New historicism and the ambivalence of its postmodern contexts
This paper deals with new historicism as a plural, varied, diverse theory. The author focuses on the importance of ambivalent political and social contexts for the understanding and interpretation of literary texts. New historicists’ theory and critical practice were elaborated during the Cold War mainly in the eighties around political and Renaissance studies. Consequently, this theory has spread to other periods of literature. As a postmodern idea new historicism has lost its novelty and has gradually disappeared being replaced by ‘poetics of culture’ and postcolonial studies.