Crushed by Denise Greenwood: Interview

I was lucky enough to be able to interview Denise Greenwood about her latest novel, Crushed. She was kind enough to let me interrogate her with a heap of questions, so many thanks! Full details of Denise Greenwood and Crushed are available down below. Crushed is already out in Ireland and will be released as an e-Book via Kindle, Nook and Kobo etc. It is due for release in the UK during early 2016.

Denise Greenwood

Can you tell me a little about yourself and your background?

I was born and raised in Blackpool but then lived and worked in Manchester for a number of years where I was drawn to the theatre, comedy clubs and culture scene. I now live with my husband Jerry and son Rees in a hamlet in Littleborough. It is on the fringe of an old Lancashire mill-town at the western slopes of the South Pennines. After a long career as a Policy Development Manager for a major UK retailer I turned my skills from technical material to writing fiction in 2010. I use my unconventional life experiences and love of psychology to create characters and stories to push the boundaries of fiction. My first two books Temptation and Star Keeper are contemporary literature which attracted full page features in Northern Life and Style Magazines but after writing my first two books I was drawn to my darker side and wrote a dark and chilling thriller. Although it was initially an exploration I now find it is where I belong so I am currently working on my next novel.

What were you like at school? Did you always plan on becoming an author?

When we first moved to Manchester I offered to sing a song in front of the class. My Irish roots taught me that bursting into song was second- nature. I later penned and presented a short play and chose two of my friends to act in it with me. I also remember as a small child sitting on a window ledge and reading a book which I became lost in. I still remember my wish - that one day I could write something that would make others feel as I did at that exact moment. When I was an adult I occasionally thought about my wish but it was merely a pipe-dream. Then, in 2009 while sat on a church pew, I was struck with an idea which I couldn’t shake off for weeks. In an effort to get the idea out of my head and onto paper I unleashed a hidden side of me that I’d forgotten about. I became that small child once again and I knew that wishes, no matter how old they are, mustn’t be ignored. I jokingly refer to that year as my “mid-life crisis.”

What types of books do you tend to read?

I have eclectic tastes and it depends on my mood. My first passion is the English Classics. I want to become lost in the world of yesteryear and the lives of characters that face adversity. I also enjoy lighter, more modern reading, particularly the tales of people who move abroad and then become immersed in a new way of life. I have a system – I read something heavy then move onto light.

Which writers inspire you?

Hardy, Dickens and Brontë because they bring together characters whose strengths are often hidden until they are challenged. Their individual stories become part of a bigger picture. Robert M Pirsig because he delves deep into the psyche then entices the reader to join him in his quest to answer life’s big questions. Often, the writer’s life interests me – what made them take up a pen.

What is your favourite quote?

“Tell me what company thou keepest, and I’ll tell thee what thou art” – Don Quixote PY11 Ch23 – Cervantes.

How would you describe your personal writing style?

Visual – I vividly visualise my characters and the scenes they are in. I carry them around in my head for months before I begin to write and it is almost like replaying a film. The words I use are like paint on an artist’s brush and I try to use them to convey the scene I have in my head.

What are your ambitions for Crushed?

I hope that my characters will stay with readers so that they find themselves thinking about them long after they have finished reading. As I visualised my book so strongly I know that Crushed would also make a good TV or film adaptation.

Crushed is unlike any other book that I have read previously, where did you get the inspiration to write it?

I was watching a TV programme, Once Upon a Time, and it was Robert Carlyle, who was playing Rumpelstiltskin, in a unique way. At that moment I remembered running along a street as fast as I could. I was seven years old and returning from my first school play. Rumpel had frightened me. As I watched the TV I wondered what had made Rumpel such a twisted character and although the TV programme tried to explain it, it wasn’t enough for me. What if there didn’t have to be a traumatic event to change a person? What if just the experience of one moment of weird emotion connected the person to unnatural inclinations? I then thought of a boy who had lived near me. He had been my friend briefly before he’d moved away. He was an odd and sometimes scary boy. I wondered what he would have been like if I’d known him as a teen and then an adult. My two memories gave birth to my protagonist.

