New Historicism - definition, characteristics

1. New Historicism
Dr. Jyoti Waghmare
Assistant Professor
Dept. of English
jyotisavitri@gmail.com
Walchand College of Arts and Science,
Solapur
www.wcssolapur.org

2. Learning Outcome
at the end of this session
Students will be able to understand
the concept of new historicism and
the differences between new
historicism and old historicism.

3. New Historicism
• Term coined by American critic Stephen Greenblatt
• Book “Renaissance Self Fashioning: From More to
Shakespeare” (1980)
• Influence of theory of Mitchell Foucault
• Challenged conservative critical ideas about
Jacobean plays
• Linked the plays with political events of that era
• Basic idea read history with literary text

4. Definition
• “it is a method based on the parallel reading of
literary and non-literary texts usually of the
same historical period.”
• “a combined interest in the ‘textuality of
history’ and ‘historicity of text’- Louis
Montrose

5. New Historicism
• A reaction to text only approach of Formalist New
Critics
• Refuses to privilege the literary texts
• Instead of literary ‘foreground’ and historical
‘background’
• Literary and non literary texts are given equal weight
• Constantly informing and interrogating each other

6. Features of New Historicism
• It places the literary text within the frame of non
literary text’
• Historical documents are not subordinated as
‘contexts’ but called and treated as ‘co-texts’
• The text and the co-text are seen as expressions of
same historical moments.
• ‘Equal Weight’ to literary and non literary texts
• It is an approach to literature in which there is no
privileging of the literary

7. Differences between New
Historicism and Old historicism
• New historicism involves the parallel study of
literary and non-literary texts. The word
parallel encapsulates the essential difference
• Equal weighting to literary and non-literary
material is the most important difference
between New Historicism and Old
Historicism.

8. Differences between New
Historicism and Old historicism
• Another important difference between old and
new historicism is in the word ‘archival’ in the
phrase ‘archival continuum’ indicates new
historicism is really a historical movement.
• It is interested in history as represented and
recorded in written documents in ‘History as
Text.’

9. Basic Concept of New Historicism
• The basic concept of new historicism is that in literary studies
the actual thoughts, feelings, or intentions of a writer can never
be covered or reconstructed.
• So the real living individual is now entirely superseded by the
literary text
• The world of the past was replaced by the words of the past.
• Textual record of the past
• New historicism accepts Derrida’s views ‘nothing outside of
text’

10. What historicist do?
• They juxtapose literary and non-literary texts, reading the
literature in the light of history
• They defamilarize the canonical literary text detach it with
from the accumulated weight of previous literary scholarships
• They focus attention (within both co-text and text) on issues of
state power and how it is maintained, on patriarchal structures
and on the process of colonization, etc.
• They use aspects of post structuralist outlook especially
Derrida’s notion that every facet of reality is textualized

11. Advantages and Disadvantages of
New Historicism
• Although it is founded upon post-structuralist thinking but it is
written in a far more accessible way and avoids post
structuralism’s dense style and vocabulary.
• The material itself is most fascinating than context of literary
studies
• It avoids the problems frequently encountered in “straight
Marxist Criticism”
• It seems less overtly polemical and more willing to allow the
historical evidence its own voice.

12. References
• “Beginning Theory” , Barry peter
• Differences between New Historicism and Old historicism

13. THANK YOU