Historical Criticism Research Articles

Aesthetics of Contingency: Writing, Politics, and Culture in England, 1639–89. Matthew C. Augustine. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018. Pp. xi+269.

<i>Aesthetics of Contingency: Writing, Politics, and Culture in England, 1639–89</i>. Matthew C. Augustine. Manchester: Manchester University Press, 2018. Pp. xi+269.

The Historical and Its Discontents: Nietzsche and Benjamin Against “Historicism”

ABSTRACT Representations of historicism as the loss of meaning in history and critiques of historicism as the critique of such a loss had been pervasive from the late nineteenth century until World War II. Among historicism’s most powerful and representative critics were the young Friedrich Nietzsche and Walter Benjamin in his Parisian exile. This essay seeks to trace from Nietzsche to Benjamin an unbroken yet growing line of critique of historicism—as the “sickness of time” from which modernity both suffers and has been trying to recover. Two attempts at such a recovery will be examined and juxtaposed: Nietzsche’s “On the Uses and Disadvantages of History for Life” and Benjamin’s “Theses on the Philosophy of History.” By thus situating both historicism and its critiques within the desires and anxieties of modernity, this essay tries to delineate and to understand the peculiarly modernist shapes assumed by the historical and its discontents.

The Second World War and Second-Wave Historical Criticism: A Selection of Rosemond Tuve's Chapel Talks (1944–1956)

Rosemond Tuve's (1903–1964) Chapel Talks, delivered to an audience of students at Connecticut College for Women between 1944 and 1956, provide insight into the larger motivation behind mid-century historical criticism emerging from the Second World War. These talks, a selection of which is introduced and transcribed here, show the link between Tuve's literary thinking and her moral commitments while she was articulating her widely influential arguments about typological criticism and historical criticism more generally. The introduction to her Chapel Talks traces the context of historicism in the turbulence of the war, as in the connection between her groundbreaking analysis of typology in George Herbert's "The Sacrifice" and her experience with Jewish refugees at Black Mountain College. Further, it shows the connection between her critical response to American habits that emerged after victory in the war and questions of medieval and Renaissance periodization posed by Ernst Curtius's European Literature and the Latin Middle Ages. The introduction argues that Tuve's historical criticism is the second wave to Edwin Greenlaw's first wave, articulated in the wake of the First World War, and is linked to emerging European democratic movements supported by the war-time "Anglo-Saxon," or Anglo-American, alliance, in which the United States would play the leading role in politics and literary criticism.

Исторические факты литературы и личность в исследовании – o составлении книги «История русской и советской литературной критики XX века»

Russian literature is an important part of world literature and is studied all over the world. In comparison with the history of literature, the history of literary criticism is more an interaction between the objectivity of literary facts and the personality of the compiler of this history. This work presents a description of the personality in research using the example of the book “History of Russian and Soviet literary criticism of the XX century” written by Chinese scientist Zhang Jie, the main task of which is to provide a theoretical basis and methods of criticism for analyzing the mechanism of reproducing the meanings of literary texts and images. We analyze the functions of literary criticism and explain the interaction and harmony of objective historical facts of literature and the compiler’s personality in the study. We define three currents of Russian and Soviet literary criticism of the 20th century: religious and cultural criticism, real literary criticism, and aesthetic criticism. We prove that history reflects not only the objectivity of factors, but also its compiler’s personality, which is an indicator. We explain the need to coordinate the objectivity of historical facts and the subjectivity of the compiler, and we present a value-based reflection of a scientific linguistic personality in the Chinese ethnoculture.