Are there any true elements within Crushed? Maybe characters that bear similarities to people who you may know or maybe even the setting?

The setting is in Halifax, a short train journey from where I live. All the scenes in my book are based on places I have been to but I make them bigger than life and adapt them for my characters. I’m a keen observer and people-watch so many of my characters contain small elements of something I’ve observed in a person, whether I know them or not. I like small details such as a way of walking or a brief facial expression as they often betray an inner emotion.

Crushed - Denise Greenwood

How long did it take for you to complete Crushed?

I nurtured my ideas and imagined possible outcomes for a long while before putting together an outline based on the images I saw. Often being in a new place triggered something and so I returned to that place and took photos, notes and spoke to people before I began my research. It took roughly six months to get Crushed into my head clearly before I began writing and then it took just three to write it. However, Crushed wasn’t complete until I had gone through it for re-writes and finalised its flow and order. This took another three.

Did you ever feel like giving up whilst writing this book? If so, what pushed you to continue?

I never lost heart. Crushed was a part of me and I was driven to write it. My characters pushed me to continue. Writing Crushed was one of the most pleasurable but disturbing experiences of my life.

Was there a personal reason that you chose the colour red as the hair of the girls? Of course there are many connotations of red with blood and love but did you have a specific reason yourself for choosing it?

In the days of black and white movies female roles were easy to fathom – blondes were good and sweet, brunettes were often the villains or not to be trusted. When colour was introduced, the red-heads were sirens and feisty. On a more personal note, I have natural black hair but sometimes in bright sunshine one copper-red hair stands out. People have plucked one from my head and marvelled. I put it down to my Irish roots. I knew that my female protagonist had to have a hair colour that would make her instantly stand out from a crowd.

I’m strangely drawn towards Barrington. Did you intend for his character to become a Byronic hero of sorts?

It is the moody, weird and sometimes scary people that we remember most. I deliberately didn’t want to explain why Barrington was unique, it was down to the reader to decide but, I also wanted the reader to question what they thought of him. When he meets his perfect victim he is totally unprepared for what he experiences. It is foreign to him. Romance is not a word I would use for what develops as it is too strange for that description. A unique relationship is forged between two unique characters. Barrington appeals to the darker side and the journey into it should be taken lightly. I still question myself about him and his appeal – magnetic or weird?

What inspired the character of Judith, your antagonist?

Judith is an amalgamation of all the people I've met who take up a job or cause then corrupt it. She also has a perspective often seen in attention-seekers. They thrive on drama and twist their interpretations of what they see and hear then interject their opinions or selves with the assumption that they're doing good.

Did you have to conduct a lot of research when writing Crushed?

Research was part of my six-month process before I began writing. Not only did I research places thoroughly, I also asked medical experts about some of the scenes I had planned so that I could confirm the information I’d researched online. Small details also take time to research, such as the simple experiment of freezing Brazil nuts then cracking them so that the sound they make is similar to that of a small bone breaking.

The ending is not something that I would have imagined. How did you decide upon it?

When I’ve created my characters in my head then their story often presents itself to me. I see the ending first then I work backwards. Often when I’ve nearly completed a book I realise that the ending I’d first envisaged is not the true ending at all. As the characters and the story evolved I’m led to an extended conclusion. I always knew how I wanted Crushed to end but I do not like parcels that are neatly tied with a bow at the end. Just as when I watched an actor playing Rumpel on TV, I wanted more than a simple conclusion as life is not like that so I didn’t succumb to simplicity.

What advice would you give to aspiring writers?

Write from the heart and forget the fact that someone else will read your work. You began writing for a reason, what was that reason? What part of you does writing reach or expose? Your instincts will tell you when you have finished. Then, go out to meet the professionals who are the gatekeepers to the publishing industry and listen to what they have to say.

