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Literature vocabulary · Criticism and Analysis

Literary theory

Meaning in literature, with examples

nounCommon term

In literature, literary theory means: The study of the ideas and methods used to read and interpret literature, such as structuralism, Marxism, psychoanalysis, feminism and postcolonial theory.

In Turkish: edebiyat kuramı, yazın kuramı, edebiyat teorisi

How it is used

A standard course in English departments, often just called 'theory'. Students apply a theory to a text, use a theoretical framework or approach a novel from a Marxist or postcolonial perspective. Theory asks what literature is and how meaning is made.

Example sentences

  1. Our literary theory course moves from Russian Formalism to deconstruction.

  2. You don't need to name a literary theory in every essay, but it helps to know them.

Common collocations

  • literary theory course
  • critical theory
  • apply a theory
  • theoretical framework
  • postcolonial theory
  • literary criticismThe study, interpretation and evaluation of literary works, including discussion of their meaning, form, context and value.
  • feminist criticismAn approach to literature that examines how texts represent women and gender, how power works between the sexes, and why women writers have been ignored.
  • intertextualityThe way texts shape and depend on other texts, through quotation, allusion, parody, imitation or rewriting, so that meaning comes partly from these connections.
  • close readingA careful, detailed reading of a short passage that pays attention to individual words, sounds, images and structure to show how they create meaning.

More terms: Criticism and Analysis

Practise with graded reading

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