Paper no -8 Cultural studies
Assignment Topic - New histiricism
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Name : Parmar Darshna V.
Roll No : 5
Year : 2017 - 2019
M. A. : Sem - 2
Paper No : 8 Cultural studies
Emil Id : parmardarshana1997@gmail.com
Enrollment No : 2069108420180039
Topic : New Historicism
Submitted by : Smt. S. B. Gardi.
Department of English
M. K. Bhavnagar University
New Historicism
The term ‘new historicism’ was coined by the American critic Stephen Greenblatt whose book renaissance self-fashioning: from more to Shakespeare (1980) is usually regarded as its beginning.
A simple definition of the new historicism is that,
“It is a method based on the parallel reading of literary and non-literary texts, usually of the same historical period”.
Q
The term ‘new historicism’ was coined by the American critic Stephen greenbelts whose book renaissance self fashioning from more to Shakespeare (1980) is usually regarded as its beginning.
Meaning and Definition of New Historicism
A simple definition of the New Historicism is that it is a method based on the parallel reading of literary and non- literary texts, usually of the same historical period. That is to say New Historicism refuses to privilege the literary texts; instead of the literary ‘fore ground’ and a historical ‘background’ it envisages and practices a mode of a study in which literary and non- literary texts are given equal, weight and constantly inform or interrogate echo there. Petre Berry, “Beginning Theory- An introduction to Literary and cultural Studies.”
New and old historicism - Some differences :-
New historicism
v History has very affects on people; it is subjective to people’s feeling and emotions, making it blased.
v New historicism follows the principal that text is “culture in action” and is constantly moulded and shaped by the culture that surrounds it.
v New historicism looks at history as a fluctuating interpretive aspect rather than a strong component of literature.
v Parallel reading.
v A historicist movement. Interested in history as represented and recorded in written documents – history as text.
v The aim is not to represent the past as it really was, but to present a new reality by re – situating it.
· Old historicism:
v Before the 1980s, people believed that historical information taken from novels was completely accurate, without any bias.
v Old historicists believe that if they look into the historical context of the book, they will achieve a better understanding of the text.
v Old historicism relies on the historical setting to interpret the novel.
v Hierarchical
v A historical movement: creates a historical framework in which to place the text.
v “The words of the past replace the world of the past.
Advantages and disadvantages
It is founded upon poststructuralist thinking. It presents its data and draws its conclusions. The material itself is often fascinating and wholly distinctive. The political edge of new historicist writing is always sharp, but at the same time it avoids the problems frequently encountered in ‘straight’ Marxist criticism.
New historicism juxtaposes literary material with contemporary non –literary text. They ‘defamiliarise’ the canonical literary text. They focus attention on issues of state power and how it is maintained. They make use in doing so of especially Derrida’s notion that every facet of reality is textures as determined by dominant discursive practices.
Example of Fairies Queen
In Spenser’s fairies Queen, Elizabeth can project herself as the Queen whose virginity has mystical and magical potency because such images are given currency in court masques, in comedies & pastoral epic poetry. The figure oh Elizabeth stimulates the production and promotion of such work and imagery. Thus, history is textualised and texts are historicized.
New historicism and Foucault
New Historicism is always anti-establishment, on the side of liberal ideas and personal freedoms.
* Believe in Michel Foucault’s idea of an all-seeing—panoptic—surveillance State.
* The panoptic state exerts power through discursive practices, circulating ideology through the body-politic.
* The State is seen as a monolithic structure and change is nearly impossib
What new historicists do ?
Example of New historicism
When we studying Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice, one always comes to the question of whether the play shows Shakespeare to be anti-Semitic. The New Historicist recognizes that this isn't a simple yes-or-no answer that can be teased out by studying the text. This work must be judged in the context in which it was written; in turn, cultural history can be revealed by studying the work — especially, say New Historicists, by studying the use and dispersion of power and the marginalization of social classes within the work. Studying the history reveals more about the text; studying the text reveals more about the history.
The New Historicist also acknowledges that his examination of literature is "tainted" by his own culture and environment. The very fact that we ask whether Shakespeare was anti-Semitic — a question that wouldn't have been considered important a century ago — reveals how our study of Shakespeare is affected by our civilization.
New Historicism, then, underscores the impermanence of literary criticism. Current literary criticism is affected by and reveals the beliefs of our times in the same way that literature reflects and is reflected by its own historical contexts. New Historicism acknowledges and embraces the idea that, as times changes, so will our understanding.
New historicism has come into conflict with some of the anti-historical tendencies of postmodernism. New historicism denies the claim that society has entered a "post-modern" or "post-historical" phase and allegedly ignited the "culture wars" of the 1980s.The main points of this argument are that new historicism, unlike post-modernism, acknowledges that almost all historic views, accounts, and facts they use contain biases which derive from the position of that view. As Carl Rapp states: "[The new historicists] often appear to be saying, 'We are the only ones who are willing to admit that all knowledge is contaminated, including even our own.’
Some complaints sometimes made about New Historicism are that in seems to lessen literature to a footnote of history. It has also been said that it does not pay attention to the antiquate details involved with analyzing literature. New Historicism simply states historical issues that literature may make connections with without explain why it has done this, lacking in-depth knowledge to literature and its structures.
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