English Literary History I - class notes

1. INTRODUCTION
1. English literary history
1.1. Literature in its social, cultural and intellectual contexts
Texts or literature in general never in isolation, but in a context
- Relating texts and their content/structure to broader historical considerations: geography,
culture, …
- Dependent on or influenced by these contexts
 Text as a product of factors
o Ex. Why did people start writing sonnets in the 16th century?
Why did erotic poetry become popular in 17th century? Was it as a statement?

 TEXTS AS PART OF LITERARY HISTORY
o Literature has a history of its own as well
o Literary traditions (individual to specific regions, ex. English literature)
o Where does this history start?
o Influence of and competition with older models (both in their own language or other
languages)
 Old literature influences new literature BUT newer literature can change the
perception of older texts
Ex. Beowulf and the ‘recent reinterpretation’ of JRR Tolkien

 English literature in historical AND social, cultural and intellectual context

1.2. ‘History’
The problems of historiography
determining beginning & end:
- Why start at 600?
o 500: Books arrive in England, due to the fact that Christianisation and written culture are
becoming more and more popular
o 597: Agustine is sent by the pope to England to re-Christianise the country after the Angels
(pagans) took over England.
He brings books  people start writing things down  written recordings of ‘English’
literature marks the start of the literary history
 only after 597 do we have written statements of oral stories and conversations
- Why end at 1800?1
o Romanticism around 1800 changes our perspective on literature
o Lots of anthologies use 1800 as a turning point, it’s a convention
o Not extremely strict,
ex. ELH sometimes discusses Jane Austen books published after 1800, other stories
published before 1800 are not discussed in the first period
 it’s all about context and the tradition the story follows
 Jane Austen has both a modern and a more ‘conservative’ vibe, depending on the
works, but overall she’s more rational and conservative than we credit her for and
thus belongs to the ‘tradition’ with the works before 1800




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In ELH II
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,Change and continuity

History is a balance between change and continuity
 Literary history pays attention to both BUT there’s a bias towards ‘innovators’ in literary history?

- Continuity
o new works follow and are influenced by old works, albeit modified
o Tradition and use (and modification) of old models and structures
o Imitation, translation and adaptation of existing works (imitatio & aemulatio)
- Change
o Adaptation and modification also brings along changes and innovations
 Change and continuity often happen at the same time and are both important for literary history
BUT bias towards innovation
o Importance of evolution from then to now
o Not per se better than tradition but from historical point of view it is more interesting
o not everyone innovates, things change gradually, yet those who do not innovate tend to
be forgotten

1.3. ‘Literature’
What is literature?

No consensus as to what constitutes ‘literature’
 Written vs. oral works
 Fictional vs. non-fictional
 …
 Definition of literature changes through time
! importance of turning point around 1800: romanticism changes that definition radically!
o Ex. Shakespeare barely spoke of literature? Didn’t he have a concept of literature? Probably
did  Poetry or Poesy
o What is seen as literature depends on the time and is also sometime called differently (ex.
Shakespeare: poetry)
o Different criteria
o literature vs Literature  debate
ex. Harry Potter, Beowulf,… what do we put where and will that change later?

ROLAND BARTHES: “LITERATURE IS WHAT GETS TAUGHT”
 Whose authority determines what is ‘Literature’?
o who ‘teaches’ literature (in Barthes statement)?
o No one is infallible
 Who gets to decide what literature is? Who decides the beginning and end to the history?

A ‘history of literature’
Mostly a history of WRITING, but what about a history of READING?

- Without readers there would be no literature
- Different readers have different interpretations
 History of reading: more sociocultural, not literary; it’s more about opinion, interpretation,…
than what’s written
 Different works would be ‘promoted’ in a history of reading because some important
literary works were not that popular, while more conventional works where

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, 1.4. ‘English’
Contemporary literature

What defines ‘English’ literature?
- English / English-speaking
= Literature written and produced in countries where English is either an official language or a
language of culture
 a lot of countries, not just England!
 English literature: from England/Britain (narrow sense) or English-speaking nations (broad
sense)?
- Britain also not only just English
 PROBLEM! (especially for contemporary literature)
English literature 600-1800

Problem already existed in 600-1800
- British Isles / England
o 19th century: British Empire expands to ¼ of the world!
o before 1800: expansion was already developing
 already started having colonies (and had already lost colonies, ex. USA)
 ‘independent’ ex-colonies like the USA were politically independent, but not
culturally ( literature)
 Colonies also part of England and therefore part of English literature?
 English literature largely still the literature of England
- Britain vs. England
o Britain: England, Scotland, Wales (& Ireland)
o However: British literature = English literature
 very little Scottish, Irish,… literature in the canon
 it’s a sort of dialect BUT has its own culture and traditions and literature
 Scottish writers in the Norton canon doesn’t represent themselves as Scottish
but more as British
o Norton: anthology of ENGLISH literature vs. Longman anthology of BRITISH literature
(not that many differences)
- Language(s) in the British Isles
o Not only English but also Gaelic,…  also had culture and literature
o Dominated by English but they did survive

 Even restricted to the British Isles: still a problem to define English literature!

2. The 19th-century nation state and the rise of literary history
2.1. Equation
- Before 19th century: no ‘national’ or ‘vernacular’ literature, mostly Greek or Latin
(English as a (study) subject did not exist)
- Since 19th century: rise of a (national) literary history and ‘modern’ literature
 19th century: great age of the nation state: country = a nation




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,  EQUATION: NATION = PEOPLE = CULTURE = LANGUAGE
o NATION : not only the king who is the identity of the nation, but identified by the PEOPLE
(democratic ideal) : people > king
o PEOPLE? A people = group of individuals with a common CULTURE
o CULTURE?
 Habits and traditions ?
 Essential part: share a common LANGUAGE
 A NATION should have its own LANGUAGE
 Every own language should have their own nation?
ex. Germany not a political nation but a cultural unity  should have its own nation,
own country (idem for Italy,…)
 Language and nation give an identity to a people
- Literary history is the product of three factors:
HIPPOLYTE TAINE: ‘RACE, MOMENT, ENVIRONMENT’
o Histoire de la Litterature Anglaise (1864-1872): illustrates ‘race, moment, environment’
by focusing on English literature (a very prestigious literature at the time)
o RACE2: not about colour or genetics, but about the ‘people’ in cultural terms
o MOMENT: what happens in a particular moment (develops through time)
 Historical and contextual influence
 If the context changes, literature changes as well
 Sometimes people write in the old way, but they are often left out because they are
less important for the evolution
o ENVIRONMENT:
 the physical and geographical (and even meteorological!) environment
 social class, religion and religious differences, education,…
 according to Taine: every (national) ‘literature’ is different because of a different
development
2.2. Problems with that equation
- As mentioned before, the English language doesn’t always coincide with the ‘English’ nation
- Another problem is the changes in a language over a period of time
 English as a language constantly changes: old English is barely recognizable now (or even
just a few centuries later)
 What do we count as English? Can we still appreciate old literature? Part of studying literature
is appreciating the old literature but there is certain disagreement
2.2.1. Old English: Beowulf
Beowulf as English literature

Beowulf (ca. ?) is often seen as the first ‘great text’ of English literature (ex. in many
anthologies) but there is a certain debate about it
- Written in old English, barely readable now
- Original transcript seems closer to Dutch or Swedish,.. than to English now
 is this what the English are?
- ‘modern translations’: Poetry or prose?
o Translations as both, gives very different experiences
o Used to be a prose text in the anthologies, now a poetic text
 Even anthologies change constantly!!


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Controversial: race like we see race now? Not exactly, more like a nation
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