AO3 Different Types of Context:

Exploring contexts

At its simplest, contexts are the various frames within which we can consider certain aspects of the texts, such as meaning and style.

The knowledge of contexts calls for an understanding of the relationships between these frames and the text - and of the ways in which these relationships may be evaluated. This involves consideration of how a wide variety of important facts, events and processes have contributed to shaping the ways in which literary works are written and the ways in which they are understood.

Here are seven of the most important types of context:

1. The social, historical, political and cultural aspects of the period.

The period in which the work was written or framed is important. An example would be the background in which Toni Morrison's Beloved is framed - the issue of slavery and the effect this has on certain groups of people.

2. Relationships with other works of literature.

For example, there may be a relationship between two works written by the same author, or between the writing of two authors, for example Toni Morrison and Alice Walker.

3. A particular work has to be looked at in the context of the writer's own life and milieu.

We might want to consider differences between late and early works which reflect the writer's biography, for example the earlier love poetry of Donne and his later divine sonnets.

4. The relationship between an extract and the whole piece from which it is taken.

5. Wider literary contexts.

A wider literary context may be perceived through considerations of matters both of style and genre of the period of a literary work, for example in considerations of The Duchess of Malfi as a revenge play.

6. Different interpretations of a texts over time.

This as a whole constitutes another sort of context. It includes some awareness of the work in history, with an understanding that literary texts will have different meanings and produce differing effects in different periods. For example, Ian McEwan's The Child in Time could well have been seen initially as a novel exploring the meaning of childhood at the same time as exploring metaphysical aspects of time and matter. However, twelve years later, with all the fuss about sleaze in politics, a modern critic may well choose to find significant relevance in the political aspects of the book, both about the foibles of the Movement and the conduct of politicians.

7. The language context.

The relationship of the literary work to a place within the development of language and of style.