Decoding Literary Discourses: Literary Theory and Criticism as Interconnected Interpretive Practices

Abstract

The development of nineteenth- and twentieth-century literary studies has brought literary theory and criticism to the centre of ways of reading cultural, ideological, linguistic and aesthetic formations. Developing from a range of traditions, including structuralist, poststructuralist, Marxist, feminist, post-colonial, psychoanalytic, reader-response, and cultural studies, literary theory increasingly shapes the manner in which texts are interpreted and evaluated. The present study explores the theoretical lens of literary theory and literary criticism and demonstrates how theoretical models can be used as tools for interpretive analysis of literary texts. Using a qualitative interpretive method-ology, the study examines a number of key texts that have shaped modern lit-erary theory. The texts selected possess historical importance, theoretical novelty, interdisciplinary significance or cross-modal scholarly interest. The research draws on notions of discourse, ideology, intertextuality, deconstruction, power relations, subjectivity, representation and postcritique. The study finds that literary theory and criticism are inseparable and increasingly inter-disciplinary practices in which discourse, ideology, representation, power, affect, and methodological pluralism—including postcritique and digital hu-manities—collectively expand the interpretation of literary texts while reaf-firming the continuing relevance of theoretical enquiry in contemporary literary studies. In conclusion, the study holds that modern literary criticism is most productive when theoretical speculation and textual analysis operate as reciprocally formative modes of thought.