Published: 01:57 AM, 07 March 2026
Texts and Theories Supplement One Another in Literary Endeavours
Theory begins when a culture asks what art is for. One of the fundamental questions of literary theory is "What is literature?" and "How should or do we read?". Some contemporary theorists and literary scholars believe either that "literature" cannot be defined or that it can refer to any use of language. Specific theories are distinguished not only by their methods and conclusions, but even by how they create meaning in a "text". However, some theorists acknowledge that these texts do not have a singular, fixed meaning which is deemed "correct". It opens up the door to poststructural ideas which tells us that “The Author Is Dead”.
Literary theory is a set of tools we use to analyze and find deeper meaning in the texts we read. Each different theory sheds light on a specific aspect of literature and written stories, which in turn provides us with a focus for interpretation of the written texts.
When we read literature, we tend to make sense of what we read through our own experiences. In the introduction to the book Literary Theory: An Introduction, Terry Eagleton explains that: “We always interpret literary works to some extent in the light of our own concerns”. So in order to deepen our personal interpretation of a text and to explore different viewpoints on it, we rely on literary theory.
We often hear people saying, “It’s a chicken-and-egg situation” while referring to dualistic phenomena where it seems to be difficult to determine the sequential order of events. It’s really enigmatic to say for sure which one comes first—chickens or eggs. If we say chickens come first, it leads to questions how chickens would emerge without eggs. An identical question arises if we put eggs in the first place. It’s even more arguable to say that both came together at a time. Thus the debate may go on and on.
A similar stumbling stone appears to be there regarding the placement of texts and theories before or after one another. Students and teachers in the academic arena have to deal with both texts and theories. Now the puzzle to be solved is whether texts deserve higher importance than theories or the other way round. Theories may not be required for everyone to learn, but all students certainly have to go through textbooks, particularly the curricular ones.
Usually students do not have to bother about theories in schools. But theories matter much to students at the tertiary level which includes university education because pupils at universities come under academic obligations to prepare assignments and thesis papers in which theoretical evaluation of textbooks sometimes needs to be elaborated. However, references to theories have no way to undermine the value of textbooks. Actually students cannot apply theories neatly in written form if the concerned textbooks are not at their fingertips.
In our country we have always observed with alarm that most of the students do not show enough willingness to read textbooks thoroughly. The propensity of not fully reading textbooks makes students dependent on guidebooks and most brazenly on coaching centers. Coaching business has been a booming source of earnings for people who run this trade.
Quite interesting is the fact that the entrepreneurs at the back of coaching centers are in most cases no one but teachers who allegedly do not give effective lectures inside the classrooms of schools or universities so that they can persuade the students to seek additional assistance from coaching centers. Thus teachers who cannot do justice to their jobs in schools and universities deliberately deprive their students of true learning. These students at the end of the day fill the pockets of their teachers with big sums of money for the solution of their textual problems which is done inside coaching centers, unfortunately not under official academic roofs. If teachers in our country were attentive to their noble profession and if they taught comprehensively inside classrooms of their own schools, colleges and universities then perhaps coaching centers would not have mushroomed all over Bangladesh.
While defending the idea of coaching centers, some people often say that teachers come under compulsion to teach in these centers because they do not get sufficient salaries from their schools and universities. It is true that teaching is not a lucrative job in our country. Teachers in Bangladesh cannot become rich overnight just by teaching. But coaching centers have enabled thousands of teachers across Bangladesh to become wealthy within a short time. So, the inclination that teachers show towards coaching business cannot be ignored from monetary viewpoints. Higher officials from authorities concerned sometimes declare to crack down on coaching business but in our country rhetoric prevails over realities on most occasions.
Returning to the point of texts and theories, when teachers spend most of their time talking about theories they run the risk of driving their students away from textbooks. The tender minds of students often do not care much about textbooks if they find their teachers judging texts in light of theories frequently. This is harmful for students. When students do not read each and every page of textbooks, most of them miss the basic essence of academic knowledge. Trying to analyze textual points theoretically without full grips on textbooks is something like talking about a football match which one has not seen. The trend of overrating theories is going on momentously across some universities where students are not being motivated by their teachers to read and understand entire textbooks.
This once again pushes the students back to coaching centers or to the teachers’ houses for purchasing notes or handouts. I do not at all mean to downplay the role of theories but I absolutely oppose the malpractice of isolating students from textbooks. Moreover, I vehemently denounce the idea of commercializing education by playing tricks with students.
In recent years another vain perception is being spearheaded in universities by affiliating students on a redundant scale with films and media. In many universities films are being shown to students for understanding of texts which has every chance to plunge students into misunderstandings instead. I am saying so because if students watch a film on a novel before going through the book most of them are likely to lose interest in reading the whole story later on. We have watched everything in the movie and that’s enough—this thought may very easily dawn in the plain minds of students. Besides, a movie of two hours cannot display all things that a book of two hundred pages contains. Therefore, playing movies to students before making them read the relevant textbooks is another fault. But most of the students are too naïve to figure out these pranks. Students may be asked to watch text-based films after going through the texts, not earlier.
So, films have been instilled into the heads of students like theories have overshadowed textbooks. Films and theories are highly popular with those teachers who do not want to undergo the hard work of paraphrasing textbooks to students. But guardians should remember that they are spending money to send their children to universities to obtain knowledge from books and lectures, not for watching movies during class hours. At the same time lots of students around us have very scanty ideas about Bangladesh’s history, geography and cultural resources.
Allegations further show that most of the educational institutions in Bangladesh have failed to promote liberal thoughts, moral norms and patriotic values among students as a result of which some students have got involved with vicious things like militancy, drug abuse and crimes. The failure of our teaching methodology in this regard cannot be avoided.
Theories are undoubtedly necessary things for expanding our intellectual spectrum but theories should not be used like a tool for ducking away from the ingenuity of textbooks. All students do not need to dwell on theories because all of them have no aim to become academic experts but every student inevitably needs to have comprehensive ideas about textbooks to prove their academic worth through written or verbal tests in academia or in front of corporate recruiters when it comes to employment.
To add another few words about theories, literary analysis is a fantastic way to be curious about what lies beneath a narrative and to unsettle assumptions in the text. It offers frameworks to think critically about larger social questions, many of which still affect us today. Such analyses even provide us with opportunities to reflect on our own perceptions and biases. As literary theory enhances our critical skills and allows us to engage in deeper inquiries, we develop an important skillset that we can rely on in situations beyond the classroom.
Mahfuz Ul Hasib Chowdhury is a
contributor to different English
newspapers and magazines.
