New Historicism

Origin:

New Historicism emerged in the 1980s in the United States as a reaction against New Criticism (which focused only on the text). Instead of treating literature as an isolated work of art, New Historicism studies a text alongside its historical, cultural, and social context.

Main Thinkers:

Stephen Greenblatt – often seen as the founder. He preferred the term cultural poetics and focused on Renaissance literature, especially Shakespeare.

Louis Montrose – known for the phrase “the textuality of history and the historicity of texts.”

Influenced by the ideas of Michel Foucault (power and discourse), Louis Althusser (ideology), and Nietzsche (power as dynamic and everywhere).

Key Ideas of New Historicism

1. Literature and history are interconnected.

Literature is shaped by the cultural and political conditions of its time. A literary text is studied alongside non-literary texts (such as religious, legal, or political documents).

2. No “timeless” literature.

Literature does not exist outside history. Like any other text, it reflects the concerns, struggles, and ideologies of its age.

3. History is not continuous.

Following Foucault, New Historicists believe history is full of breaks and contradictions. Each period constructs its own narrative of history through dominant discourses (systems of knowledge and power).

Example of New Historicist Reading

Earlier critics saw Shakespeare’s plays as timeless genius. New Historicists, however, read them alongside other writings of the time—such as legal or colonial records. For example:

Othello → Iago’s betrayal can be seen as a colonial metaphor: the denial of identity to colonized subjects.

Shakespeare’s plays also reflect issues like Puritan attacks on festivals, the rise of patriarchy, slavery, and imprisonment in the “Age of Confinement.”

Theoretical Foundations

Foucault on Power: Power is everywhere, not just in governments. It exists in families, schools, workplaces—through networks of social relations. Where there is power, there is resistance.

Discourse: The way knowledge and truth are organized in a society. Discourses shape both history and literature.

Panopticon: A prison model (by Bentham) used by Foucault to show how modern societies control people invisibly. New Historicists see literature as part of these systems of power.

Major Critics and Works

Stephen Greenblatt

Shakespearean Negotiations (1987) – “speaking with the dead”

Hamlet in Purgatory (2001) – Shakespeare and ghosts

Will in the World (2004) – Shakespeare’s life and times

Later works include The Rise and Fall of Adam and Eve (2017) and Tyrant: Shakespeare on Politics (2018).

Louis Montrose

The Purpose of Playing (1996)

The Subject of Elizabeth (2006)

Other New Historicists: Richard Wilson, Richard Dutton, Arthur Marotti, Jane Tompkins.