Transcript New Historicism - Dr. McGoldrick's Classes

New Historicism
RITUAL, TECHNOLOGY, AND THE WITCH HUNT
New Historicism

New Historicism seeks to find meaning in a text by considering the work within the framework of the
prevailing ideas and assumptions of its historical era. New Historicists concern themselves with the
political function of literature and with the concept of power, the intricate means by which cultures
produce and reproduce themselves. These critics focus on revealing the historically specific model
of truth and authority (not a "truth" but a "cultural construct") reflected in a given work.

In other words, history here is not a mere chronicle of facts and events, but rather a complex
description of human reality and evolution of preconceived notions. Literary works may or may not
tell us about various factual aspects of the world from which they emerge, but they will tell us about
prevailing ways of thinking at the time: ideas of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc. They
raise questions of interest to anthropologists and sociologists.

New Historicism is more "sociohistorical" than it is a delving into factoids: concerned with ideological
products or cultural constructs which are formations of any era. (It's not just where would Keats
have seen a Grecian urn in England, but from where he may have absorbed the definitions of art
and beauty.)

So, New Historicists, insisting that ideology manifests itself in literary productions and discourse,
interest themselves in the interpretive constructions which the members of a society or culture apply
to their experience.
http://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/new.hist.html
So……..
How is ‘authority’ a social construct of the time?
…in 1692?
…in 1950?
…now?
What can we focus on in literature or in ‘artifacts’ to
bring the answer to light?
The Crucible
 Arthur
Miller Interview
 Ritual
 Naming
 What
Names
enables each concept?
 Technology
1950S

McCarthy hearings televised
1692
Now…are Muslims the new
witches…the new traitors?

Hardball 1-3:15 4:50- end

‘PROBABLE CAUSE’ Bill O’Reilly 3:15

Breaking the Set 0-1:30

What Would You Do? (ABC)
So…The Witch Hunt

A New Historicist looking at The Crucible might how technology is
connected with the social construct of ‘authority’.

Identification of discourse

Miller’s reference to ‘ritual’ and ‘naming names’

The play’s reference to Rev. Hale’s ‘books’

‘New’ technology of books

‘New’ technology of television
Our social construct of authority NOW… Television? Internet?
Is this ‘witch hunt’ for traitors again part of our social discourse?
What is the message, relative to the
Social Discourse on Authority and
Fear…?
Trailer