“КРИТИКА - ЦЕ ПРО СТВОРЕННЯ ПОЗАЧАСОВОЇ АКУСТИКИ”: ІНТЕРВ'Ю З ІСТОРИКИНЕЮ МИСТЕЦТВА ОЛЬГОЮ БАЛАШОВОЮ

Olga Balashova - art historian, kmbs and KAMA lecturer, art critic, deputy director for the development of the National Art Museum of Ukraine (NAMU) in 2017-2020. The interview was recorded in February 2020 by assistant professor Anna Kaluger (Chair of Art History, Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv). This interview was conducted as part of the Ph.D. research "The structure of art criticism in Ukraine at the beginning of the XXI century." The discussion will focus on the definition of art criticism in the Ukrainian art context and its disciplinary boundaries. Olga Balashova talks about her career path as art historian and critic, determining for her theoretical influences, the school of art history at NAOMA, and her research priorities within the study of the history of criticism. Part of the interview focuses on the methods of teaching criticism in the humanities in the context of the internetization of criticism and the loss of its usual disciplinary basis - the history of art. It will also discuss the genre classification of criticism at the level of objects of study, in particular: the portrait of the artist, curatorial strategy, or phenomenological study of artistic events. The final part of the interview focuses on options for constructing the history of criticism in Ukraine: both the history of resources and the history of authors, the history of interpretations, and the history of methodological approaches.

At the end of the line: on kairological history

AbstractThis essay examines, from a position within Classics, different angles on critiques of historicism and the turn to anachronism in History, Art History, Medieval Studies, and Queer Theory before proposing the idea of ‘kairological history’, on the model of the artist Paul Chan’s ‘kairological art’. On this analysis, ‘kairological history’ engages the critical and creative resources of anachronic thinking alongside tools of historicism (e.g. empiricism, successionism, periodization, alterity) in making choices about ‘telling time’. These choices reflect a critical understanding of how temporality shapes the valuation of the past, particularly in relation to a ‘classical’ past; the negotiation of identity and difference between past and present; and the kinds of communities that history aims to support. The second half of the essay examines two instances of anachronism within the history of anatomy, one from Galen and one from the early twenty-first century. Both cases represent problems that historicism can correct. But the modality of correction, in itself, is anaemic and risks the very teleology that linear history is so often faulted for. The essay therefore explores what gets lost and what gets found when temporality is aligned with linearity, as well as non-linear modes of telling time.

The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia by David B. Gowler

Reviewed by: The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia by David B. Gowler Matthew Hauge david b. gowler, The Parables after Jesus: Their Imaginative Receptions across Two Millennia (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2017). Pp. xv + 320. Paper $29.99. The Parables after Jesus is a celebration of the imaginative receptions of the parables of Jesus from the second-century church father Irenaeus (ca. 140–ca. 200) to the twenty-first century Buddhist monk Thich Nhat Hanh (1926–). The book is organized chronologically into five chapters: the afterlives of the parables in antiquity, the Middle Ages, the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, and the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. In total, Gowler draws our attention to fifty-seven interpreters who employ fifty “modes” of reception to tease out the ongoing meaning of thirty-three parables. Many of the interpreters of antiquity reflect the allegorizing tendencies of the early church. The primary emphasis of this period is on Jesus and the elucidation of his life, ministry, and teaching. Greek fathers, Latin fathers, and a Syriac church father are included here, but also Macrina the Younger and the Gnostic Gospel of Philip. In addition, and this is true of the book as a whole, Gowler includes nonliterary receptions—frescoes, illuminated manuscripts, mosaics, and music. In the fourth century and beyond, the Bible assumes a more prominent role as a locus of identity and meaning making within the church. In the Middle Ages, the prodigal son, the good Samaritan, the rich man and Lazarus, and the wise and foolish virgins receive special consideration because of the widespread attention given to these four parables. Fourfold interpretations are characteristic of this period ―historical-literary, allegorical/typological, anagogical, and tropological. These four “senses” enabled the interpreter to penetrate the intransient truths of each parable. The allegorical method was preferred for centuries but began to wane as the voice of Thomas Aquinas waxed in the thirteenth century. In particular, he challenged the fruitfulness of the fourfold interpretation of Scripture and claimed that this method added nothing to the foundational truths of faith. The afterlives of the parables in this chapter are embodied in literature (including the Islamic Sahih al-Bukhari), commentaries, plays, and sermons. As allegory waned, humanism waxed. In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries scholars were now studying the Bible in its original languages and nonscholars had unprecedented access to private copies of the Bible because of the invention of the printing press. Luther and Calvin figure prominently during this period, but also John Maldonatus, Anna Jansz, John Bunyan, Roger Williams, William Shakespeare, Rembrandt, Domenico Fetti, and George Herbert. These voices span the various movements of the ever-shifting landscape of these two centuries. The Protestant Reformation, the Counter-Reformation, and “Radical Christianity” are well represented here with selections from literary and nonliterary sources. Despite the growing symbolic significance of the Bible within the church as a whole and the accessibility of the Bible to scholar and nonscholar alike, the modern era bears witness to a surprising degree of biblical illiteracy. Historical criticism, however, emerges during these two centuries and parable interpretation would undergo a seismic shift as a result. G. specifically treats the categories of parables developed by Adolf Jülicher (i.e., Gleichnis, Parabel, and Beispielerzählung) alongside William Blake, John Everett Millais, Fanny Crosby, Leo Tolstoy, Emily Dickinson, Søren Kierkegaard, Charles Spurgeon, and Frederick Douglass. [End Page 508] The decline of the use and influence of the Bible continues into the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. Outside the church, the parables are further diminished in terms of their wider cultural consumption, interpretation, and application. Not surprisingly, interpretive methods vary widely, and diversity of readings expands. This diversity is reflected in the figures chosen by G. in the final chapter of the book: Thomas Hart Benton (painter), Rev. Robert Wilkins (songwriter), Flannery O’Connor (novelist), Martin Luther King Jr. (homilist), Godspell (musical), José Arana (painter), Elsa Tamez (professor), David Flusser (professor), Octavia Butler (novelist), and Thich Nhat Hahn (monk). It seems fitting that this illuminating collection of afterlives would conclude with the Buddhist monk and Christian admirer Thich Nhat Hahn. The final question that Gowler asks―what...

