All The Tropes:Literary Criticism

Providing Literary Criticism is one of the main purposes of All The Tropes' existence. This fills part #1 of The Troper's Code -- we exist to educate.

The Other Wiki states that literary criticism is the study, evaluation, and interpretation of literature. Our own definition extends to any work of creative story telling in any media, whether it be filmed, printed, broadcasted, streamed, sung, or ansibled.


 * Literary Study
 * The most common form of study on this site is to identify constituent elements of creative works that are common with other works. We call these patterns of storytelling "tropes".  While classifying and deconstructing is a core of what we do here, there's a lot more.


 * Literary Evaluation
 * Any creative work is subject to review, commonly done so on a /Reviews subpage. Common Audience Reactions should also be catalogued, as a work can never truly be extricated from the culture from whence it came and the audience to which it goes.


 * Literary Interpretation
 * Analysis a fiction at a higher level than tropes, interpretation looks past the tropes used and instead to the work as a whole. Seeks to identify the Central Theme, the Aesop, and metatextual stuff like author intent.  A part of our site that is currently lacking, but is highly encouraged.  Often available on /Analysis subpages, but relevant everywhere.
 * Talking about the reason that a particular trope is used is another form of analysis, and is also much encouraged.


 * Literary Stuffiness
 * Not necessary. See All The Tropes:Be Creative.

Academic Freedom
To support free exchange of ideas in our literary criticism, we have a policy of Academic Freedom. In terms of our site, this means that editors may discuss any topic in the course of criticism of creative works. The site administration will not censor for politics, prudery or prejudice. Period.

This is not carte blanche to write literally anything on the site. If it's not on the topic of creative works, it never belonged on the site in the first place. And a long gushing praise of your favorite anime is not the same thing as thoughtful analysis. Lurid details are not banned per se, but they may or may not be relevant.

Academic freedom on All The Tropes is about protecting ideas, and encouraging a fair discussion. The ability to present opposing points of view is guaranteed by ATT:There is No One True Way. While we are not an academic institution, we engage in the academic activity of literary criticism, and that's enough for us.

This page is part of the The Troper's Code, and a core policy of the site.