Describe your story in one sentence.

A chance encounter with a young woman challenges a killer’s patience, rigid perspective and strict lifestyle as he struggles to maintain his façade but, is his perfect victim all what she seems?

Do you have anything to add about your writing process, Crushed, or anything in general that I have not asked?

At first writing was a personal experiment to see if I could do it but once I began, it released a Kraken. I realised that the “extraordinary” is to be found in every aspect of one’s life. I am constantly amazed by people who live ordinary lives and yet have strange perspectives. During recent years I’ve seen people create drama in their lives as a form of compensation for being so ordinary and as a writer it is manna from heaven.

Contact information for Denise Greenwood:

Website: http://www.denise-greenwood.com/

Twitter: @DeniseGauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denise.greenwood.16

Book Trailers: - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAhgB7epsJi05_Thf-wt2Q

Yours weekly,

Sadia Parveen.

@Sadia_x95

www.underthefable.com

Crushed by Denise Greenwood: Review

Crushed is the third novel written by author Denise Greenwood. As a thriller, Crushed is a shift away from Denise Greenwood’s first two books Temptation and Star Keeper which are contemporary fiction. Denise Greenwood stated, ‘After writing my first two books I was drawn to my darker side and although it was initially an exploration I now find it is where I belong.’ She is currently working on a new novel as well as promoting the release of Crushed.

Crushed is available in Ireland, however it will be released in the UK early into 2016. Nonetheless, it will become available as an e-Book for Kindle, Nook, Kobo etc. over the coming few weeks. When I was given the opportunity to read Crushed for review, I jumped at the chance to delve into this psychological thriller. I was not disappointed either, this novel was a delight to read and I found it to be a welcoming change from the usual university readings that I have to do. Usually, I do not have much time to read anything else however I was determined to read Crushed.

The novel begins by introducing the protagonist, Barrington, who seems unlike many typical fictional characters. The novel progresses from Barrington’s childhood into adulthood, however right from the start we can sense that something is not right with him. He shocks his teacher and classmates with his actions, however we can put down his behaviour to his dysfunctional family life. His mother is more concerned about appearances, his father is concerned with his work and other women. Small instances such as viewing his father’s infidelity add to the instability of Barrington. 

Crushed - Denise Greenwood

Right from birth, Barrington has been isolated, but spoiled. The one place he finds his solace is in his treehouse where his repressed desires and emotions come to light. He is consumed by his new compulsion, to hear fragile bones being crushed. Elspeth, the girl with the red hair, becomes his first human victim.

After fourteen years, he encounters another girl, Caprice, who also has red hair. She brings back countless emotions and memories that Barrington had repressed. However, instead of acting upon his desires and making her another of his victims, something shocking happens. He takes her to his home. Caprice challenges Barrington in ways that are unthinkable. She pushes his boundaries, defies his rigid routines, strict perspective and limited patience. Barrington’s break to his schedule leads to resurfacing memories and we learn more about the past fourteen years. Caprice is running from a tormentor, however Barrington is unaware of this.

Although Barrington is a complicated ‘hero’ to say the least, the main antagonist of the novel, Judith, is someone actually loathe. Barrington may have committed some unspeakable acts, however Judith is the real life villain that everyone has encountered. She is a carer next door to Barrington, at a nursing home. Not only that, she’s a massive busy-body! She watches Barrington and comes to unsettling conclusions about him. She’s bitter, nosey and spiteful. She even goes to extreme lengths of following Caprice and pretending to know Barrington, in order to learn more about him.

However, through Caprice, Barrington manages to perceive himself the way others do and learns to control his actions and emotions. Is she the one to save him? What is Caprice’s secret? If you want answers, you know what to do! I thoroughly enjoyed this novel and I can guarantee you will too – especially the ending! I also interviewed Denise Greenwood so why not check that out!

