2017 Cilt 18 Sayı 33

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/11452/14149

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    The New Criticism: Remembering the theory that shaped the study of literature for generations
    (Uludağ Üniversitesi, 2017-07-31) Akman, Beyazıt H.; Akman, Filiz Barın
    Starting in the 20’s, elaborated in the 30’s and 40’s and living its heydays in the middle decades of the twentieth century, New Criticism radically changed the study of literature both in the United States and abroad. While we are about to enter the centennial of the start of the New Critics, in the midst of ever-growing theoretical critical reading practices, it is important to remember the discussions the New Critics brought to the arena of literary theory and to assess their true contributions now that we are at a safe distance. What caused the New Criticism to be out of favor for the literary scholars and critics? What was wrong with seemingly liberal, objective and humane arguments of the theory? What was wrong with blind reading of a text without taking into account any “outside” factors such as history of the work in which it was produced? Is it really out of practice in 21st century’s universities, or does today’s academia just elaborate on the New Criticism? How far away are postmodern and post-structuralist theories from the New Criticism? This paper will attempt to answer to these questions taking the famous debate over criticism vs. history between Cleanth Brooks and Douglas Bush as its starting point, to be able to provide a concrete analysis rather than overgeneralizations. Then, we will move on to two other essays by Daniel Green and Douglas Mayo shortly, published in contemporary academic journals, half a century later than Brook’s and Bush’s debate, to see the point where the discussion has come.