Starting The Crawf Chronicles

Hello everyone. For those who are interested in what this blog is all about I will give a brief description of what is to come in the upcoming posts. As you may have read above, I am currently studying at Emmanuel College in Boston. This semester I am taking a class called Critical Theory & the Academy, where we will be studying the concepts of literary theory. In this class we will be covering many essential types of criticism including Marxism, structuralism, and post structuralism. These are just a few of the many types of criticism we will discuss.

Literature to me is the expression of ones ideas, emotions and beliefs in text. Whether someone is writing a factual essay or a non-fictional piece, it is all backed by ones ideals and thoughts. In Peter Barry's Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literacy and Cultural Theory, it is said that there is no distinct right or wrong answer in literature. Unlike mathematics and science, literature is left to ones own interpretations. From this I also learned that even though language can evolve through time human nature is always the same. "Human nature is essentially unchanging. The same passions, emotions, and even situations are seen again and again throughout human history"(Barry 18).

I am looking forward to learning more about all types of theory and writing on them. It will be interesting to see how literature and ways of criticism have evolved throughout history. Hopefully I will be able to identify differences as well as similarities in each time period. Look for a new post next week. Until then this is A. Crawford signing off.