Stephen Greenblatt's New Historicism. A Viable Theory?

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Literature - Comparative Literature grade: 10 University of Constance course: Kulturkontakte: Theorien in den Geschichts- und Literaturwissenschaften language: English abstract: By the 1990s New Historicism and its main progenitor Stephen Greenblatt rose to the attention of scholars worldwide and it is now a widely accepted theory.If one can speak of a theory since New Historicism has often been accused of lacking a distinct theoretical program. However this did not remain the sole critical reproach New Historicism had to deal with. As with many a radically new idea the approach provoked discontent as well. Inaccuracy and armchair historicism were among the accusations New Historicism had to cope with. Nevertheless its popularity increased and it is well nigh impossible to imagine literary studies today without it.Despite its importance and popularity the New Historicism has to this day successfully refused to be thoroughly theorized and classified to be forced into a strict set of rules. It therefore remains a difficult task to label anything truly New Historicist as even New Historicists themselves are reluctant to give a subsumable definition of the concept.The principal question of this thesis: Is New Historicism a viable theory after all? Despite the international acclaim it has earned does it keep its promises? Has it revolutionized modern literary studies?