FORMALISM AND BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM

BY:

RATNA WIJAYANTI S. ( 1171014 )

INDRI AGUSTINA ( 117955)

MAHARANI KRISTANTI ( 117842 )

ZIZKHA ANDIKA ( 117980 )

LINA ASMUNIROH ( 1171032 )

Formalism Is?

All about essential information to

interpretation of a piece of literature that must be found within

the work.

Define how such elements work

together with the text’s content to shape

its effects upon readers.

Objective

Types of Formalist’s Questions

What is the genre, or form, of the piece of literature?

Who is speaking in the piece of literature?

What is the argument, thesis, or subject of the piece of literature?

What is the structure of the piece of literature?

How does the piece of literature make use of setting?

Are there key statements or conflicts in the piece of literature that appear central to its meaning?

What feelings are evoked as the reader interprets the text?

How does the make use of literary devices (i.e. imagery, setting, characters, metaphors, similes, etc.)?

What meaning can be developed from the text?

Examples in Literature

“The Banking Concept of Education”, by Paulo Freire

Metaphor:

“Narration (with the teacher as a narrator) leads the students to memorize mechanically the narrated content. Worse yet, it turns them into ‘containers,’ into ‘receptacles’ to be ‘filled’ by the teacher” (Freire 260)

“To Kill a Mockingbird”, by Harper Lee

Point of View: “I received a letter and a snapshot from him” (Lee 116)

BIOGRAPHICAL CRITICISM

• Biographical criticism is a form of Literary criticism which analyzes a writer's biography to show the relationship between the author's life and their works of literature

• The goal of a biographical criticism is understanding why the author wrote what he or she wrote

Three Benefits of Biographical Criticism:

• Facts about an author’s experience can help a reader decide how to interpret a text.

• A reader can better appreciate a text by knowing a writer’s struggles or difficulties in creating that text.

• A reader can understand a writer’s preoccupation by studying the way they apply and modify their own life experiences in their works.

Important Questions for Biographical Criticism

Understanding the Author:

What facts about the author’s life suggest ideas in the work? Did anything that happened to the author effect his or her themes or choice of subject matter?

What was/is the author’s world view? Which of the author’s beliefs seem reflected in their story?

What commentary on the story did the author make? Does it point to ideas in the story?

Understanding the Author’s World:

What world view was typical of the author’s time? What aspects of this world view seem prevalent in this story or character? Does the author seem to accept or rebel against this world view?

How did people respond to the author’s works and life?

What ideas did people find in the author’s works and life?

Example of an Author’s Life Experiences Shaping His Writing

Tim O’Brien is the author of The Things They Carried Facts about O’Brien:

Born October 1, 1946

Grew up in Minnesota

Political views were against the Vietnam War

Drafted into Army in 1968

Served from 1968 to 1970 as an infantry foot soldier

Sketch of the Book

The story takes place in Vietnam. It details the burdens that infantry soldiers carried, both physically and mentally. In an extended novel released in 1990, O’Brien gives the narrator his own name. The story is fictional even though it sounds true (verisimilitude). The story paints a devastating picture of the Vietnam War.

Checklist of Questions

What influences – persons, ideas, movements, events – evident in the writer’s life does the work reflect?

To what extent are the events described in the work a direct transfer of what happened in the author’s actual life?

What modifications of the actual events has the writer made in the literary work? For what possible purposes?

Why might the writer have altered his or her actual experience in the literary work?

What are the effects of the differences between actual events and their literary transformation in the work?

What has the author revealed in the work about his or her characteristic modes of thought, perceptions, or emotion? What place does the work have in the author’s literary development and career?