Beethoven — the Zeus of Modernity

A large part of German musicology sees itself as a science of art in the emphatic sense and is committed to quite different principles than historical-critical approaches in the discipline. The latter seek to gain a realistic picture of the history of music, including contemporary ways of thinking, and allow for historical actors to make meaningful, free will decisions within anthropologically determined circumstances. The emphatic science of art, on the other hand, claims to be able to prove and scientifically determine the objects of great art music and their nature. It originated during the Enlightenment, when philosophy took the place of religion and created ever new theoretical constructs of thought presented as scientifically proven and binding. In music, Beethoven rose to the ideal of the ingenious creator, who embodied the progress and achievements of mankind on the path toward perfection. Thus, in the course of the 19th century, a Beethoven cult developed using philosophy as its guide in selecting and evaluating historical sources, gladly accepting literary testimonies as historical fact. Historical criticism, which revealed this construction of a romantic image of Beethoven, was suppressed for a long time. Society’s broad acceptance of the notion of the evolutionary progress of mankind, one to which modernity adhered, proved too powerful, and belief in it took the form of an art religion. Beethoven as Zeus of the Third Reich, as the god of modernity, was the program and message of the 14th Secession Exhibition in Vienna in 1902. This image was destructed in the late 20th century.

Healing the Wounded: The Psalms and Therapy

ABSTRACT The dialogical spaces between the historicity of the written psalms and present experiences of suffering and loss are explored. It is found that the insights of Narrative Therapy resonate with the ways in which the psalmist(s) deal both with suffering and deliverance. This article describes how Ps 22 is used in training ministry students in the tenets of Narrative Therapy, and how Ps 46 functions in group therapy with women who have lost a child. The final section describes how the Psalms can serve - and have served - as intertexts in the therapeutic empowerment of people who are suffering because of a variety of losses. Here, the Psalms make an interdisciplinary landing between historical criticism and postmodernism, between tradition and experience. Keywords: Narrative Counselling, Psalm 22, Psalm 46, Psalms and Suffering, Woundedness

