welcome to the third installment of our 8-week series—today, we're talking "theories" of reading and how to find the ones for you (featuring some *Wicked* examples!)
Omg. I think you just accomplished more in this piece than 2 year of my undergrad program 😂. Seriously though, THIS is something I miss doing/thinking about in a deeper way and it has me brainstorming ways to bring it into my work in a refreshing way. Wonderful piece as always!!
lol! I was laughing as I wrote it remembering how OVERWHELMING that entire semester felt as we tried out a different "lens" every week. So much fun to do. Thanks for reading and I hope it was a fun brainstorm exercise!!
I enjoyed this so much. When I’m reading, I have a lot of thoughts about what exactly is going o and I find annotating to be extremely helpful. Sometimes it’s fun to re read a story and focus on a different lens to look through. I find reading so enjoyable for these reasons. Thank you for this piece.
I'm so glad to hear it, Beatrice! It can be such a fun way to reread old favorites and say "What do I want to notice this time?" Thanks for commenting!
This is great! I truly miss English class in university and this is scratching that itch. (Also one of the first things I said to my husband when the movie was over is that I loved that Jonathan Bailey played Fiyero as a bi/pan icon 😂)
I love the VSI series in general, so I am definitely going to read the the very short introduction to literary theory. This was a great introduction, though, and I am going to have it in the back of my mind as I go through the book.
thank you for this!! I’m wondering if you can either answer this here or in a different article. I’m embarrassed to say I’m confused of the differences between theory and theme. Is there a difference?
Hi Talia — what a fantastic question. There is totally a difference! A theme is something within the story that you notice: a repeating color, an emotional track (like eternal love or revenge), an important setting and how it ties to the characters. Really anything that flows through the story.
A theory is something *outside* of the story that you use to analyze the story.
So, say you noticed a theme of friendship in Wicked. You could use a feminist theory lens to analyze the women’s connection to each other. You could use a psychoanalytical lens to explore how their childhoods or relationships to their fathers may have shaped their feelings about popularity. You could use lots of different theories to help you understand the theme of friendship.
Themes are within texts; theories are lenses you lay over the text to better understand things like setting, character, or theme.
Does that help?? Lmk if you have additional questions!
Hi Haley, I really love how you explain things so clearly and succinctly! I‘ve been following along your posts and doing my ‚homework‘ 😄 My question is how would I know or decide what lens I would put on when I open a book for the first time? Is it only on re read after you know what the story is about?
This is so good and makes me want to take a literary theory course for my own enrichment. It’s blowing my mind that I have a BA in Sociology in which I studied a number of the theories you mentioned but never considered applying them to literary texts.
Oh, Terri, if you ever have a chance, I hope you do!! Theory classes were truly the key that unlocked so much understanding for me. I love that you're seeing connections to your own field, as well! There are lots of scholars who sit at the intersections of fields, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are books about sociological studies and literary analysis!
Omg. I think you just accomplished more in this piece than 2 year of my undergrad program 😂. Seriously though, THIS is something I miss doing/thinking about in a deeper way and it has me brainstorming ways to bring it into my work in a refreshing way. Wonderful piece as always!!
lol! I was laughing as I wrote it remembering how OVERWHELMING that entire semester felt as we tried out a different "lens" every week. So much fun to do. Thanks for reading and I hope it was a fun brainstorm exercise!!
Amazingly useful! Thanks for posting
Thank you so much!!
I enjoyed this so much. When I’m reading, I have a lot of thoughts about what exactly is going o and I find annotating to be extremely helpful. Sometimes it’s fun to re read a story and focus on a different lens to look through. I find reading so enjoyable for these reasons. Thank you for this piece.
I'm so glad to hear it, Beatrice! It can be such a fun way to reread old favorites and say "What do I want to notice this time?" Thanks for commenting!
I also loved Wicked the movie.
I can't stop singing the songs!! I loved the movie so much.
This is great! I truly miss English class in university and this is scratching that itch. (Also one of the first things I said to my husband when the movie was over is that I loved that Jonathan Bailey played Fiyero as a bi/pan icon 😂)
I miss my college days, too! I love to bring back that vibe whenever I can.
And I'm SO here for Fiyero as Pan?! I'd read a whole essay about that! lol
I love the VSI series in general, so I am definitely going to read the the very short introduction to literary theory. This was a great introduction, though, and I am going to have it in the back of my mind as I go through the book.
Awesome! It's a great series huh? Yes, the literary theory book is an excellent summary. I'm glad this was a helpful intro!
thank you for this!! I’m wondering if you can either answer this here or in a different article. I’m embarrassed to say I’m confused of the differences between theory and theme. Is there a difference?
Hi Talia — what a fantastic question. There is totally a difference! A theme is something within the story that you notice: a repeating color, an emotional track (like eternal love or revenge), an important setting and how it ties to the characters. Really anything that flows through the story.
A theory is something *outside* of the story that you use to analyze the story.
So, say you noticed a theme of friendship in Wicked. You could use a feminist theory lens to analyze the women’s connection to each other. You could use a psychoanalytical lens to explore how their childhoods or relationships to their fathers may have shaped their feelings about popularity. You could use lots of different theories to help you understand the theme of friendship.
Themes are within texts; theories are lenses you lay over the text to better understand things like setting, character, or theme.
Does that help?? Lmk if you have additional questions!
Hi Haley, I really love how you explain things so clearly and succinctly! I‘ve been following along your posts and doing my ‚homework‘ 😄 My question is how would I know or decide what lens I would put on when I open a book for the first time? Is it only on re read after you know what the story is about?
Ohhh excellent question! I will answer this in our next exercise! (You read my mind!!)
Thank you so much! This was a great help!
Yay! So glad to hear it!
This is so good and makes me want to take a literary theory course for my own enrichment. It’s blowing my mind that I have a BA in Sociology in which I studied a number of the theories you mentioned but never considered applying them to literary texts.
Oh, Terri, if you ever have a chance, I hope you do!! Theory classes were truly the key that unlocked so much understanding for me. I love that you're seeing connections to your own field, as well! There are lots of scholars who sit at the intersections of fields, and I wouldn't be surprised at all if there are books about sociological studies and literary analysis!