Feminist Literary theory Concepts of gender are socially constructed through language use.

Literature is used to enforce patriarchal norms and authority. What assumptions are made about gender in the text and their relative power? How are women represented in the text? How are patriarchal norms or authority reinforced in the text? What is foregrounded / privileged in the text? Where are the gaps and silences? Marxist Literary theory Examines the role played by literature in maintaining values and beliefs that support the ruling classes in society. It is important to relate a text to the social context of its author and the historical contexts in which it was written and read. What assumptions are made about classes and socio-economic relations in the text and their relatives power? What forms of authority (political and economic) are reinforced in the text through its language, characters and themes? What is foregrounded / privileged in the text? Where are the gaps and silences?

Post-Colonial literary theory Exploring the ways that colonialism and the racist ideas that supported it have been reinforced and legitimated by literature. What assumptions are made about races or ethnicities in the text and their relative power? What does the text say about the other? How are colonial norms or authority reinforced in the text? What is foregrounded / privileged in the text? Where are the gaps and silences? Psycho-analytic Literary texts represent the unconscious desires shared by members of a culture. It is a means of exploring the social construction of personal identity.

Are there any oedipal dynamics or any other family dynamics at work within the text? How can characters behaviour, narrative events and/or images be explained in terms of concepts such as fear of/fascination with death, love, sexual behaviour? What does the work suggest about the psychology of the author? What might responses to the text reveal about the psychology of the reader? Reader-Response theory New Historicist Texts need a reader in order to exist. The way in which a reader constructs Rather that forming a backdrop, the main discourses at work at any given time meaning from the text, fills in the gaps, makes connections and predictions affect both the writer and the text; both are inescapably part of a context and, therefore, a social construct. form the meaning of a text. How does the text confirm or disappoint my ideas? How does my own subjectivity and experience as a reader shape my engagement with the text? How is my understanding of the text similar to or different from others who engage with the text? What is the social and historical context in which the author existed and the text was written and how does this influence the text? How do contemporary conceptions about that time period shape the way we read and understand the text? How does the contemporary social and historical context shapes the way in which we engage with the text?