Fallacy" serve as manifestos for the movement, as they criticize the use of authorial intent and reader's emotional responses, respectively.
As you may remember from the history page, New Criticism has been one of the most influential critical theories--not necessarily because it is still the norm, since it's not, but because some of its most powerful tools have become a necessary part of literary studies. Derived from the Russian Formalism movement, New Criticism eliminates the author and the context in order to focus solely on the work. Much of the literary analysis you have done in school, particularly when close reading, has been in this style. The focus is on the literary elements present in the work and the way that they interact with each other to create meaning, and all evidenced used to support the argument must come from within the text. William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley's essays "The Intentional Fallacy" and "The Affective Fallacy" serve as manifestos for the movement, as they criticize the use of authorial intent and reader's emotional responses, respectively.