Final answer:
Literary criticism involves analyzing and critiquing literary texts, often by close reading and using literary theory. It is a specialized genre that contributes to scholarly discussions about literature and helps to build well-supported analytical essays.
Step-by-step explanation:
Literary criticism is a genre of writing wherein an author critiques a literary text, such as a work of fiction, a play, or poetry. The process often involves close reading and can include critiquing the literary work from the stance of a particular literary theory, or debating other critics' interpretations. This practice is essential in the academic study of literature and is similar to evaluative writing seen in other fields such as film critique, legal interpretation, or art evaluation.
There are various schools of literary criticism, including New Criticism, which focuses on the text's form and devices such as imagery or symbolism, Reader-Response which asserts meaning is created by the reader's interaction with the text, and Feminist Criticism, which explores gender roles and power dynamics within literary works.
Engaging with literary criticism enhances one's understanding of literature and helps in forming a robust argument when writing about literary works. It involves supporting one's analysis with evidence from the text, utilizing quotations and closely analyzing the details to form a persuasive argument about the text. It is also a way of joining a scholarly conversation about literature and its multitude of interpretations.