Re-visiting Popper’s social philosophy concerning globalisation

Globalisation is a phenomenon that dominates the defining spirit (zeitgeist) of our historical time. The article revisits Popper?s critique of the methodology of the social sciences in the light of contemporary theories of globalisation. His standpoint contributes to the establishment of new arguments in the current debate between the pros and cons of globalisation. Here, neoliberalism, the dark side of globalisation, is carefully scrutinised since it is the most controversial consequence of the world?s transformation. Not only does neoliberalisation accelerate the rapid growth of the free market, but its consequences are such that most sovereign nation-states have abandoned the previously de rigueur welfare policies. Paradoxically, the neoliberal economic programme, invoking liberal values with which it has little in common, encourages activities which diminish the importance of regulations and control by the state, ultimately leading to increased social disparity among people and permanently threatening traditional liberal values. Against such a reductionist policy of global social engineering, we oppose the arguments presented in Popper?s critique of historicism and holism in order to revise the methodology that provides the grounds for current globalisation theories through philosophical research. We integrate the facts into a coherent critical argument to point out the shortcomings of these theories and how they can be corrected. Finally, in proposing plausible solutions for the new role of the sovereign nation-state in correcting the negative consequences of the globalisation process, we clarify which aspects within the theories of globalis ation require further philosophical research.

Aesthetics and Politics Again?

In Guilty Aesthetic Pleasures, Timothy Aubry argues that political criticism such as ideology critique has driven aesthetic appreciation underground. Aubry aims to show how aesthetic pleasure, often unwittingly, animates political commitments by examining the scholarly reception of Nabokov's Lolita and Toni Morrison's Beloved alongside critical approaches such as the New Criticism, deconstruction, the New Historicism, and the Digital Humanities. Guilty Aesthetic Pleasures raises important questions about the legacy of past critical methodologies and the current fashions that occupy scholarly attention. Aubry's thesis is sure to provoke debate among historians of literary criticism.

Б. М. Эйхенбаум. Письма к Ю. А. Никольскому [Boris Eichenbaum: Letters to Iurii Nilol’skii

This is a prefaced and meticulously annotated publication of Boris Eichenbaum’s letters to his friend, an aspiring writer and a student of St. Petersburg University Iurii Nikol’ski. The preface and annotations focus on some previously unknown data concerning Eichenbaum’s life story from 1912 to 1917 with a special attention paid to the correspondents’ friends. In addition, I publish the initial version of the poem that Eichenbaum dedicated to Ekaterina Malkina vis-à-vis the poem’s shorter version from his Moi Vremennik ( My Periodical ). I also establish the fact of Eichenbaum’s acquaintance with Sasha Chernyi (Alexander Glikberg, 1880—1932). KEYWORDS: 20 th -Century Russian Literature, Boris Eichenbaum (1886—1959), Iurii Nikol’skii (1893—1922), Correspondence, History of Higher Education in Russia, History of Russian Literary Theory and Criticism.

Per la fortuna critica di Ludovico Brea: una monografia inedita di Piero De Minerbi (1911-1912)

The archive of the Pinacoteca Civica in Savona preserved an unpublished typescript about the painter Ludovico Brea (Nice, 1450 c.-1516/1525): this work was written between 1911 and 1912 by the art historian Piero Hierschel De Minerbi, who belonged to a noble family from Trieste. The study of the text, illustrated by seventy-seven black and white photos, and four tables featuring sketches by the author, enables not only to add a new element to the critical history of Ludovico Brea but also to reflect on the state of the history of art criticism in Italy at the beginning of the Twentieth century. Particularly research tools used by the scholar belong to Historical and Philological method of the connoiseurship as was formulated by Adolfo Venturi (1856-1941) and Pietro Toesca (1877-1962): beyond the choice of a specific genre as the artist’s monograph, and of a research topic focused on an artist who belonged to a peripheral area of Fifteenth- and Sixteenth-century Italian Art, De Minerbi’s method is characterized by the enhancement of the link between history and criticism, a deep attention to the formal and technical aspects of the paintings in order to identify Brea’s style and to reconstruct his catalogue, distinguishing his hands from those of his followers, and the use of research instruments as archival documents, photography and ink sketches of compositional and iconographic details. Finally, some unpublished letters written by Piero De Minerbi and the director of the Pinacoteca Civica in Savona, Poggio Poggi, between 1938 and 1940, enable to reconstruct the history of this typescripts and the reason of its presence in the archive of the museum.

