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    9 - A Historical Interpretation of Literature

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    Karthick Selva
    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American literature in the 20th century. In his career spanning half a century, Wilson produced extensive literary works including criticism, novels, poetry, drama, history, and speeches. His 1940 speech "The Historical Interpretation of Literature", delivered at Princeton University, embodied his views on literature. In the speech, Wilson argued that understanding literature requires examining its social, economic, and political contexts based on theories like Marxism and psychoanalysis. He emphasized understanding the relationship between literature and society and saw literature as a means to address important issues through a humanist perspective.

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    9 - A Historical Interpretation of Literature

    Uploaded by

    Karthick Selva
    772 views3 pages
    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American literature in the 20th century. In his career spanning half a century, Wilson produced extensive literary works including criticism, novels, poetry, drama, history, and speeches. His 1940 speech "The Historical Interpretation of Literature", delivered at Princeton University, embodied his views on literature. In the speech, Wilson argued that understanding literature requires examining its social, economic, and political contexts based on theories like Marxism and psychoanalysis. He emphasized understanding the relationship between literature and society and saw literature as a means to address important issues through a humanist perspective.

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    A Historical Interpretation of Literature

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    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American literature in the 20th century. In his career spanning half a century, Wilson produced extensive literary works including criticism, novels, poetry, drama, history, and speeches. His 1940 speech "The Historical Interpretation of Literature", delivered at Princeton University, embodied his views on literature. In the speech, Wilson argued that understanding literature requires examining its social, economic, and political contexts based on theories like Marxism and psychoanalysis. He emphasized understanding the relationship between literature and society and saw literature as a means to address important issues through a humanist perspective.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    772 views3 pages

    9 - A Historical Interpretation of Literature

    Uploaded by

    Karthick Selva
    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American literature in the 20th century. In his career spanning half a century, Wilson produced extensive literary works including criticism, novels, poetry, drama, history, and speeches. His 1940 speech "The Historical Interpretation of Literature", delivered at Princeton University, embodied his views on literature. In the speech, Wilson argued that understanding literature requires examining its social, economic, and political contexts based on theories like Marxism and psychoanalysis. He emphasized understanding the relationship between literature and society and saw literature as a means to address important issues through a humanist perspective.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    of 3

    A HISTORICAL INTERPRETATION OF LITERATURE EDMUND WILSON

    Historical criticism and Social change


    In the excerpts below, Edmund Wilson presents his thoughts on what it means to
    understand literature in its historical aspects, that is its social, economic and
    political aspects.
    Edmund Wilson, The Historical Interpretation of Literature, 1940, later
    published in Triple Thinkers.
    He notes that this tradition of criticism began during the Enlightenment and
    developed during the subsequent centuries.
    He begins by describing other prominent traditions of criticism then focuses on
    the historical one, which is a key critical tradition, especially its more progressive
    and revolutionary elements overviewed and explored by this site.
    At the end of the article and the excerpts here, he touches on how literature,
    along with all intellectual activity may help bring about a better world, in its
    attempt to give a meaning to our experience that is, to make life more
    practicable; for by understanding things we make it easy to survive and get around
    among them.
    This weblog is basically geared towards this end, and is otherwise related to
    understanding things in order to make it easier to survive and get around among
    them especially to change conditions of life for the better, especially for the many
    currently in great need.
    It might be noted too that at this perilous point in human history, the survival of
    the human species is ever more seriously threatened, as some authors have
    remarked for decades now.
    In capacities professional and otherwise, those in the field of literature, given its
    largely though not entirely social, economic, and political nature, have great
    opportunity to do much toward addressing these urgent issues.
    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American literature
    in the 20nth century.
    In his lasting literary life of half a century, Wilsons literary achievements, which
    deals with many fields such as literary criticism, social comment, novel, poetry,
    drama, history, speech and so on, are very productive.
    The speech The Historical Interpretation of Literature, which delivered in
    Princeton University in 1940 by Wilson, intensively embodies his literary outlook.

    Based on the basic concept of the speech, dealing with the specific texts, this
    thesis tries to make a thorough exposition of Wilsons criticism of The Historical
    Interpretation of Literature.
    Wilsons criticism of The Historical Interpretation of Literature, which intended
    for the literary authors and most of literary amateurs in society, based on Marxism,
    Freudian psychoanalysis, the traditional criticism of society and history and the
    criterion of emotional reaction, uses kinds of critical methods, attaches great
    importance to the literature character in criticism and relations between literature
    and society, embodies Wilsons humanism spirit of seeking truth through literature,
    paying attention to real society nature of humankind and standing fast to
    independence and freedom.
    In the first chapter, however reveals that The Historical Interpretation of
    Literature is based on Marxism, Freudian psychoanalysis, the traditional criticism of
    society and history and the criterion of emotional reaction.
    The second chapter discusses the history of mans ideas and imaginings.

    The third chapter points out the significance of The Historical Interpretation of
    Literature lies in Wilsons humanism spirit.

    Edmund Wilson occupies an important place in the history of American


    literature in the 20th century. In his lasting literary life of half a century ,
    Wilsons literary achievements , which deals with many fields such as literary
    criticismsocial commentnovelpoetrydramahistoryspeechand so
    on, are very productive.In the West the research achivements about Wilson
    are plentiful, but in China there are few articals on research of Wilsons
    criticism.Wilsons literary criticism also deals with many things. The speech
    The Historical Interpretation of Literature , which delivered in Princeton
    University in 1940 by Wilson, intensively embodies his literary outlook. Based
    on the basic concept of the speech, dealing with the specific texts, this thesis
    tries to make a thorough exposition of Wilsons criticism ofThe Historical
    Interpretation of Literature.Wilsons criticism ofThe Historical Interpretation of
    Literature, which intended for the literary authors and most of literary
    amateurs in society, based on MarxismFreudian psychoanalysisthe
    traditional criticism of society and history and the criterion ofemotional
    reaction, uses kinds of critical methods, attaches great importance to

    the literature character in criticism and relations between literature and


    society, embodies Wilsons humanism spirit of seeking truth through literature,
    paying attention to real society nature of humankind and standing fast
    to independence and freedom. A careful discussion of some of Wilsons texts
    in the first chapter, however, reveals thatThe Historical Interpretation of
    Literatureis based on MarxismFreudian psychoanalysisthe traditional
    criticism of society and history and the criterion ofemotional reaction. The
    second chapter discusses that the nature ofThe Historical Interpretation of
    Literatureisa history of mans ideas and imaginings. The third chapter points
    out the significance ofThe Historical Interpretation of Literaturelies in
    Wilsons humanism spirit.

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