New Historicism Concepts and Theories

New Historicism is a literary analysis style from the 1980s that reintroduces historical context into literary studies, challenging deconstruction and new criticism. It is akin to cultural materialism and overlaps with queer theory. Coined by Stephen Greenblatt, it focuses on cultural practices and their interrelations. Influences include Foucault, Geertz, and White, rejecting the idea of history as a stable fact. It emphasizes the historicity of texts and the textuality of history, with all expressive acts embedded in material practices. Criticism and opposition use the tools they critique, and history is seen as a text of tropes.

What is the primary aim of New Historicism?

• To establish a new literary genre

• To eliminate historical context in literary studies

• To challenge the dominance of deconstruction

• To promote classical literature

Which theory is New Historicism often compared to?

• Structuralism

• Romanticism

• Cultural Materialism

• Postmodernism

Who is credited with coining the term 'New Historicism'?

• Raymond Williams

• Louis Montrose

• Stephen Greenblatt

• Harold Veeser

What is the main field of application for New Historicism?

• Medieval Literature

• Renaissance and Shakespeare Studies

• Modernist Literature

• Postcolonial Literature

Which journal is NOT a main institutional support for New Historicism?

• New Literary History

• Representations

• English Literary History

• Modern Fiction Studies

How did Greenblatt initially define New Historicism?

• As a rejection of historical context

• As a study of cultural practices

• As a critique of modernism

• As a form of structuralism

Which theorist's concept of 'thick description' influenced New Historicism?

• Clifford Geertz

• Michel Foucault

• Hayden White

• Raymond Williams

What does New Historicism emphasize about cultural practices?

• They are collectively made

• They are purely fictional

• They are isolated from history

• They are irrelevant to literature

Which of the following is NOT an influence on New Historicism?

• Sigmund Freud

• Hayden White

• Clifford Geertz

• Michel Foucault

What does the historical framework in New Historicism reject?

• The use of literary analysis

• The study of Renaissance literature

• The idea of history as a stable body of facts

• The inclusion of cultural context