“La fundación de Asunción” o cómo escribir historia en la Asunción de 1890

This article analyzes the conceptions of history of the men of letters of the late nineteenth century in Paraguay through the criticisms made by Blas Garay to Alejandro Audibert on the date of the founding of Asunción. The sociopolitical and historiographic framework that the historical criticisms imply both for the moment in which they occur, September 1894, and from a broader perspective that covers the postwar period, is developed in detail. The sources used are the articles published in the newspaper La Unión, El Pueblo and La Libertad of September 1894.

Dwarves at the Foot of the Giant: Max Weber’s ‘Protestant Ethic’ and Historical Research

When Max Weber died in 1920, he had just finished the revised version of ‘The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of Capitalism’ (PESC). While it is still a key text for sociologists, most historians seem to have come to disregard it. The present article pleads for a historical reconsideration of PESC. It argues that most historical criticism of PESC is unfounded and that recent research into the conceptual and social history of work and poverty does in fact support Weber’s key point that the work ethic of ascetic Protestantism brought about a shift in economic mentality which contributed to the rise of modern capitalism. It also questions the scope and validity of recent econometric variations on the PESC theme, urging the need for more judicious consideration of historical context.

Seo Myeong-eung’s History and Historical Criticism - The Compilation Background and Meaning of the Period in Zizhitongjiangangmu sanbian

Seo Myeong-eung’s History and Historical Criticism - The Compilation Background and Meaning of the Period in Zizhitongjiangangmu sanbian

Historical Criticism and the Authority of Scripture: A Study on the Tension Between Biblical Criticism and Faithfulness to the Scripture in the 17th and 18th Centuries

Bu makale, on yedinci ve on sekizinci yüzyılda tarihsel eleştirinin verilerine değil, bu dönemlerdeki eleştirel çalışmalar ile metne sadakat arasındaki gerilime odaklanmaktadır. Bu bağlamda yazıda, tarihsel-eleştirel çalışmalar ile kutsal metnin otoritesi arasındaki ilişkinin boyutları ele alınmaktadır. Makalede dönemin önemli eleştirmenlerinin kutsal metnin otoritesini büyük oranda reddetmedikleri, bilakis eleştirel bilim karşısında otoritesi sarsılan metne, modern kültür içinde bir uyum sorunu olarak farklı bir otorite sağ-lamaya çalıştıkları varsayılmaktadır. Bu bağlamda ilgili ilahiyatçıların inanç ve kutsal metin ile modern eleştirilerin verileri arasında bağ kurmaya çalışan nasıl bir teoloji geliştirdiklerini göstermek amaçlanmaktadır. Bu yüzden makale, her ne kadar doğrudan Kitab-ı Mukaddes üzerine olsa bile, dolaylı bir biçimde son dönem İslam dünyasında hadislerin otoritesine dair tartışmaların içeriği konusunda muhtemel ipuçları barındırması dolayısıyla önem arz etmektedir. İslam dünyasında hadislerin geleneksel otoritesine dair tartışmalara aşina olan bir okur, bu tür tartışmaların Kitabı-ı Mukaddes ile benzerliğini fark etmekte zorlanmayacaktır.

Tarihsel Eleştiri Yöntemlerinin İslami Rivayetlere Uygulanma İmkânına Dair Bazı Mülâhazalar

