The critical school of `new historicism' is very much at the centre of contemporary debates on literary studies and theory. Much `new historicist' writing has focused on Renaissance texts, and this book is a timely exploration of that connection and its significance for `English' as a whole. Howard Felperin subjects many of the most challenging claims of `new historicism' to rigorous analysis, distinguishes sharply between its American and British versions, and probes the causes and consequences of its politicization of literary studies. The philosophical as well as political issues central to current debates are examined and the uses served by the canonical texts at their centre analysed within a broad cultural and historical perspective. This searching reconsideration of contemporary critical theory and practice yields fresh readings of a number of classic texts - including Hamlet, The Winter's Tale, The Tempest, Shakespeare's Sonnets, More's Utopia, Donne's poetry, and Conrad's Heart of Darkness - as well as a deepened understanding of the complex and changing functions of the canon itself.
Reviews
a series of inclusionary, and paradoxically, exclusionary deconstructive readings that are rich, exciting, and highly suggestive ... this important book is a refreshing and stimulating foundation upon which much future work will undoubtedly be constructed. * English Language Notes *
The particular interest of his book ... lies in its bracketing the endless realism/conventionalism argument and making a stimulating contribution to a debate within the conventionalist camp which has been badly needed. * Notes and Queries *



Book Information
ISBN 9780198122654
Author Howard Felperin
Format Paperback
Page Count 208
Imprint Clarendon Press
Publisher Oxford University Press
Dimensions(mm) 214mm * 135mm * 13mm