New Historicism: Power Point Outline

New Historicism: As applied to The Scarlet Letter

•New Historicism is...
•A response to Historicism (must consider when the text was written)
•Assumes that history is not linear.  Things are not improving. (ex: forms of punishment)
•Assumes changes in history have multiple and interrelated causes. (ex: civil war)
•Assumes history and literature impact each other
•Assumes all literature is somewhat historical and all history is somewhat fictional.
•Assumes that historians are subject to their own biases.

•New Historian must know about:
The period in which the text is set
The period in which it is written
The period in which it is read
Their own biases.

•Journal: When it was set
•Based on your reading thus far, any other knowledge you may have about the events of 1637 (when the book is set), and your research on the Puritans, how accurately does Hawthorne portray the time period in which the novel is set?

•American Renaissance
•Also known as American Romantics
•Sought cultural separation from England, by addressing uniquely American topics.

•Influence #1: Urbanization
•disillusioned with modern society- 150+ utopian communities
•Technical advancements (cotton gin, rail road, telegraph) caused feeling of experimentation but also industrialization
•Immigration- mixing of new people

•Influence #2: Wilderness
•Manifest Destiny
•Nature is something to conquer, but
•Also see it as a source of primitive knowledge and refuge from urbanization.

•Influence #3: Independence Movements
•US and French revolutions
•Fraternity, equality, liberty
•Value each individual regardless of class (but not race/ gender)

•Influence #4: Social and Political Change
•1st president not from an original colony
•North / South polarization
•Abolitionist movement
•Women’s movement
•Increased public literacy and public education

•Characteristics of Romantic’s Style
•Appeal to imagination (willing suspension of disbelief)- unlikely plots and characters
•Form rises from content rather than being dictated by tradition (experimentation)
•Setting is often remote in time or place- interest in past (esp. US)
•Escapism from social problems/ changes
•Quest for purity (response to urbanization)

•Transcendentalism
•Reaction to Age of Reason (mind= blank slate, knowledge comes from outside through senses, all men can reason so all are equal).  > didn’t account for intuition or imagination.
•Transcendentalists say intuition is God in us.
•Oversoul= God in nature and all things (vs. watchmaker God who sits back and watches).  God is involved in all things..so…
•Nothing is insignificant> should follow intuition (personal piece of oversoul) > self-reliance.
•Nature should be valued because provides insight into God and humanity.
•All living things are innately good (even if go against the norm) because God is in them > Hawthorne disagreed because he thinks it doesn’t account for the presence of evil in the world > his writing focuses on pride as cause of sin, consequences are often self-inflicted, love offers atonement.

•Journal: when it was written
•How does the time period in which the novel was written influence it?  (It was published in 1850).

•Journal: When it is read
•How is your experience of reading the Scarlet Letter influenced by the historical time period in which you live.  (You might consider major social and political events shape our current historical moment or cultural values dominate it.)

If anyone finds interesting sites related to the American Romantics or Transcendentalism, they should post them as comments to this blog.