Contact information for Denise Greenwood:

Website: http://www.denise-greenwood.com/

Twitter: @DeniseGauthor

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/denise.greenwood.16

Book Trailers: - https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiAhgB7epsJi05_Thf-wt2Q

Yours weekly,

Sadia Parveen.

@Sadia_x95

www.underthefable.com

The Curse Known As Writers Block

Don’t you hate it when people tell you writer’s block doesn’t exist? Because frankly it makes me want to scream. If those people have never experienced the complete mental block when you sit down to write, then good for them, but don’t invalidate somebody else’s struggles. So if you’ve ever met someone who’s said something like that to you, then ignore them, because it is a thing and you shouldn’t feel bad for experiencing it. 

I can’t tell you the amount of times this has happened to me. Most of us have been through it, even those of us who aren't writers and are just trying to write an essay. It’s something we torture ourselves with.

You can be so determined to get something down on the page, then you either end up writing a massive amount of horse crap and deleting it all. Or you continually stare at the screen as if expecting it to write something for you and then you get pissed off when it doesn't.

Come on. Admit it. You've done that one before.

If you ever feel like you have writers block and no solution is coming to mind, then here are my tips for getting through it:

 

 

 

1. Refreshments

·        The important thing to remember while you're pulling your hair from its roots is to look after yourself. You're no good to anyone, let alone your writing if you don’t.

·        Make sure you have some sort of station around you where you can get refreshments. Whether that's your kitchen or a coffee shop or even an asda.

·        Whatever your go to drink is, mine is a good old cup of tea, because let's face it, tea is life. I know the minute I have a cup of tea by me I can relax more and get down to work.

·        Figure out what your "motivational" drink is and make sure it’s on hand during your writing process.

 

2. Work space

·        There is nothing worse than sitting in a crowded room, full of people talking or screaming or just you know, generally breathing in your direction. At least for me that’s the worst thing.

·        It's important to find the best place for you to work. Mine is in my armchair at home. If somebody’s in the room and I can’t have complete silence I put my headphones on and block out the world with some music while I write.

·        A writer once told me he does most of his writing on the train as it’s impossible to do it at home with his kids. If that works for you, then great, but it needs to be somewhere you’re entirely comfortable and a place you feel you can block out the rest of the world while you write.

 

3. Breaks

·        I cannot stress this point enough. Breaks are essential to life. Ever heard the human brain can only concentrate for 20 minutes? Whether or not you believe this, I think to some extent this is true. It doesn’t have to be 20 minutes, it could be 60, or 90, but eventually your brain will be getting distracted.

·        There's no point sitting at your desk, slamming your head against the table for 10 hours because you can't think of anything to write. That's not going help anyone, and let's face it, you'll go to bed with a massive headache.

·        Even if you give yourself a half an hour break every few hours, this is guaranteed to help you feel a million times better. Your motivation gets restored and you return to your work with a clearer mind.

·        Sometimes even a power nap can help and if you're like me and can't sleep in the day, then even just lying in bed and closing your eyes for half an hour can work wonders…just…set an alarm to be sure you don’t fall asleep for the next 12 hours.

 

4. Ideas

·        This is the problem most people will have. Sometimes an idea for a story or poem will pop into your mind and you’ll write furiously for hours. And sometimes nothing comes to you at all.

·        So here’s what you do to get your creative juices flowing. First: create a characters backstory. Ask yourself 20 seemingly unimportant questions and answer them as your character. You may just discover something interesting about them.

·        Second: words

·        Look at your surroundings. Pick an object, or a person, or a colour, anything.

·        Write a paragraph about it. 99% of the time it will be utter rubbish, but that 1% could be the start of a great story.

·        And if not, then at least you will have been exercising that creative brain of yours. Not everything you write has to be publishing standard. That's what editing’s for!

