Naming critics in English Lit SL?

[LJBurke]

Would it do me any good (as in raise my grade or please the examiner) if I name dropped one or two prominent critics of one of my works I'm studying in paper 2? (SL English Lit A1) Maybe different interpretations also, or is there really no point? I know it's SL, but if I just threw something brief in?

[Sandwich]

I think if it was 100% relevant to the question then perhaps, buttttt I've never heard of anybody doing this. To be honest, I never even read a single thing that a critic said about any of the texts I ever did, there's nothing in the mark scheme rewarding it or anything in the questions which would make it relevant. So I'm tempted to say it makes very little difference. Especially as you're technically analysing a work and comparing/contrasting it rather than critiquing it so it might just seem a little jarring for somebody to read a random quote.

I can't imagine it pulling your grade down at all, provided it really was a relevant statement (any even marginally gratuitous attempt to stick it in would probably read badly), sooo... whatever you want I suppose! If it's going to seem in any way awkward (i.e. like you're doing it just for the sake of getting in the fact you've read the comment of a critic) or interrupt the flow of your essay I'd avoid it. Critical commentary isn't really relevant to this sort of essay, so I can't help but feel that it would almost never seem appropriate.

[flinquinnster]

Note that English is marked quite differently to History. Whereas in History a critical analysis of historiographical commentary on events is vital to a good essay, in English the mark-scheme (or in fact the syllabus) doesn't really recommend that students look at specific critical commentary on a text (e.g. critics or different theories such as post-colonial readings), rather a more literary approach. You can mention different interpretations - which is quite normal - and then attach those to critics, but I would recommend that you only do that when you are 100% sure that you've got your critic right, and only where it is really relevant to whatever argument you're making. If you're running out of time in writing your essay, definitely skip the critics!

[LJBurke]

Yeh I thought a critical commentary in English wouldn't really be necessary, but I thought I'd ask to see if anyone else had been doing it! I think I'll just concentrate on getting the analysis down and not even think about the critics.