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Which fields of study influenced literary criticism in the 20th century?

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Antique book open to the frontispiece of The Iliad of Homer, showing the title and an engraved portrait of a bearded man, with old books in the background. — literature *The Iliad*, an epic of the Trojan War attributed to the ancient Greek poet Homer, is considered a foundational work of Western literature.

In the 20th century, literary criticism underwent a significant transformation by adopting procedures and methodologies from various social sciences and humanities, moving toward a more universal and empirical study of human expression.1

Key fields that influenced this evolution include:

Psychology and Psychoanalysis: Critics utilized models from Sigmund Freud and C.G. Jung to interpret literary works as revelations of unconscious desires or archetypal patterns. Jacques Lacan further influenced the field by exploring the role of language and desire in the formation of the human subject.123
Sociology and Marxism: Scholars like Max Weber and Karl Mannheim provided frameworks for analyzing literature in relation to social structures and politics. Marxism, in particular, informed the historical approaches of critics such as Edmund Wilson and Kenneth Burke.14
Linguistics and Structuralism: Drawing on Ferdinand de Saussure, structuralism analyzed cultural phenomena as systems of signs. This influenced Claude Lévi-Strauss in anthropology and Roland Barthes in semiology.561
Philosophy and History: Michel Foucault explored the relationship between power and knowledge, while poststructuralist thinkers like Jacques Derrida challenged the stability of meaning, leading to the development of deconstruction. Additionally, cultural studies and feminist theory emerged as vital interdisciplinary approaches.5736