 

5. Distance

·        Sometimes the problem isn't just getting something on the page but perhaps you’re struggling adding to a story or poem you've already been writing. Sometimes what you add a day after that burst of inspiration can seem like crap compared. If what you’re writing doesn’t seem to work then stop. Stop trying to add to it, because it just might not be your day.

·        Distance yourself from that piece and move onto something else. I'd say a good week or two before you even consider returning to it, because a fresh and clear mind is always a better one.

·        There’s no point adding to a good story with a crap ending. Wait until the inspiration comes to you and then milk it for all its worth before it disappears again.

·        You're in the business of writing now. You’ve got to learn when to fight and write and when you need to let it go.

 

6. Stick to your roots

·        Sometimes, when the ideas just aren't flowing, it can help by going back to your roots. Instead of trying to write a novel set in the nineteenth century, focus on something more contemporary. Where are you from? I'm sure that place has an accent you can exaggerate.

·        For me, as I am from Wirral, we are often associated with people from Liverpool. I like to call some of us the "wannabe scousers" the really over the top girls with the fake tan so fake they can blend into my garden fence. This is something I love to play with. I pick people I knew in the past, who were like this and I really exaggerate their personality.

·        This has helped me to write some of the best stories I've ever written and I've enjoyed it so much more because I know it so well. I've lived with people like this my whole life, so it’s more familiar to me than anything else.

·        So remember, stick to your roots, because there are things you know about your town, and the people in it, that other writers will probably never know.

 

Yours lovingly,

Jennie Byrne

 

www.underthefable.com

Share your thoughts below.

What do you have to say?

Last Friday evening I was having dinner with a close friend of mine and the subject came around to books. Like me, he has an extensive library, covering all sorts of subjects and also, like me, he has spoken about writing a book for a very long time. The difference between us is that I have actually done it. Two infact, the first one was published two years ago today. As we chatted over dinner we talked about why he hasn’t written his first book yet. It came down to the belief that he’s not sure he has something to say. When you do hear his story you will be amazed by that statement.

We talked some more. We discussed belief, the discipline needed to commit words to paper and we came to an agreement. The first draft of his book will be ready by June 2016. We shook hands on it and I know that to him that means it HAS to be done. All of which brings me to you. How many of you reading this would love to write a book, but think that your voice is not worth hearing or if you wrote it why would anyone hand over cash to read your words?

Fortunately E L James has helped us all here. Whether you’re a fan or not it is universally agreed that these are poorly written books and yet this has never stopped her writing or the great British public from buying her stories. I say good luck to her; I read all of the trilogy and was amazed they had ever been published, but that is not my judgement to make. The fact is they were and they sold in their millions – in the process helping the book market, in the same way that JK Rowling revived children’s reading.

Which refers me again to you. Who are you comparing yourself to? Charles Dickins? Mary Shelley? J D Salinger or the wonder of Ernest Hemingway? Or do you want to use Ms James as your guide? I think it’s time to refer to the songsmith Mr David Grohl. In his keynote speech at the SWSX music festival a couple of years ago he talked about finding ‘your voice’. He was talking about music, but it’s the same for writing, or painting for that matter. A poet standing at an open mic finds their voice and in the same way you can find yours too.

This is not an excuse to write poorly executed prose, or poetry, but it is the time to find your voice. To get published you used to have to go through a traditional publishing house, but that is no longer the case. Now you can self-publish or use a company to help you self-publish. I know that sounds a bit strange, but they take a lot of the work out of the process.

My thought to you is don’t waste time. I started five books before I finished my first. My friend has written the book in his head, but it doesn’t count until someone else is reading it. Seeing your book sell is a great feeling, but even better is when someone sends you a message or calls you up to say that your words moved them in some way.

Get writing folks, if you’re reading this then you have something to say.

  

Yours encouragingly

Andy Gibney

@andygibneystwitter

Ekphrastic Poetry Throughout History

Ekphrastic poetry is widely known as poetry written from visual art. Though it is often forgotten poetry written from real life objects is also considered ekprastic poetry.

