Contemporary Critical Theories: An Overview

This research paper briefly overviews the rise and development of literary theories and criticism, especially in the 19th and 20th centuries. One of the most significant features of literary theory and criticism is meaning in a text. In literary criticism, it was assumed that meaning resides with the author and not in text. However, with time, critics began to focus more on the text itself, hence meaning came to be seen as residing with the readers. Literary criticism and theory are necessary part of studying literature to make it revitalizing, informative and inspiring to achieve a better understanding of literature. The emphasis is shifted to the reader and it made work of art essentially the internal to external. In the 20th century, the attitude is changed to the work, under the influence of the new criticism to work as a self-contained unit. Modern literary criticism is written in a various genres. In any sort, Critic is in a role of political thinker, sociologist, and psychologist, as well as a literary historian and aesthetician. Thus, this research paper will discuss briefly some of the major modern critical theories such as structuralism, post structuralism, Russian formalism, Reader response criticism, psychoanalytical criticism, deconstruction, feminism, new historicism, post colonialism, modernism and postmodernism and they will be illustrated respectively.