Historicism

=**//WELCOME TO THE WORLD OF HISTORICISM!//**=

=**//What is Historicism?//**=
 * //Historicism has a very vague definition that has changed throughout the years many times, but in the literary aspect, this is the correct definition://**

__**//-Historicism-//**__**//Historicism is the concept that suggests to fully understand a piece of literature one most first have knowledge of the author's biography, the author's social background, the popular ideologies at the time the book was written, etc.//**


 * //However, the main concept of Historicism has changed into what is now known as New Historicism, which is also the type of Historicism this wiki will focus on. The definition for that is://**

__**//-New Historicism-//**__**//The concept where a reader of a piece of literature will use the consideration of the ideologies and assumptions of the book's era to find meaning//**
 * //within it.//**


 * //Historicism also has many different sub-levels as well. There is Modern//** **//Historicism, Christian Historicism, etc//****//.//**

 Origin of New Historicism …  =__Origins of New Historicism__=


 * New Historicism is a relatively new type of way of looking at Historicism and looking at literature. New Historicism was developed in the 1970s and 1980s when a** **ideology and concept of New Criticism appeared and started to use an ahistorical approach to history. New Criticism challenged Historicism's way of linear and unchangeable way of thought of history. New Historicism looks at history in a more broad type of fashion that has a dramatic increase of skepticism then Historicism originally did. Historicism supported the train of thought that suggested that for one to understand a novel they must understand the author first, however New Historicism supports the concept of considering the historical framework in which a novel was written to find meaning in the text. New Historicism is more open to different ideas and concepts in our new age that Historicism simply wasn't, and that's why New Historicism is the main type of historicism used today.**

  = **//__Important Figures in New Historicism__//** = = = = __Stephen Greenblatt__ =
 * Greenblatt was born in Boston, MA in 1943. His father was a lawyer while his mother was a stay-at-home mother. Greenblatt's family wasn't very big on reading, however, he discovered early that he had a love for books. He later went on to study at the universities of Yale in New Haven and Cambridge. During his education at Cambridge Greenblatt developed a strong interest in history. His father later died in 1983 and at his funeral the sacred Jewish prayer left to be said at the funeral was not left to Greenblatt or his brother. In an odd scheme of ways, the spite left from his father's death wish left Greenblatt to start focusing on Historicism, which was an old Christian ideology mixing history and literature. Greenblatt was a great contributor to the start of New Historicism. He was one of the first main supporters of the new concept when many people weren't necessarily accepting it right away. He used it in his writings and he used it to challenge orthodox literary theory. He helped raise New Historicism to what it is today. **



= __Michel Foucault__ =
 * Foucault was born in Poitiers, France in 1926. Foucault became very academically established by the 1960s and held several jobs at different French universities. He then was elected into the College De France in 1969 where he held the position of Profeesor of The History of Systems of Thought. Being politically active, Foucault traveled around France and protested on the behalf of homosexuals and other tortured groups in society. Foucault even went outside of France on occasion, usually the United States, and had these protests. He even agreed to teach at the University of California at Berkeley in 1983. Foucault died of AIDS in Paris in 1984. Michel Foucault's intertextual methods on power and knowledge had a huge influence on the ways of New Historicism. Without Foucault and his ideologies New Historicism could have turned out completely different. **

= __**Clifford Geertz**__ =
 * Clifford Geertz was born in San Francisco, CA in 1926. Geertz served in the U.S. Navy for two years during World War II and afterwards recieved his Ph.D. from Harvard University. Geertz studied Social Anthropology while in Harvard and got a job at the University of Chicago in 1960 as part of the Anthropology Staff. Geertz created a concept known as 'Thick Description'. Thick Description describes hum behavior, but unlike regular studies, goes more in depth and explains the context of the behavior as well. Geertz died in 2006 after complications during heart surgery. Thick Description has become a major part of New Historicism, so without Geertz a whole study concept within the New Historicism universe would not exist. **

