Introduction to Theory of Literature (ENGL 300)

In this lecture, Professor Paul Fry examines the work of two seminal New Historicists, Stephen Greenblatt and Jerome McGann. The origins of New Historicism in Early Modern literary studies are explored, and New Historicism’s common strategies, preferred evidence, and literary sites are explored. Greenblatt’s reliance on Foucault is juxtaposed with McGann’s use of Bakhtin. The lecture concludes with an extensive consideration of the project of editing of Keats’s poetry in light of New Historicist concerns.

00:00 – Chapter 1. Origins of New Historicism
06:16 – Chapter 2. The New Historicist Method and Foucault
10:56 – Chapter 3. The Reciprocal Relationship Between History and Discourse
19:24 – Chapter 4. The Historian and Subjectivity
26:12 – Chapter 5. Jerome McGann and Bakhtin
30:28 – Chapter 6. McGann on Keats
45:54 – Chapter 7. Tony the Tow Truck Revisited