Throughout the term we went over a few literary theories with which we could use to criticize different texts that we were reading. The main theories we focused on include marxist literary theory, feminist theory, and post-colonial theory.
Marxist theory suggests that all productions, be it a song, a play, a novel, etc, are political in nature. Marxist theory deal with economics, social class issues, power divisions, and ideologies. A Marxist critic would argue that readers will not fully understand a literary work until the relationship between economics and social class are understood. Some Marxist author's the we covered in class include Pablo Neruda and Richard Wright (though only for a short time).
Feminist literary theory contends that males use literature as a means to ensure that females remain subordinate. Feminist authors include Nawal El Saadawi, Anita Desai (the "reluctant" feminist), and Virginia Woolf. These authors are now considered part of the literary canon whereas before the canon was solely male.
Post-colonial literary theory looks at works produced by colonial powers or by those who were colonized. Post-colonial theory looks at issues of politics, power, economics, culture, and history. A post-colonial author we look at in class is Chinua Achebe, who wrote Things Fall Apart. The novel looks at the impact of British colonization on preexisting Nigerian societies and cultures, and documents what took place during colonization.
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