Literary Theory

In the time span of last 30 or 40 years literary theory hasbeen playing a central role in academic studies that are relatedto social science and humanities. Various competing ornon-competing perspectives, principals and approaches grantedmost of the scholar awareness about importance ofmethodological concerns in literary theory. Criticism no longerconfines itself to the study of literature, it discourses are nowstretched beyond literature.
It also covers anthropology, philosophy, psychology, linguistics, political science and muchelse. However, for literary researchers it covers all forms ofcultural productions, despite them being literary or non-literary. In a traditional manner criticism still covers exegesis, evaluationand interpretation but it is now stretching its range overtheory. Whether you consider theory as a discussion or debateson the basis of certain definition, as the search for necessaryand sufficient values for critical practice, or consider theory asa process for making social, historical or ideologicalpre-suppositions.
No matter which option you chose, it will behard to figure out a clear boundary between theory andcriticism. However, they stumble into each other on varioussituations. Literary theory is a set of ideas and methods that help areader or researcher to understand the literature better. Theseideas provide guidance for researchers during the practicalprocess of interpretation. Most people think that literary theoryis all about the meaning of the literature.
But it isn't afull-truth. Literary theory does not just refer to theinterpretation of the text; it is all about 'What should be themeaning of the text?' Methods and ideas that are described inliterary theory act as principals for critics. They use them ascriteria about art, literature and even culture. These variouscriteria allow critics to consider works of art on the basis ofcertain assumptions within the school of theory.
They also helpcritics to maintain their focus on particular objects of a workthat is considered important by them. For instance, Consider a critic that is working on certain Marxist theories, hewill try to focus on the interaction made by various charactersin the story on the basis of their economical condition. Andconsider another critic that is working with post colonialtheories. It is certain that he will use same assumptions as thefirst critic.
But it is well know how colonial powers treatcharacters from India, Africa, Caribbean and other conqueredregions; it leaves a great impact on the preset assumptions asthey are proven wrong. However, after reading and workingthrough multiple resources literary theory becomes easy tounderstand and use too.