- The society of the time’s influence upon a text.
- The personal experience of an author and its influence upon a text.
Whilst both of these branches of historic criticism can be applied to any text, on occasion one may be better suited for use when analysing a specific text. For example, when looking at George Orwell’s Animal Farm (a political satire) with historic criticism society’s influence upon the text will yield a far stronger argument than the influence of Orwell’s own life experience.
It could be argued that all literary criticism (barring practical criticism, which looks at the language, structure and form of the text exclusively) either stems from or relies upon historicism.
- Marxist criticism – Marxist criticism focuses upon society’s influence upon an author, especially in terms of oppression and injustice. Therefore, in order to form a credible Marxist reading of a text historical information about society at the time of text’s creation and information about an author’s financial status at the time of writing is required.
- Feminist criticism – Feminist criticism focuses upon the presentation of women within a text and, in more advanced readings, what this has to say about the society of the time’s treatment/view of women or an author’s view of women. In order to avoid an advanced Feminist reading being reduced to mere theory, historical information about women’s position in society and an author’s view on women is required.
- Post-colonialist criticism – Post-colonialist criticism focuses on the affects of slavery and the British Empire upon a text. To craft a credible reading of a text using this criticism historical information about when the text was written and the British Empire is required.
- Psycho-analytical criticism – Psycho-analytical criticism focuses upon the psychological profiles of both the characters within a text and the author of a text, often using Freudian archetypes to craft a complex argument about what a text really means. This method of criticism relies heavily upon a practical approach to imagery alongside historic information about an author’s life and mental condition.
