Chicago Critics II Chicago School of Literary Criticism II New Criticism II Neo Aristotelians II Group of Pluralist

ORIGIN OF CHICAGO SCHOOL OF CRITICISM:

The Chicago School of literary criticism was a group critics of English literature which began at the University of Chicago with the publication of ‘History versus Criticism in the Study of Literature’ in 1935.

Chicago critics also known as Neo-Aristotelians or Pluralist critics was a group of critics working at the University of Chicago, of whom the most important was R. S. Crane. Others were W. R. Keast, Richard McKeon and Elder Olson.

They opposed the New Criticism which had become dominant in American universities from the 1940s. Most of their thoughts were published in ‘Critics and Criticism: Ancient and Modern’ (1952), edited by Crane. This group of critics exercised a significant influence on the development of American criticism during the second half of the 20th century.

MAJOR IDEAS EXPOUNDED BY CHICAGO CRITICS:

1.   They believed that the New Critics are too much preoccupied with textual analysis. They too much emphasis on words, images, paradoxes, irony etc. makes them forget that the poem is an organic whole. Because of their more focus on the parts, they ignore the beauty as a whole.

2.   The approach of the New Critics is dogmatic and narrow. They have ignored the biographical, historical, contextual, psychological and sociological meanings of the text.

3.   The work of art has two functions – moral and aesthetic. The traditional critics were wrong in over emphasis on moral concerns of literature and the New Critics are wrong in their complete neglect of this moral concerns.

4.   Textual analysis may be good with specific genres, but not with all genres. For different types and genres of literature, different techniques must be evolved and implemented.

5.   Aristotle’s concept and techniques of criticism must not completely be ignored.

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