The Idea of the Autonomous Artwork in Literary Criticism - Lecture 5

Explore the foundations of formalist literary criticism in this 46-minute lecture from Yale University's "Introduction to Theory of Literature" course. Delve into the rise of New Criticism and its focus on the "poem" as a primary subject of literary analysis. Examine the concept of autonomous art through the writings of Kant, Coleridge, and Wilde. Investigate the New Critics' approach to literary exploration, paying particular attention to Wimsatt and Beardsley's work on acceptable categories of evidence. Learn about the interconnections between New Criticism, formalism, and philosophical aesthetics as you progress through chapters covering topics such as the poem as a miniature world, Kant's influence on formalism, and the anatomy of poetry according to Wimsatt and Beardsley.