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    BS English Semester 6 Topic 1-Liberal Humanism

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    Anas Shoukat Anas Shoukat
    Liberal humanism

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    BS English Semester 6 Topic 1-Liberal Humanism

    Uploaded by

    Anas Shoukat Anas Shoukat
    38 views2 pages
    Liberal humanism

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    Liberal humanism

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    38 views2 pages

    BS English Semester 6 Topic 1-Liberal Humanism

    Uploaded by

    Anas Shoukat Anas Shoukat
    Liberal humanism

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Liberal Humanism (Literary Theory)

    Background:
    Peter Barry calls Liberal Humanism the "theory before theory"
    because it attempts to define what literature is.
    Liberal humanism has its roots in the philosophies of Aristotle.
    Aristotle posed the existential question: "Who am I?”
    John Locke (/lɒk/; 29 August 1632 – 28 October 1704) was an English philosopher and
    physician, widely regarded as one of the most influential of Enlightenment thinkers and
    commonly known as the "father of liberalism".
    The 1840 work of F.D. Mauris is often attributed as the formal beginning of liberal
    humanism in literature,
    I.A. Richards, in is critical treatise “Practical Criticism (1929)” gave more importance to
    a close precise reading of a text without the importance of history.
    Liberal Humanism:
    (Liberalism: Freedom And Rights Humanism …the happy human Petrarch
    Man is necessary for universe ,universe is not necessary for man)
    Definition:
    Liberal humanism is a philosophy that values individual freedoms above all else. For a
    liberal humanist,every human perspective matters.
    Liberal humanism proposes that the subject is the free, unconstrained author of
    meaning and action, the origin of history.
    Liberal humanism refers to a period in the history of literary criticism before the
    coming of theory. It promotes understanding and appreciating literature from a
    human perspective. It is a text-centered approach, so liberal humanists never look
    for any contextual information or ideologie
    Ten Tenets of Liberal Humanism are as follows:
    1. Good literature is timeless. It is 'not for an age, but for all time', said BenJohnson.
    It is 'news which stays news', is how Ezra Pound has defined it.
    2. The literary text contains its own meaning within itself. It doesn’t require any
    elaborate process of placing it within a context.The context in which literature is
    created should not be considered whether it be socio-political,
    literary-historical or autobiographical.
    3. Literature should be studied closely, without expectations or pre-conditions
    because they interfere with what Matthew Arnold called the true business of
    literature which is 'to see the object as in itself it really is
    4. Human nature is essentially unchanging .The same passions, emotions, and even
    situations are seen again and again throughout human history. It follows that
    continuity in literature is more important and significant than innovation.
    5. The ‘transcendent subject’: An individual maintains his unique essence of
    individuality throughout life and throughout the story line. They could not be
    transformed by forces of society, experience, and language.
    6. The purpose of literature is to enhance life and (Promote human values )
    propagate values (in a non-programmatic way). Keats said, "We distrust literature
    which has a palpable design upon us". Literature should not reflect any
    propaganda
    7. Form and content in literature must be fused in an organic way, so that the one
    grows inevitably from the other. Literary form should not be like a decoration
    which is applied externally to a completed structureForm should follow content.
    Superfluous form should be stripped away.
    8. Work must be sincere. Emotion in a work should follow from showing actions. It
    shouldn't be pointed out. Emotion should not be over inflated with
    language.Sincerity (comprising truth-to-experience, honesty towards the self, and
    the capacity for human empathy and compassion) is a quality which resides
    within the language of literature
    9. What is valued in literature is the 'silent' showing and demonstrating of
    something, rather than the explaining, or saying, of it." Ideas are worthless until
    they are vested in action.Good literature shows rather than explaining
    10. The job of criticism is to interpret the text, ..to mediate between its reader and
    text….Criticism should guide the reader toward what is present in the text and no
    more.

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