NEW HISTORICISM Noah Heath Curtis Goodman Ledell Moore
- Slides: 7
NEW HISTORICISM Noah Heath, Curtis Goodman, Ledell Moore, Avery Glass
KEY POINTS v New historicists read a periodic texts as being in conflict. Viewed rebellion/subversion favorably, all of the forces seemed to be in a state of irresolvable tension. v New historicists see texts as biased narratives. History isn’t fact but it is rather objective. v No one text is superior to any other text. Any text might yield valuable information.
KEY POINTS v New Historicists also reject the ahistoricism of the New Critics that had preceded it v New Historicists related problems within the text to the cultural historical problems that exists during the time that the text was written v New historicists were no longer were associated with a historicism of new critics. v Study of Renaissance and the study of culture.
KEY POINTS v Images, symbols, and points of view address and reflect the cultural problems, hopes, or obsessions when the text was written. v Concerned with history, influences, values, tensions, and motivations in a text.
KEY TERMS v Discourse- language practice- language used by different groups v Power- held by those who are in charge and thus control the language and the ways in which language reflects their biases and views. v Self-positioning- the personal biases, ideological positions, and attitudes of those who write about texts and history. v Thick Description- details included in a writer accounting of time, place, people, events, and cultural practices. Write must include as many details as possible.
KEY NAMES v Michael Foucault(1972 -1984)- French philosopher. v Clifford Geertz(1983)- Anthropologist v Stephen Greenblatt(1980 -2001)- Literary Critic. One of the Founders of New Historicism. v Catherine Gallagher(2000)- Literary Critic
EXAMPLE OF NEW HISTORICISMCINDERELLA v Women’s place into society is portrayed clearly. v Women generally don’t gain status in society unless they marry into money. Reflection of the time period. v Renaissance time period. Fairy God mother, princes, and ugly step sisters representative of cultural problems, hopes, and obsessions during that time period. v Told over centuries back to ancient Greek times. v Cinderellla is reflective of social conflicts throughout history.
