2. New Historicism Poetics of Culture A new Approach on Literature Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Seminar „Poetic Change: Poe, Whitman, Dickinson“, SoSe 2007 Dozent: Prof. Dr. Martin Klepper Referenten: Anne-Marie Storch, Alexander Florin, 19.06.2007 Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Seminar „Poetic Change: Poe, Whitman, Dickinson“, SoSe 2007 Dozent: Prof. Dr. Martin Klepper Referenten: Anne-Marie Storch, Alexander Florin, 19.06.2007

3. New Historicism: Theories The Creator The Surrounding Marxist History Realism, Romantic Canon Marxist History Realism, Romantic Canon The Text Structuralism Formalism Reader-Centrism Intertextuality Structuralism Formalism Reader-Centrism Intertextuality Biographistic Psycho-Analysis Genius Biographistic Psycho-Analysis Genius New Historicism New Historicism

4. New Historicism: Stephen Jay Greenblatt (* Nov 7 th, 1943) literary critic, theorist and scholar one of the founders of New Historicism, a set of critical practices that he often refers to as “cultural poetics” influential since early 1980s when he introduced the term wrote and edited numerous books and articles relevant to new historicism, the study of culture, Renaissance studies and Shakespeare studies; considered expert in these fields most popular work is Will in the World, a Shakespeare-biography (on NY-Times-Bestseller-list for nine weeks) co-founded literary-cultural journal Representations, which publishes articles by new historicists educated at Yale University (B.A. 1964, M.phil 1968, Ph.d. 1969) and Pembroke College, Cambridge (B.A. 1966, M.A. 1968) taught at University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Greenblatt literary critic, theorist and scholar one of the founders of New Historicism, a set of critical practices that he often refers to as “cultural poetics” influential since early 1980s when he introduced the term wrote and edited numerous books and articles relevant to new historicism, the study of culture, Renaissance studies and Shakespeare studies; considered expert in these fields most popular work is Will in the World, a Shakespeare-biography (on NY-Times-Bestseller-list for nine weeks) co-founded literary-cultural journal Representations, which publishes articles by new historicists educated at Yale University (B.A. 1964, M.phil 1968, Ph.d. 1969) and Pembroke College, Cambridge (B.A. 1966, M.A. 1968) taught at University of California, Berkeley and Harvard University http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_Greenblatt

5. New Historicism: Circulation in Space The Text Author Education Up-bringing Religion Class Fame Morality Genre Reader Conventions Canon Philosophy Science Mediasphere Distribution Lit.-Clusters Criticism Response Sexuality Some factors at a certain point of time influencing the creation of a text:

6. New Historicism: Circulation in Space “space” = the small fraction of time in which the text is created “social currency” represents the connection of the author to other people, classes, groups, etc. the culture of a space is formed by the previous spaces in time the creator of a text is one of its connections to its space mimesis of reality: allusion, symbolization, allegorization, representation relation between social and aesthetic discourse features of “Emergence”: “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”; the interaction of simple elements lead to complex, unpredictable results “space” = the small fraction of time in which the text is created “social currency” represents the connection of the author to other people, classes, groups, etc. the culture of a space is formed by the previous spaces in time the creator of a text is one of its connections to its space mimesis of reality: allusion, symbolization, allegorization, representation relation between social and aesthetic discourse features of “Emergence”: “the whole is more than the sum of its parts”; the interaction of simple elements lead to complex, unpredictable results

7. New Historicism: Circulation in Space – Problems “social currency” focuses on the author or history-moment it’s impossible to take all factors evenly into consideration in retrospect it’s hard to fully reconstruct the conditions of a works creation; a forecast is impossible literature-studies and culture-studies become inseparable scholars are forced to focus on one epoch or author or text and will hardly ever fully reach the complete competence the concept of a “canon” becomes hard to agree upon “everything becomes relative” Solutions to some Problems will be provided later. “social currency” focuses on the author or history-moment it’s impossible to take all factors evenly into consideration in retrospect it’s hard to fully reconstruct the conditions of a works creation; a forecast is impossible literature-studies and culture-studies become inseparable scholars are forced to focus on one epoch or author or text and will hardly ever fully reach the complete competence the concept of a “canon” becomes hard to agree upon “everything becomes relative” Solutions to some Problems will be provided later.

