Lecture 19 - The New Historicism

In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry examines the work of two seminal New Historicists, Stephen Greenblatt and Jerome McGann. The origins of New Historicism in Early Modern literary studies are explored, and New Historicism's common strategies, preferred evidence, and literary sites are explored. Greenblatt's reliance on Foucault is juxtaposed with McGann's use of Bakhtin. The lecture concludes with an extensive consideration of the project of editing of Keats's poetry in light of New Historicist concerns. Reading assignment: Greenblatt, Stephen. "The Power of Forms." In The Critical Tradition, pp. 1443-45 McGann, Jerome J. "Keats and Historical Method." In The Beauty of Inflections: Literary Investigations in Historical Method and Theory. New York: Oxford University Press, 1988