The history of ideas is cyclical—concepts from one era are revived or revised by future generations. Literary theory, in particular, has evolved as a means of interpreting literary and cultural texts, adapting to changing intellectual landscapes.
Early Influences on Literary Theory
Literary theory traces its roots to classical Greece. Plato introduced the concept of mimesis, Aristotle's Poetics defined tragedy and distinguished poetry from history, and Longinus’s theory of the sublime recognized language as a tool for transcendent experience. These foundational ideas influenced aesthetic theory well into the nineteenth century.
Literary Theory from the 16th to 18th Century
Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, major literary treatises shaped theoretical discourse:
Sir Philip Sidney's Defence of Poesie (1595) argued for the literary artist as an inventor.
John Dryden's Essay on Dramatic Poesy (1668) built on Pierre Corneille’s Three Unities (1660), formalizing neoclassical drama.
Alexander Pope’s Essay on Criticism (1711) marked the peak of English neoclassicism.
Edmund Burke’s A Philosophical Enquiry into the Origin of Our Ideas of the Sublime and Beautiful and Immanuel Kant’s Critique of Judgment (1790) explored aesthetic experience and cognition.
Literary Theory in the 19th Century
The 19th century saw a deep engagement with aesthetics and literary interpretation:
Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s Biographia Literaria (1817) translated German aesthetics into English, defining imagination and fancy.
William Wordsworth’s Preface to Lyrical Ballads emphasized natural genius over neoclassical form.
John Keats’s Negative Capability introduced a concept of selfless artistic immersion.
Percy Bysshe Shelley’s Defence of Poetry (1821) presented poetry as divine inspiration.
Matthew Arnold saw literature as a moral and spiritual guide in a secularizing society.
John Ruskin, William Morris, and Walter Pater influenced aesthetic movements, inspiring Pre-Raphaelite artists and early modernists.
Friedrich Nietzsche challenged Kantian aesthetics and reshaped artistic subjectivity.
Modernist Trends in Literary Theory, 1890–1940s
Modernist literary criticism and theory emerged in three distinct phases:
Prewar and Wartime Phase (1890–1918): Early modernist writers sought to differentiate themselves from their Victorian predecessors while still being influenced by Arnoldian literary traditions.
Interwar Phase (1919–1939): Characterized by High Modernism, marked by radical experimentation in narrative, style, and literary form.
Third Phase (1930s–1940s): The rise of professional academic criticism in the US and Britain, leading to structured analytical approaches.
Prewar and Wartime Phase (1890–1918)
During this period, modernist literature arose as an international movement, appearing in various forms across the US, Ireland, Britain, and Europe. Writers and artists, disillusioned with conventional values, explored new expressions of human experience as traditional beliefs in language, morality, and religion eroded.
The "Men of 1914," including T. S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, T. E. Hulme, and Wyndham Lewis, rejected Victorian and Edwardian aesthetics, advocating for a decisive break with past conventions. Though innovative, many early modernists held conservative cultural views, opposing mass culture and democracy while idealizing an organic society where fine art maintained authority.
Key Developments:
New Classicism: Hulme and Eliot promoted classical principles in poetry.
Imagism and Vorticism: Led by Pound and Lewis, these movements emphasized sharp imagery and dynamic representations of time and space.
Objectivity, Impressionism, and Symbolism: These aesthetic principles defined early modernist criticism and artistic expression.
Interwar Phase (1919–1939): The Rise of High Modernism
High Modernism reached its peak during this period, emphasizing subjectivity, allusion, and complex narrative structures. Literary experimentation flourished, with techniques such as stream of consciousness, non-linear storytelling, and unreliable narrators becoming prominent.
Key Features in Literature:
Novels: Early modernist fiction explored psychology, partly influenced by Freudian psychoanalysis. Authors such as Joseph Conrad and Henry James developed theories on narrative impressionism, point of view, and the interior monologue.
Prose: High Modernist prose intensified impressionistic techniques, fragmenting traditional narrative forms to probe deeper into human psychology and language.
Poetry: In the works of Eliot and Pound, style became paramount, with deliberate innovations shaping meaning. High Modernist poetry often appeared in "little magazines" such as The Criterion, The Dial, and Poetry.
Key Figures:
T. S. Eliot: Tradition and Individual Talent became a seminal critical work, redefining the literary canon.
Virginia Woolf: Through essays like Modern Fiction, she distinguished between "materialist" and experimental novelists, influencing feminist literary criticism.
I. A. Richards: Principles of Literary Criticism introduced close reading techniques that laid the groundwork for New Criticism.
Cleanth Brooks & William Empson: Developed methods emphasizing irony, ambiguity, and textual autonomy in literary analysis.
Social and Political Influences (1930s–1960s)
Modernist literary criticism evolved alongside Marxist, postcolonial, and cultural theories. Notable thinkers included:
Georg Lukács: Critiqued modernist novels in favor of "critical realism."
Antonio Gramsci: Developed the concept of hegemony, explaining cultural dominance through ideology rather than force.
Albert Memmi & Frantz Fanon: Early postcolonial theorists analyzing the psychological effects of colonialism.
Richard Hoggart & Raymond Williams: Pioneered Cultural Studies, linking literature to societal structures.
Poststructuralist Turn (1966–1980s)
Poststructuralism, emerging from structuralist critiques, transformed literary theory by questioning foundational assumptions of language, text, and meaning.
Key Thinkers & Concepts:
Jacques Derrida: Deconstruction revealed internal contradictions in texts.
Simone de Beauvoir: The Second Sex influenced feminist critiques of gender and patriarchy.
Reader-Response Theory: Developed by Wolfgang Iser and Umberto Eco, emphasizing the reader's role in interpreting texts.
Modernist literary theory laid the foundation for contemporary literary analysis, influencing structuralism, postmodernism, and cultural studies. From early aesthetic revolutions to political critiques, modernism’s legacy remains central to literary discourse today.
