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Literary Criticism

Scope/Overview

This guide covers resources on literary criticism. As always, if you have any questions or need help with your research, please contact us.

What is Literary Criticism? 

The Oxford English Dictionary defines literary criticism as "The art or practice of judging and commenting on the qualities and character of a literary work; consideration or analysis of a text in relation to language, structure, biography, history, etc., or (in later use, frequently with modifying word) by a particular philosophical, political, or linguistic method; (also) an instance of this, esp. in a written form; a school or method of criticizing literature."

While literary criticism is subjective, arguments or theories put forward must be backed up with sources from either the work being critiqued or from other works of literary criticism or academic analysis.