Reading a book is mostly about the “what”—the plot, characters, and the ending. But literary theory is actually about the “how.” It is like a “different pair of glasses” that allows us to process the deeper meanings of culture. In textbook language, it is the branch of literature that explains the “principles, laws, categories, and criteria” that can help us distinguish literature from non-literature.
If we try to look from the point of history to the present, we can actually see a fascinating progression. The change in how human thought shifted from looking for a single “truth” to understanding multiple “perspectives.” Let’s look at it from the beginning from the lens of an art student.
1916: The Foundation of Language (Ferdinand de Saussure)
Language is a form of communication used to convey any story. Every story starts with giving language to it. In 1916, after the publication of Saussure’s course in general linguistics, the world finally realised that the words are “Signs”. The world of literature started looking at words as “signs”. Saussure argued that a sign is made of Signifier (the sound or letter) and a Signified (the mental concept).
This link was arbitrary and not based on any natural or inherent reason. For instance, there is no natural reason why the letter A-P-P-L-E only referred to the fruit. And in 2026, the word A-P-P-L-E is not limited to the fruit only, it also represents a global company. The takeaway from this is that meaning is a social construct, not a natural fact.
1967: Whose Story is it Anyway? (Roland Barthes)
Then came the 1960s, the time when Roland Barthes destroyed the idea of the author being a “god” over their work. In his essay from 1967, “The Death of the Author”, he argued that the meaning of a written text is born from the destination— the reader. He argued that the meaning is “deciphered” from the author’s life, but interpreted only by you (the reader).
Barthes divided texts into readerly (passive communication) and writerly (active production of meaning). This shift brought power to the reader and helped us realize that our interpretation is the ultimate completion of the author’s work. It doesn’t mean that the author is not important, but it gives the same importance to the reader when it comes to meaning.
1978: The Shadow of Empire (Edward Said & Postcolonialism)
Literature is not just art, it’s power. While the empires were fading in the mid-20th century, a new question arose: How did the West dominate the East through stories? Let’s say someone wrote a “fake diary” about you. They make it go viral and become famous. Suddenly, the whole world starts looking at you from the lens that the fake diary writer wants them to.
In 1978, this is exactly what Edward Said meant when he introduced orientalism. He showed us how Western writers created a “myth” of the orient as exotic, stagnant, and inferior to justify colonial rule. Theorists like Homi Bhabha introduced mimicry, where the colonized imitate the colonizers language and dress. This “blurred copy” often becomes a form of mockery and threat to the colonizers authority. It proves that the colonizer’s identity is never as stable as it seems from the outside.
1979: A Room of Their Own (Elaine Showalter)
Finally, it was the late 70s and the feminist movement demanded a new look at literature through the eyes of female writers. Elaine Showalter created a theory of Gynocriticism — the study of women as writers.
Just like Virginia Woolf’s call for a “room of one’s own”, Showalter advocated for a female framework that doesn’t rely on male terminology. She mapped three phases of this tradition: the Feminine (imitation), the Feminist (protest), and the Female (self-discovery). One of the most striking arguments she presented was about women writers having a “doubled consciousness.”
Conclusion
Literary theory is more than an academic theory, it is a history of human liberation. It reflects the progress of human thought from understanding language as a social tool to recognizing the power of the readers. From uncovering the power dynamics of colonialism to understanding genders. It shows us that no text and no world is as simple as it appears. It’s a call of encouragement to look closer, think harder, and read better.