The sole purpose of literary criticism is to get to the core of the text and discover what message the author is attempting to convey. Knowledge of an author’s life and experiences can be the key to an otherwise bolted door leading to the deeper comprehension and interpretation of a literary work.
Literature has more meaning and depth when we understand circumstances which prompted the writer to write. An author’s experiences, along with many other factors, help to shape his writing. Furthermore, a work of literature holds more importance to readers if the writer has credibility for writing on a certain topic. For example, how seriously would we take a book about the woes and poverty of Mexican immigrants if it had been written by Bill Gates (Werth 3).
All in all, the biographical approach to literary criticism is a valid, valuable approach. It can assist the reader in a richer, more in depth comprehension of a work of literature. Biographical information can serve to illuminate even the most obscure reaches of a text. It provides order in a state of mental disarray. In the words of Andrew Werth in an article published in the Fall 1999 issue of the Oxfordian, “The relationship between author and work is indissoluble, and is a symbiosis ignored at tremendous cost. Biography provides a lamp where there is only darkness (Werth 5).
However, it takes a superb literary critic not to take biographical criticism to the extreme in the interpretation of the text. Biographical information should only deepen the message that is al
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