It is thought ekphrastic poetry originated with Homer, who the ancient Greeks believed was the first and greatest of the epic poets. The earliest known example of ecraphsis is encountered in Book 18 of Homer’s Iliad and describes the Shield of Achilles, created by the god Hephaestus. Homer uses the 130 lined poem to describe every feature of the shield in extreme detail, bringing the shield alive on the page.

A recreation of Homer’s poem was published in 1952 by W. H. Auden called The Shield of Achilles in which Auden uses two different stanza forms. The stanzas were either very short lines or very long lines. The stanza with the shorter lines describes scenes of what Achilles mother would expect to find on the shield, however in Auden’s version, the shield was never made, which I found really powerful.

It grew very popular in the Romantic era. A particular favourite of mine from this era was The Rape of Lucrece by William Shakespeare. In 509 BC the son of Tarquin (the King of Rome) raped Lucrece, the wife of the King’s aristocratic retainers Collantinus. After the tragic ordeal Lucrece committed suicide, with the knowledge revenge would be taken. Since, Lucrece has been described as if she were a work of art. In 1571 the artist Titian created an oil painting about this called Tarquin and Lucretia which was Shakespeare’s influence for this poem. Shakespeare’s poem extends to 200 lines, accurately and disturbingly detailing the ordeal Lucrece suffered. Shakespeare is known for many things but one thing that astonishes me about his work is his ability to evoke strong emotions in his readers. In a particularly strong part of the poem he says, “her pity-pleading eyes are sadly fix'd/In the remorseless wrinkles of his face”. I thought this was brilliantly written and really set the story in context for me. I felt like I was Lucrece in moments like this, which I found frighteningly powerful.

A more contemporary poet, William Carlos Williams delved into ekphrastic poetry in 1960 where he published a poem about the famous sixteenth century landscape painting of the fall of Icarus by Pieter Bruegel (to the left). In Greek mythology Icarus was the son of a remarkable craftsman Daedalus. Daedalus made two pairs of wings out of wax and feathers for him and his son. He warned his son not to fly too close to the sun as it may melt the wings. Icarus ignored his father and indeed his wings melted and Icarus fell into the sea where he died. The painting above shows Icarus drowning while others around fail to notice he is in trouble. It is said Williams was drawn to Bruegel’s presentation of Icarus’s death and how he downplayed it, this is shown by when Williams says “a splash quite unnoticed/this was/Icarus drowning.”

I love how poetry tells a story and sometimes the story behind a painting can become lost when presented with visual beauty, so for writers to create poems from paintings I think is absolutely brilliant. It is my belief ekphrastic poetry can be wonderful and is something that should be explored more by poets.

Yours poetically,

 

Jennie Byrne

 

 

www.underthefable.com

 

Share your thoughts below. All comments and suggestions are welcome.

The Relationship between Practical Criticism and New Criticism

New Criticism is the development of the Practical Criticism approach by American critics and poets. R. C. Murfin, R. C and S. M. Ray describe what New Criticism is within The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. ‘The foundations of the New Criticism were laid in books and essays written during the 1920s and 1930s by I. A. Richards (Practical Criticism [1929]), William Empson (Seven Types of Ambiguity [1930]), and T. S. Eliot ("The Function of Criticism" [1933]).’ New Criticism regards literature as an independent item. Murfin and Ray continue to state that: ‘rather than basing their interpretations of a text on the reader’s response, the author’s stated intentions, or parallels between the text and historical contexts, New Critics perform a close reading, concentrating on the relationships within the text that give it its own distinctive character or form.’ Although we associate New Criticism with certain principles and terms—such as affective fallacy (the notion that the reader’s response is relevant to the meaning of a work) and intentional fallacy (the notion that the author’s intention determines the work’s meaning)—the New Critics were trying to make a cultural statement rather than to establish a critical dogma.