 Popular Culture …

=__**New Historicism in Popular Culture**__= **Believe it or not but New Historicism is found in popular culture today! When books come out about past events, for example, the wars, there are tons of examples of New Historicism hidden within it. Also, New Historicism shows up in movies because movies about huge past events are becoming quite the hit these days. The most astonishing thing that New Historicism is found in are video games! Video games in fact do include New Historicism, for example, the Call of Duties about the World Wars. New Historicism is hidden all around us everyday, all we have to do is look!**



  Quotes …

=__//Quotations//__=

=//“The historicity of the text and the texttuality of history.”-Stephen Greenblatt//= **In this quote by Stephen Greenblatt, Greenblatt sums up what New Historicism is all about within one sentence. Greenblatt is saying how the text itself represents the historical era from which is came. He states that the text was so influenced by its historical era that it is almost a part of history itself; it opens up a world to different ideas and popular beliefs that were big in the past. It shows how much the framework of the historical era actually influences the text being produced and how many cultural aspects one historical era can produce.** =//**"Cultural materialism is a "politicized form of historiography.”-Graham Holderness **//= ** In this quote, Holderness is saying how New Historicism applies to many more aspects of society that many people think it applies to. He is showing us in this quote how culture in indeed part of history, as many people seem to not believe, and when a piece of literature is written in a specific historical era the writer is going to involve some of the culture during that era into their literature out of the way of the times and human nature. There is now way one can not add in the culture of their times into their writing, even the writing style, it just happens. This is what Holderness is trying to say and by saying this he is saying how New Historicism applies to many different aspects than meets the eye. ** =//"New Historicism focuses on the way literature expresses-and sometimes disguises-power relations at work in the social context in which the literature was produced, often this involves making connections between a literary work and other kinds of texts."-Jay Stevenson//= **In this quote, Stevenson is explaining what New Historicism is actually about. He tells us how New Historicism focuses on the way the literature was written by realizing the social context of the time the piece of literature was being produced and how the social context/culture greatly influences the way the literature was written and even why it plays out the way that it does. Stevenson sums down what New Historicism is and tells us straight out what it's true meaning is in this quote.** = **__Literature__** =

= **__"The Big Sleep"-Raymond Chandler__** =
 * In __"The Big Sleep"__ Private Detective Philip Marlowe is paid by the rich, General Sternwood, to look after his two wild daughters. Marlowe finds himself getting involved in all sorts of crime that had nothing to do with what he originally signed-up for. To stay true to his morals, Marlowe eventually solves all these problems, when not asked to, while also risking his life and his job as a private detective. Taken place in the 20s, this book definitely has a sure sign of New Historicism. Filled with all the culture of the roaring 20s, like partying, cigarettes, gambling, sex, etc. this book definitely shows its side of New Historicism. **



= //__"A Separate Peace"-John Knowles__// =
 * In __"A Separate Peace",__ best friends Gene and Phineas are living at a boys' boarding school during the second World War. Many things happen to these two boys as they grow up over time, for example, Phineas gets involved in an accident that cripples him for life and he is no longer able to do sports, which was his passion before. While they grow up, the war grows towards them and by the end of the book there time arrives to join the army. This book has a lot of New Historicism in it that surrounds the culture of the World War II era, for example, the popularity of boarding schools, the technology around in those times, the games played during those times, etc. This book truly has a huge amount of New Historicism in it. **



= **//__"Johnny Got His Gun"-Dalton Trumbo__//** =
 * In the book, __"Johnny Got His Gun",__ Joe Bonham was severely injured during World War I and due to that has gotten his legs, arms, ears, and face amputated. He is literally just a living piece of flesh with a mind. In his universe he goes in and out of dreams that are flashbacks of his life, for example, the death of his father, and his summer job. He eventually learns to use morse code and keep track of time and uses these two things to stay sane and keep in contact with the world. This book, as fictional as it may seem, has a huge amount of New Historicism. During Joe's flashbacks, much of the culture of the early 1900s is seen through his eyes and is very emphasized in the book. This book has a great amount of New Historicism and that is why it is placed on this list. **

= **__Work Cited__** = [] [] [] [] [|http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/foucault/#1] [|http://www.wikipedia.org] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] [] []