Lesson 1 Literary Reading through a Biographical  

Context Literary theory

 refers to the different schools of thought and
Why do we have to read an author's biography? body of ideas that can be used as a tool in
This is because the author’s life may affect his or her understanding literary context.
writing. Sociocultural
   relating to or involving combination of cultural
What is the difference between Biography and and social factors.
Autobiography?  
Biography comes from the Greek word “bios”, which What are the reasons to read literature through
means life and “graphia” means writing; a detailed or sociocultural context?
account or narrative of a person written by someone else. (Gioia and Kennedy 2007):
Autobiography is also a narrative of a person, but written  Reading using the sociocultural context helps
by the person himself or herself. you understand the social, economic, political, and
  cultural forces affecting the work that you are
Why must we read literature through the biographical reading.
context?  Analyzing the sociocultural context of the text
(Gioia and Kennedy 2007): makes you examine the role of the audience
 Understanding the author’s life can help you (readers) in shaping literature.
understand his or her work thoroughly. How can we analyze a text through a sociocultural
 Reading the author’s biography or context?
autobiography helps you see how much his Here are guide questions that you may answer when you
experiences shape his or her work directly and are reading literature through the sociocultural context:
indirectly.  What is the relationship between the characters
or the speakers in the text and their society?
What are some biographical strategies that you may use?  Does the text explicitly address issues of gender,
 Research on what the author believes in and also race, or class? How does the text resolve these
what he or she does not. issues?
 Analyze how the author’s belief system is  Who has the power? Who does not? What is the
reflected in his or her work. reason for this setup?
 Look at the author’s other works and analyze if  How does this story reflect the nation? What
there is a pattern with regard to the theme that is does this say about the country and its inhabitants?
indicative of his or her life and beliefs.  Who has the economic or social power? Is there
  oppression or class struggle? How do the
When you are reading literature through a biographical characters overcome this? Does money or finances
context: play a large role in the narrative?
 In what year was the text written and published?  What is the prevailing social order? Does the
 Is there anything significant that happened in the story or poem accept or challenge it?
author’s life during this time? What were the  
circumstances that happened to the author before What are the perspectives or literary theories that you
the writing of the text? may use?
 Were there several drafts of the text? What can Marxism        
you say about the changes that the author made?  Literature shows class struggle and materialism.
What aspects do you think the author struggled  Looks into the social classes portrayed in the
with during the revision? work.
   Looks into how the text serves as a propaganda
What is the effect of the revisions to the published text? material.
 Are there characters and situations in the text  Also examines oppression, social conflicts, and
that could be representative of or are similar to the solution to these
ones in the author’s life? struggles as shown in the literary work.
 How will knowing about the author amplify  
your appreciation of the work? Feminism        
   Examines the role of the women in the
Why is it essential for readers to understand the author's literature.
background?  Looks into how the female character may be
Through studying the author, they may be able to empowered
connect the characters and their morals or discriminated against.
to the author’s life, and analyze the patterns of behavior
shown between and among the characters, the author,
and the reader himself. After all, it is through getting to
know others that we also get to know ourselves better. Queer Theory        
 Concerned with the queer or the third
 gender.
 The perspective itself was named in 1991.
 The third gender, meaning the gay, lesbians, and
Lesson 2 Literary Reading through a Sociocultural other
Context characters or persona in literature that may fall
under queer are being
Why is it important to read through sociocultural examined.
context?  
In reading using the sociocultural context, you will Historicism        
examine the factors that affect the writing of the literary  Or traditional historical criticism is a perspective
text and how the work was received by the readers dealing
during the time it was written.
 with the history that influenced the writing of point of view of the text? Is it a poem? What type
literature. of poem is it?
   Does the language help in delivering and
Postcolonialism         understanding its content? Is there a theme? What
 Looks into the changes in the attitude of the post is it saying about its subject matter? How do the
colonies after the colonial period. literary elements contribute to the effectiveness of
 The dependence or independence of decolonized the text?
countries or people are being examined.  What is the text saying about the world in
  general?
New Historicism          
 It focuses not only on the history when the What should I take note before reading a text through the
literary text was written, but also how the history linguistic context?
happened.  Even if literature uses language, it does not
 The above mentioned perspectives can be mean that the structure of literature and the
integrated with each other. language are the same. Some writers may not
Lesson 3 Literary Reading through a Linguistic follow grammatical rules, and this kind of
Context deviation may be used in your analysis. You may
ask, “Why is the text not following standard
  grammar?” and other similar questions.
Why should we read literature through the linguistic  The characteristics of the language in which the
context? text was written may help in analyzing the text.
 Reading the text on its own, regardless of the You may also ask, “Why is the text written in this
author’s biography and sociocultural context, may language?”, “Is this considered a weak language or
help you understand the literary text through a strong language?” and other similar questions.
analyzing the words, sentences, patterns, imagery,  You may consult literary approaches that focus
etc. of the text. on language. Structuralism, poststructuralism, and
 Analyzing the literary text’s grammar, syntax, or formalism have linguistic aspects. These
phonemic pattern may help you find the meaning approaches may lead you in your view of reading
of the text within its form and help you interpret it through the linguistic context.
by simply analyzing the content of the literary  
work. What are the literary approaches that focus on language?
  Structuralism        
What are some strategies that you may use to read a text  Relays the texts being examined to a larger
through the linguistic context? structure.
 Analyze the diction or choice of words in the  The structure may be a particular genre, a range
text. of intertextual
 Examine the texts’ syntax or use of sentences, connections, a model of a universal narrative
clauses, phrases, line cuts, etc. structure, or a system
 Observe the use of figurative language. of recurrent patterns or motifs.
 Analyze the mood and tone of the text.  
 Observe the text’s overall structure. Formalism (or New Criticism)        
 Analyze the content of the text.  A school of literary criticism and literary theory
  that
Here are guide questions that may help you when you focuses on the structure of a particular text.
read literature through the linguistic context:  Examines a text without taking into account any
 What were the striking words in the text? What outside influence.
words were unfamiliar to you? Which  
words attracted your attention? What words were Poststructuralism        
dramatic?  The reaction to structuralism.
 What nouns are the most prominent? Are these  Underlying structures that may have different
concrete or abstract nouns? What interpretations based on how the words or phrases
about verbs? Does the author use common words were used in the text.
or lofty diction? Are the words short
or long? Is there any word that has two or more
meanings?

 Are the sentences in the usual order of subject-

predicate? What are the dependent
clauses? What are the independent clauses? If you
restructure a sentence or a phrase,
would it make a difference? Is the voice active or
passive? Is there a rhythm in the
sentence structure in relation to the length of the
sentences or lines?
 What literary devices are used? Are there
images? Do those images stand for anything aside
from their literal meaning?
 What is the tone? Is the speaker happy about the
subject? Is the tone negative or positive?
 What is the structure of the text? Is it a
narrative? Is it linear or nonlinear? What is the