The Idea of the Autonomous Artwork
This lecture traces the historical development of formalist literary criticism, analyzing its foundations in Kantian aesthetics and its articulation by New Critics like Wimsatt and Beardsley, particularly regarding the autonomy of the artwork and permissible interpretive evidence.
Introduction to Theory of Literature (ENGL 300)
In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry explores the origins of formalist literary criticism. Considerable attention is paid to the rise and subsequent popularity of the New Critics and their preferred site of literary exploration, the "poem." The idea of autonomous art is explored in the writings of, among others, Kant, Coleridge, and Wilde. Using the work of Wimsatt and Beardsley, the lecture concludes with an examination of acceptable categories of evidence in New Criticism.
Configurative Reading
Next · Lecture 6The New Criticism and Other Western Formalisms