Critical Theory

1. Critical Theory Historical Criticism and New Historicism

2. Historical Criticism • Historical criticism strives to examine literary works within their historical context. In analyzing a text, historicists consider cultural, political and social forces that influenced and are revealed through the text.

3. Text in Context • Historicists stress that literary works are produced by, reflect, and in some cases alter the social, political, and cultural forces that were operative during the time the works were written.

4. Example • Mark Twain was a writer who both reflected the prejudices of his time through the dialogue of the characters, and challenged the attitude of an 1800’s America that in many ways accepted (or even promoted) racist attitudes. Historicist attempt to understand a work like Huck Finn in the context of late 1800’s America.

5. Ongoing Influence • Historicist also consider the impact a work has had on readers in eras subsequent to the one in which it was written in an effort to see how the perceived meaning evolved over time. For example, Huck Finn continues to be re-evaluated each subsequent generation.

6. New Historicism • Like Historical Criticism, New Historicism also considers history when studying texts. However, unlike Historicists, New Historicists believe that a work both refers to and is referred to by things outside of itself. They are less inclined to believe that a literary text has a single, identifiable historical context.

7. Example • A New Historicist would recognize that Huck Finn was written during a time when attitudes about race were quite different than current attitudes. However, they would also point out that there were plenty of people who also were working to change attitudes about race in America. Twain would have been aware of the broader context in America, not just the attitudes of people from one area.

8. New Historicists and Truth • New Historicists also question whether the truth about what really happened in the past can ever be purely and objectively known. They considered more than literary texts in an attempt to understand the historical context – they focused on “real” historical documents such as financial records and catalogs.

9. New Historicists and Truth • Consider, for example, how difficult it would be to present the “truth” about the war in Iraq. Currently, it is impossible to get a single unified perspective on this current event. This is a problem that this critical school is interested in.

10. Questions a Historicist or New Historicist Might Ask 1. What actual historical events did a writer refer to, and how was the event altered in the fictional account? 2. When was the work published and what was the public’s response at the time? 3. What social attitudes related to the action in the work were prevalent during the time it was written?

11. Questions a Historicist or New Historicist Might Ask 4. What other types of historical documents, cultural artifacts, or social institutions might be analyzed in conjunction with the literary work? 5. To what extent can we study the past as it is reflected in the literary work?