What is Historical Criticism?

00:04:21
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMxkN81QhKw

摘要

TLDRThe video discusses the concept of historicism in literary criticism, explaining how an author's background and the historical period in which a text was written influence its meaning. Historicism requires research into the author's life and the times they lived to understand their impact on a text. Various branches of historicism are discussed, including postcolonialism, which looks at cultural interactions and their aftermath, and new historicism, which challenges the view that historical facts alone determine textual meaning. New historicism promotes the idea that history includes multiple voices, not just dominant narratives.

心得

  • 📚 Historicism links an author's life and times to their text.
  • 🔍 Research is crucial for applying historicism effectively.
  • 🌍 Postcolonialism examines cultural clashes in literature.
  • 🎭 New Historicism questions the objectivity of historical facts.
  • 🔄 Historicism uses historical context to derive meaning.
  • 💭 New Historicism focuses on diverse historical narratives.
  • 🕰️ Historicism emphasizes understanding the author's era.
  • 🧩 Small text details can reflect broader historical themes.
  • 🌐 Cultural studies explore specific cultural ideas in texts.
  • 🎥 The video is part of a literary criticism series.

时间轴

  • 00:00:00 - 00:04:21

    The discussion focuses on literary criticism through the lens of historicism, exploring how an author's life and the period in which they lived influence the text. Historicism requires research into the author's background and the historical context of the text. The speaker emphasizes the significance of specific details in literature that reflect the broader ideas of the time period, using examples like Christina Rosetti's poetry influenced by her religious decisions. The video also introduces postcolonialism, which examines the cultural interactions and conflicts in literature, as well as new historicism, which challenges the fixed meanings that historicism derives from history, instead advocating for a dialogue with multiple perspectives and voices. The speaker contrasts historicism's focus on historical facts to derive meaning with new historicism's perspective of these facts as opinions and generalities. The video concludes by presenting historicism as a valuable method for understanding how history influences meaning or facilitates a dialogue about meaning.

思维导图

视频问答

  • What is historicism in literary criticism?

    Historicism explores how the author's life and historical context influence a text.

  • How do you apply historicism?

    By examining the author's life, the time period of the writing, and historical events that influenced the text.

  • What are postcolonialism and new historicism?

    Postcolonialism examines cultural clashes and their impacts, while new historicism questions historical facts' influence on text interpretation.

  • How does new historicism differ from historicism?

    New historicism challenges historicism by questioning the reliability of historical facts and promoting dialogue among different historical voices.

  • What is the focus of cultural studies in literary criticism?

    Cultural studies look at how a specific culture's ideas and conflicts are depicted in a text.

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  • 00:00:00
    and welcome back we're still talking
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    about literary criticism and this time
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    we're going to look at historicism and
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    when talking about where meaning Lies We
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    are going to talk about the context The
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    Life and Times of the author now
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    historicism is one of those theories
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    that can be very simple or it can be
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    very complex but it does require a bit
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    of research and a bit of outside work in
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    order to use historicism I'm going to
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    have to look at the background and the
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    author's life there are two questions
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    I'm really going to ask ask myself here
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    number one who was the author and what
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    was his or her life like and how did
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    that life influence the text and also
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    what was the time period in which this
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    was written and how did the time period
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    and the the happenings of the day
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    influence the text and influence the
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    ideas of the text one thing to keep in
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    mind as you're doing this is that
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    specific Details Matter even little
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    things in the text can really reflect
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    Big Ideas of the time period so
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    something that's written during the
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    Great Depression we might notice
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    characters being much more careful with
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    the things that they eat with the way
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    they spend their money and with taking
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    risks in general we can comment upon the
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    way those little details reflect the
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    time period and the time period is
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    reflected in those little details a
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    great example is Christina Rosetti who
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    turned down two guys she broke off two
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    engagements in her life because of
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    religious reasons so when her poetry
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    starts talking about religion and love
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    and religion trumping love we wonder how
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    much of her personal experience is
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    coming out in her poetry so so in order
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    to do historicism you've got to sit down
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    and look up information and then apply
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    that information to the text however
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    there are other types of historicism or
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    other offshoots of historicism which can
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    be even more complex than that the first
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    perhaps is
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    postcolonialism it is looking at history
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    and it is looking at the author's life
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    but it's looking at it from a very
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    specific lens postcolonialism is
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    interested in cultures and in the way
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    cultures clash it's interested in the
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    aftermath and the after effect of one
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    culture coming and putting itself on top
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    of another culture so postcolonialism
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    would be interested in the way Native
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    Americans are being treated in a piece
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    of literature for instance and the way
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    their culture is being preserved or
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    suppressed even if that's not the main
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    point of the text you can still look at
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    it from that perspective cultural
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    studies is similar in the way it
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    examines one particular culture's ideas
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    and the way those ideas are treated and
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    revealed within a text but the most
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    complicated of these is probably new
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    historicism similar to the way that post
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    feminism challenges the tension between
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    male and female and whether those two
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    things can really exist in a
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    deconstructive way new historicism
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    challenges the meaning that history
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    places upon a text it's probably a good
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    idea right now to go back and review
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    deconstruction I'll put the link right
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    here so while historicism takes the
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    facts of history and applies them to the
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    text to reveal meaning new historicism
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    challenges that and says how can we know
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    those are really facts after all history
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    is a lot more difficult to nail down
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    than of first appears you've probably
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    heard the expression history goes to the
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    winners so let's take a couple facts
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    here we might say that people in the
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    romantic era were driven by emotion we
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    might say that people during the Great
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    Depression were
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    Frugal yes those are generalities but
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    are they absolutely true were all people
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    in the Romantic Era automatically
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    emotional were all people in the Great
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    Depression automatically Frugal it would
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    be difficult to say that absolutely more
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    likely there are very degrees of this
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    and many different voices so while
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    historicism fixes meaning and Nails
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    meaning down using the facts of History
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    new historicism says those aren't facts
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    those are opinions and generalities
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    let's listen to the voices the Little
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    voices the big voices all the voices and
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    create dialogue dialogue that can't be
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    fixed down into meaning so whether
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    you're interested in the way history
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    creates meaning or whether you're
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    interested in the way that history
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    creates dialogue about the meaning
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    either way historicism is a good way to
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    go thanks for watching you can click on
  • 00:04:08
    one of the links over here and watch one
  • 00:04:10
    of the other literary criticism videos
  • 00:04:11
    or click here to subscribe click on the
  • 00:04:14
    word literary criticism and you can
  • 00:04:16
    watch the introduction video
  • 00:04:18
    again I'll see you next time
标签
  • literary criticism
  • historicism
  • author's context
  • postcolonialism
  • new historicism
  • cultural studies