Historical Criticism

Perhaps the oldest and most widely used critical literary interpretation and analysis approach is a historical approach. This approach involves understanding the events and experiences surrounding the work's composition, especially the author's life, and using the findings to interpret that work of literature. Studying literature necessitated studying the author’s life and experiences, as that was seen as the only way to understand it.  

The historical approach was somewhat abandoned in the mid-twentieth century, in the wake of “New Criticism,” a school that disregards the author to focus on the work itself.  However, in the last thirty years, it has come back with a slightly different approach: “New Historicism.” According to Lois Tyson, New Historical critics consider literary texts to be “cultural artifacts that can tell us something about the interplay of discourses, the web of social meanings, operating in the time and place in which the text was written” (291).  They argue that “the literary text and the historical situation from which it emerged are equally important because text (the literary work) and context (the historical conditions that produced it) are mutually constitutive: they create each other”  (Tyson 291-292). 

Confused: This video does a pretty good job of breaking down the differences of Historicism and New Historicism.

Need more clarification? Review this article on Historicism vs. New Historicism using the example of Charlotte Bronte's Jane Eyre

Old Historicist: Jane is mainly influenced by the teachings of the Protestant Church, which was a dominant institution during the Victorian era. Since the Church disallows polygamy and severely looks down on women being mistresses, she only agrees to marry Mr. Rochester when he is widowed.

New Historicist: Jane is a Feminist. She is greatly influenced by Feminism, which was a slowly emerging ideology during the Victorian era (the time the novel was written), and she only agrees to marry Mr. Rochester when he sees her as his equal.

Foundational Questions of New Historicist Criticism

• Does the text address the political or social concerns of its period? If so, what issues does the text examine? 

• What historical events or controversies does the text overtly address or allude to? Does the text comment on those events?

• What types of historical documents (e.g., wills, laws, religious tracts, narratives, art, etc.) might illuminate the literary text's meaning and purpose?

• How does the text relate to other literary texts of the same period