Types of Literary Criticism- I

This lesson offers an introduction to 'thiranayvu'- ie literary criticism and discusses the various types of criticism. Literary criticism is an attempt to examine and analyze the various aspects of a literary text. There are several types of literary criticism. Of these 8 are considered to be the fundamental types of criticism. They are: 'paarattumurai thiranayvu' ie (appreciative criticism), 'mudivumurai thiranayvu' ie (judicial criticism), 'vithimurai thiranayvu' ie (prescriptive criticism), 'seluthunilai thiranayvu' or 'padaippuvazhi thiranayvu' (inductive criticism), 'vilakkamurai thiranayvu' ie (rephrasing), 'mathipeetumurai thiranayvu' ie (evaluation), 'oppeetu thiranayvu' ie (comparative criticism) and 'paguppumurai thiranayvu' ie (analytical criticism). This lesson examines the first 4 types of criticism. It defines each of these 4 types of criticism and discusses their merits and limitations.

Appreciative criticism or 'Parattumurai thiranayvu' is the method of examining the merits of a literary work. This type of criticism celebrates a literary text by focusing only on its strengths. It is, therefore, constructive by nature. However, this type of criticism is not holistic. It does not explore all the aspects of a literary text.

Judicial Criticism or 'Mudivumurai thiranayvu' draws conclusions about a literary text on the basis of certain established conventions or parameters. This type of criticism is very narrow in its approach. In this type of criticism there is always the danger of ignoring the uniqueness of a text or its individual merits, simply because they don't fit in to the predetermined set of parameters.

Prescriptive criticism or 'vithimurai thiranayvu' is almost similar to judicial criticism. While judicial criticism tries to find out whether a text follows and fulfills certain parameters, prescriptive criticism applies a set of predetermined theories to a text irrespective of their validity and interprets the text in the light of these theories. This type of criticism is again unreliable as it sets the theory above the text.

Inductive criticism or 'seluthunilai thiranayvu' draws its theories from a literary text. It rejects the methods propounded by judicial and prescriptive criticisms. It asserts the uniqueness of a literary text and emphasizes the idea that a literary text cannot be judged or evaluated on the basis of certain external parameters or theories alone. It also rejects the view that a text can be studied in comparison with other texts.