Outline:
- What is Literary Review?
- What is Literary Critique?
- Basics of Literary Critique
- Basics of Literary Review
- Conclusion
To discuss the basics of literary review and critique, it is important to start by making distinctions between the two concepts.
What is Literary Review?
A literary review is a form of literary endeavour, in which readers give their opinions about a work of art that they have read. The opinion often involves facts and reflections about what such work contains, how it has intrigued the reader, why other people should consider reading it (or not), some appeals in it that make it relevant to society, etc.
A review is a report of the reader’s encounter with the work of art, which could vary from reader to reader. In doing a review, the reader infuses and synchronises perspectives from other readers, makes statements of facts about the text, infuses ideas from canonical literary figures that find expression in the work, makes systematic arguments about the work, but most importantly, speaks based on personal preferences, biases, and prejudices that are held while reading the work of art. This is why reviews are usually subjective.
What is Literary Critique?
Literary critique is what is done in an attempt to reveal the message/meaning embedded in a work of art using “critical tools” that range from figurative language to pure language features like grammar, word choices, rhythm, etc., and also the kind of literary/genre convention, or literary theories that the work of art subscribes to. Critiquing is an interpretive endeavour carried out by professionals in the literary discipline, who are called literary critics.
The academic discipline concerned with this specialised form of art is called literary criticism. Literary critique can only be done by these experts or critics, while a review can be done literally by anybody, who is never even in the literature field. In addition, not all works of art get critiqued, because certain standards make a work of art receive critiquing. Works of art that meet these standards, and thus get critiques are said to have received “critical acclaim.”
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Although literary review does not require special critical expertise, the reader’s expressive ability is needed. Also, the reader’s ability to represent the message of a work of art as perceived to have been presented in the text is important. And, the reader’s ability to build an argument using their past experiences, ideological orientations, cultural standing, or philosophical standing is very much crucial to doing a review. Critiquing, however, requires special expertise, which often takes years to learn, because of the enormity and intricacies of this expertise. In any case, there are basics for anyone who wants to learn the art of critiquing without going into the details of criticism that can be somewhat perplexing for the non-critic.
Basics of Literary Critique
- Reader’s hunch/impression of the text at hand.
- Identifying language features in the text.
iii. Tying/analysing/interpreting these language features with the impressions constructed, in ways that validate the impression.
- Reaching an overall conclusion on what the message of the text is.
Let us take these processes one by one.
Impression. In reading a literary work at the first, second, or third encounter, what the text seems to be conveying appears to the reader. This is what is called the “hunch” or “impression.” This is important to make meaningful critiquing of the work of art, for without getting an impression of the text, the critic cannot proceed to examine the literary components of the text at hand. Impression gives information that often also occurs at the level of review, such as ideological orientations, the cultural affiliation of the texts, philosophical reflections, social issues, political representation, etc. But these are tentative and possible to be false until the evidence in the text has been shown to validate these impressions. And this is what necessitates the next process.
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Language features. The literary and non-literary components of a work of art must be taken cognisance of and identified from the texts. But these would only be relevant features that the writer has used to anchor his messages or the different parts of his messages. Being able to identify these features comes from the critic’s expert knowledge of the figurative language, stylistic choices, genre convention, theoretical orientations, all of which constitute the “critical tools” used to manoeuvre and interpret the work of art. The messages of the work of art rest solely on the language, and the words on the page, and the critic is expected to possess adequate knowledge and skills to be able to identify these features to reach the messages. Then comes the next process.
Tying/interpreting the language features with the impressions. It is the special skills and responsibilities of the critic to make connections between the perceived messages of the text and the language used in the text. This is the ground for objectivity, where the critic verifies his claims about the text with elements present in it. It requires a certain amount of rigour and systematicity to do this, as the critic wants to ensure that apart from giving the evaluative judgement of the text, he also gives an objective assessment of the text. As such, questions relating to the message, style, convention, etc, can be adequately addressed and answered as they are portrayed in the work of art.
Reaching concluding remarks. At this point, the earlier constructed impression could have changed, been modified, or discarded, and reformed into an entirely new one, as the components of the text would have revealed or made plain.
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All these are basics for anyone who would want to know how to go about critiquing a work of literature. But more than these are intricate designs for the critics. Critiquing is an enjoyable endeavour when put into practice with the knowledge of “critical tools.”
Basics of Literary Review
- Do first reading, second reading, and third reading.
- Identify the main messages of the piece.
- Give background to the piece, which involves situating it in real-life contexts as they apply to the piece.
- Section the messages into clear themes.
- Examine these themes with the contents of the text and the real-life situation. This is what we call “social commentary” i.e., making the contents of a work of art relevant to our past, present, future situations, and societies.
- Give your ideological standing as regards the piece. For instance, as a materialist, do you agree that happiness is of utmost importance compared to wealth? Make this plain about the piece.
- Conclude on your position and experience with the work of art.
Conclusion
Conclusively, I hope you now have a clearer picture of what it means to review and critique a piece of art. Learning never ends. Read wild. Read wide.
Thank you.
Akinrinade Funminiyi Isaac is a Nigerian realtor and writer with works appearing in Writers Space Africa Magazine, Olney Magazine, Praxis Magazine, Word Rhymes and Rhythm (WRR) and elsewhere. He’s the coordinator of WSA Magazine Review Team and an Associate Editor at PoeticAfrica, a trilingual magazine published by Writers Space Africa. He’s the initiator of two poetry collections: Si(gh)lent Night (2017) and 60 Seconds Silence (2020). He can be reached @esv_keks on Twitter and Instagram.
