Decoding Literary Theories

  Historicism Historicism is an important approach in literary criticism and the philosophy of history which emphasizes the role of historical context in understanding human thought, culture, and literature. It argues that all human ideas, values, and artistic works are shaped by the time and place in which they are produced. Therefore, no text can be fully understood without considering its historical background. Definition of Historicism Historicism can be broadly defined as the belief that every aspect of human life is a product of history and must be studied within its specific historical context. According to Frederick Beiser, historicism is based on the idea that all features of the human world emerge from historical conditions and cannot be separated from them. This approach challenges the idea of universal truths. Instead of believing that literature expresses timeless and universal values, historicism insists that meanings change over time depending on cultural and histori...

  New Historicism New Historicism is a literary critical approach that emerged in the 1980s, primarily through the works of Michel Foucault and Stephen Greenblatt. It developed as a reaction against text-centered approaches such as New Criticism and shares certain concerns with Marxism, particularly its attention to power, ideology, and social structures. Definition and Core Idea New Historicism views literature not as the isolated product of an individual author’s imagination, but as the outcome of a specific cultural and historical context. According to this approach, a literary text is deeply embedded in the social, political, and ideological conditions of the time in which it was produced. Thus, literature is not simply a reflection of reality but participates in shaping and reinforcing cultural values and power structures. Key Features of New Historicism 1. Rejection of Text-Centered Criticism New Historicism moves away from formalist approaches like New Criticism, which focus...

  Ecocriticism: An Interdisciplinary Approach to Literature and Environment Ecocriticism, also known as environmental criticism or “green” criticism (especially in England), is a rapidly emerging field of literary studies that examines the relationship between human beings and the natural environment. It explores how nature and the natural world are represented in literary texts and how these representations shape and reflect cultural attitudes toward the environment. As Cheryll Glotfelty observes in the introduction to The Ecocriticism Reader , ecocriticism functions much like other critical approaches: just as feminist criticism analyses literature from a gender-conscious perspective and Marxist criticism focuses on class and economic structures, ecocriticism studies literature from an environmental perspective. It investigates how literary texts imagine nature and how these imaginings contribute to cultural perceptions of the environment. Therefore, understanding literary repres...

What is Humanism? Humanism is an intellectual and cultural movement that began in Renaissance Europe (13th and 14th centuries), especially in Italy. It focuses on human life, human values, and human potential rather than only religious or divine concerns. It is one of the main reasons why the Renaissance is seen as a period of “rebirth.”  Origin of the Term The term humanism was first used by 19th-century scholars to describe the Renaissance focus on classical education. This education was known as studia humanitatis , which included subjects like grammar, rhetoric, poetry, history, and moral philosophy. These studies were inspired by the idea of humanitas , a concept developed by Marcus Tullius Cicero, the Roman statesman, lawyer, scholar and writer.  Humanitas became the central ideal of humanism and shaped the entire movement. Humanitas refers to the full development of human qualities. It includes not only kindness, compassion, and understanding but also strength, wisd...

   I Knowing the Oriental  The first part of the first chapter, “The Scope of Orientalism,” in Edward Said’s book Orientalism, is ‘Knowing the Oriental’. In this chapter, Said explains how Western knowledge about the East was closely connected to political power and imperial control. To illustrate this, he begins with a speech delivered in 1910 by the British politician Arthur James Balfour.  At that time, Britain had been ruling Egypt for many years, but some members of the British Parliament were starting to question whether Britain had the right to remain there. Balfour defended British occupation of Egypt. Interestingly, he did not justify British rule by emphasizing military strength or economic advantage. Instead, he argued that Britain had the authority to rule Egypt because it understood Egypt better than the Egyptians themselves. Balfour refers to Egypt as part of the “Orient,” a term widely used in Europe to describe Eastern societies. He presents Egypt as...