8. New Historicism: Circulation in Time “time” = the order of spaces in which texts are created no process is uni-directional, transfer of material from one discourse to another occur in oscillatory manner negotiations in time: tradition, inheritance, transmission, alteration, modification, reproduction; as a rule: there is very little pure invention in culture recursive character of social life and language social energy: texts (charged with social energy) produce resonance with their cultural environment => text is embedded in a network of social circulation art, history, and literature are always repetitive negation of novelty: unsettling circulation of materials and discourses (the heart of modern aesthetic practice) “time” = the order of spaces in which texts are created no process is uni-directional, transfer of material from one discourse to another occur in oscillatory manner negotiations in time: tradition, inheritance, transmission, alteration, modification, reproduction; as a rule: there is very little pure invention in culture recursive character of social life and language social energy: texts (charged with social energy) produce resonance with their cultural environment => text is embedded in a network of social circulation art, history, and literature are always repetitive negation of novelty: unsettling circulation of materials and discourses (the heart of modern aesthetic practice)

9. New Historicism: Greenblatt’s Consequences 1.No appeals to genius as the sole origin 2. No motiveless creation 3.No transcendent or timeless or unchanging representation 4.No autonomous artifacts 5.No expression without an origin and an object a from and for 6.No art without social energy 7.No spontaneous generation of social energy a)Mimesis is always accompanied by negotiation and exchange. b)The exchanges to which art is a party may involve any kind of currency; money is only one kind. c)The agents may appear to be individuals, but are themselves the products of collective exchange. 1.No appeals to genius as the sole origin 2. No motiveless creation 3.No transcendent or timeless or unchanging representation 4.No autonomous artifacts 5.No expression without an origin and an object a from and for 6.No art without social energy 7.No spontaneous generation of social energy a)Mimesis is always accompanied by negotiation and exchange. b)The exchanges to which art is a party may involve any kind of currency; money is only one kind. c)The agents may appear to be individuals, but are themselves the products of collective exchange.

10. New Historicism: In a Nutshell All Theories Circles in Space all factors at a given time and their interaction “social currency” Emergence all factors at a given time and their interaction “social currency” Emergence Circles in Time the multiple interconnections of spaces “social energy” oscillation the multiple interconnections of spaces “social energy” oscillation no master- discourse no claim for exclusiveness no master- discourse no claim for exclusiveness

11. New Historicism: Pragmatic Consequences fragmentary view instead of one ultimate interpretation which is an illusionary exploitation of the unitary work no claim for universality every work develops its greatness on the background of the epoch that it evolved from awareness of own perspective drawing from one partiality to a bigger fragment, which can always be related back to a bigger unit fragmentary view instead of one ultimate interpretation which is an illusionary exploitation of the unitary work no claim for universality every work develops its greatness on the background of the epoch that it evolved from awareness of own perspective drawing from one partiality to a bigger fragment, which can always be related back to a bigger unit

12. New Historicism: Questions What follows from New Historicism concerning poetic change? What do we make out of E. A. Poe’s Raven under the new approach? What is the social energy that is being circulated? “… anything that society produces can circulate, until it is excluded from circulation” Why can there be no single method, no overall picture, no exhaustive and definite cultural politics? What do we make of Greenblatt saying “… the ratio between the theater and the world, even at its most stable and unchallenged moments, was never perfectly taken for granted, that is, experienced as something wholly natural and self-evident”? What follows from New Historicism concerning poetic change? What do we make out of E. A. Poe’s Raven under the new approach? What is the social energy that is being circulated? “… anything that society produces can circulate, until it is excluded from circulation” Why can there be no single method, no overall picture, no exhaustive and definite cultural politics? What do we make of Greenblatt saying “… the ratio between the theater and the world, even at its most stable and unchallenged moments, was never perfectly taken for granted, that is, experienced as something wholly natural and self-evident”?

13. New Historicism: The End This presentation is online available at: www.zanjero.de/literatur/newhist/ This presentation is online available at: www.zanjero.de/literatur/newhist/