Practical Criticism is a form of close reading and is related to developing the skill of being able to critically analyse texts (usually poetry) on early readings. It originated with Richards and it is the way that one can come up with analytical and interesting points about a piece on first reading, rather than getting into the academic exercise of theoretical criticism. The main ideology behind Practical Criticism is rather than concentrating on the author or the social context, you focus purely on the text itself and the lexis itself. According to Peter Barry’s Beginning theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cutural Theory, ‘the job of criticism is to interpret the text, to mediate between it and the reader.’ Practical Criticism perceives literature as a vehicle for transmitting universal truths and eternal values, considering that the meaning of a text remains constant throughout time, and is there to be extracted from the text.

Richards gave students poems in which information about the author and date were left out on purpose. He went on to analyse the student opinions. He reported the results in Practical Criticism: a Study of Literary Judgment, (1929). What was apparent throughout was many fluent and avid readers failed to understand what the poems were about.

When asked to write about Spring Quiet by Christina Rossetti, (although they did not know who wrote it or when) two students responded;

“It has little merit - parts of it are deplorable. The first two verses are quite attractive, and the rhyme ‘thrush’ with ‘bush’ is almost bearable. When ‘boughs’ and ‘house’ come next however, the attempt to enjoy the poem fails. There are not only poor rhymes, there is also much poverty of thought and much real silliness in the poem.”

And “The first 2 lines are not sense. I laughed at the rhyming of thrush and bush; and boughs and house. Reminds one quite pleasantly of the ‘poetry’ one wrote when aged ten.” (Richards, Practical Criticism: a Study of Literary Judgment)

Richards commentates that, ‘reminders of our own poetic efforts, not only at the age of ten but even in years closer at hand, have an inevitable influence on our judgment, a useful influence when it keeps within its province, but dangerous when it meddles with matters beyond it. All but a very few beginners in verse find rhyming a great strain upon their verbal ingenuity and attention.’ (Richards, Practical, p. 33)

Intentional fallacy and affective fallacy are two terms introduced by Wimsatt and Beardsley to juxtapose popular beliefs such as to know what the author intended with the text is to fully comprehend the text itself and judging a poem erroneously, based on the emotional response of the reader. Delahoyde states within New Criticism: Introduction to Literature that ‘the "intentional fallacy" is when one confuses the meaning of a work with the author's purported intention (expressed in letters, diaries, interviews, for example).’ Therefore showing that New Critics believe that the work isn’t related to the author as such and is completely unconnected. ‘The "affective fallacy" is the erroneous practice of interpreting texts according to the psychological or emotional responses of readers, confusing the text with its results.’ New Critics believe that the text is a stand-alone piece, and should be treated as such. In continuation, Murfin and Ray state within their glossary of critical and literary terms that ‘New Criticism regards poems as having elaborately structured, complex meanings with a relative disregard for their historical context.’ In this regard, New Criticism is similar to Practical Criticism as the latter also focused on the text rather than any background to the poem or on the author. However, New Criticism stresses greatly on close textual analysis, especially on literary devices such as the use of sound effects like onomatopoeia, images/symbols like metaphors and similes, rhythm, irony and repetition.

Thus it is safe to state that Practical Criticism and New Criticism go side by side, with New Criticism furthering the ideologies behind Practical Criticism. Richards and Empson can be seen as the founders, with T.S Eliot furthering the ideas in more detail. In a sense, they’re both the same theory with how the texts are perceived, however New Criticism goes a step further with its underlying beliefs. New Critics place great emphasis on the fact that the meaning of a text is intrinsic. In essence however, New Criticism is Practical Criticism, just with more depth.

So, with this in mind, do you think you’ll be engaging with texts in this regard? Or perhaps you already did and didn’t know it! Let us know in the comments below.

Yours Practically,

Sadia Parveen.

@Sadia_x95