Formalism, an amalgamation of literary critical methods originating in the 1920's, which emphasize close textual analysis of the literary work itself, is declining as the predominant critical approach due to its self-imposed limitations. New perspectives, attempting to counter the fragmentation of formalism and demonstrating an awareness of the artist's search for human vision, can be divided into two categories of critical perspectives--a minor group consisting of impressionistic, journalistic, and biographical criticism; and a major group: mythological and archetypal (grounded in anthropology and depth psychology); linguistic and stylistic (literature as language, medium of communication); socio-cultural (e.g., ethnic and revolutionary literature); religious and theological (e.g., artist as prophet); and philosophical (especially existentialism and phenomenology). These methodologies represent a variety of critical approaches, each tentatively endorsing a different emphasis, none in possession of an exclusive or permanent critical truth, all demanding exploration by teachers and students alike. (MF)