Tarihsel eleştiri yöntemleri, metinleri menşei, yazılış zamanı, yazılış mekânı ve kaynaklarını dikkate alarak değerlendirmeyi ve eleştirel bir biçimde an-lamayı amaçlayan yöntemler manzumesidir. Yunan-Roma ve Yahudi-Hıristiyan geleneklerin tesiri altındaki Batı geleneği içerisinden neşet eden tarihsel eleştiri yöntemleri, yorumcu ile araya giren zamansal ve mekânsal farklılık sebebiyle metinlere tarihsel perspektiften bakmayı önerir. Birçok olay ve sürecin neticesinde ortaya çıkmış olan ve zaman içinde değişikliklere uğrayan bu yöntemler, en yoğun ve en sistematik şekilde Kitab-ı Mukaddes metinleri üzerinde uygulanmıştır. Zamanla tarihsel eleştiri yöntemleri farklı dinlerin ve kültürlerin önemli metinleri üzerinde de denenmeye başlanmıştır. Bu uygulama denemeleri kimileri açısından çok değerli sonuçlara ulaştırabilecek özellikte iken kimilerine göre ise bu yöntemlerin yabancı din ve kül-türlerin metinlerine uygulanması asla düşünülemez. Bu çalışmada kaynak, form, redaksiyon ve gelenek/rivayet tenkidi gibi farklı türleri olan tarihsel eleştiri yöntemlerinin felsefî temelleri, temel özellikleri, ön kabulleri ve metinlere yaklaşımları göz önünde bulundurularak İslâmî rivayetler üzerinde uygulanmasının imkânı meselesi üzerinde durulacaktır.

Considerations for human–computer interaction: user interface design variables and visual learning in IDT

The purpose of this study is to discuss approaches for developing human–computer interaction (HCI) in educational technology (ET) based on definitions of visual design, learning variables and user-interface design principles in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT). We will do in several stages, first, we will review historical definitions of HCI and its developments in education and considerations for defining visual literacy for learning with instructional design (ID) models. Then, we will review each definition of visual principles for user interface design (UID) or user experience design (UED) and learning from screens. HCI and its roles with the perceptional approach will be discussed as previous definitions in the type of theories such as cognitive load, activity and paying particular attention to primary concepts included in each definition based on the ID model approach. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the definitions, which provided designing and developing user interfaces. The process should indicate or address possible performance design approaches in ID steps for developing learning and teaching in learning environments as well as developing UID or UED in ET. This also indicates approaches in philosophy of ET and its theory, definition and applications of new technologies as well as UID or UED perspectives and visual design variables. In this study, we review the visual design techniques from past to present that multimedia project design teams should follow the strategies and rules for designing learning environments in industry, business and military based on philosophy of ET and HCI design with ID models by using the newest technologies. The process compares both understanding global UID or UED requirements and visual strategies and considerations for research and product design by ID models. The steps include recognising terminology in ET practice concept, psychological, technological and pedagogical foundations in ID as well as ET approaches and using visual rules for conducting multimedia projects in last decays. At the end of the study, conceptions of ET, ID models and HCI will be discussing to indicate design standards for multimedia projects in the field of IDT. We will also present the relationships between ET and designing problems for creating instructional materials in education. All steps in visual design, UID, UED and HCI design based on philosophical approaches and evaluations in the field are given at the end of the study.&#x0D; Keywords: User interface design, visual designs, human–computer interaction (HCI), user experience design, educational technology, IDT.

Considerations for human–computer interaction: user interface design variables and visual learning in IDT

The purpose of this study is to discuss approaches for developing human–computer interaction (HCI) in educational technology (ET) based on definitions of visual design, learning variables and user-interface design principles in the field of instructional design and technology (IDT). We will do in several stages, first, we will review historical definitions of HCI and its developments in education and considerations for defining visual literacy for learning with instructional design (ID) models. Then, we will review each definition of visual principles for user interface design (UID) or user experience design (UED) and learning from screens. HCI and its roles with the perceptional approach will be discussed as previous definitions in the type of theories such as cognitive load, activity and paying particular attention to primary concepts included in each definition based on the ID model approach. We will also present some of the historical criticisms of the definitions, which provided designing and developing user interfaces. The process should indicate or address possible performance design approaches in ID steps for developing learning and teaching in learning environments as well as developing UID or UED in ET. This also indicates approaches in philosophy of ET and its theory, definition and applications of new technologies as well as UID or UED perspectives and visual design variables. In this study, we review the visual design techniques from past to present that multimedia project design teams should follow the strategies and rules for designing learning environments in industry, business and military based on philosophy of ET and HCI design with ID models by using the newest technologies. The process compares both understanding global UID or UED requirements and visual strategies and considerations for research and product design by ID models. The steps include recognising terminology in ET practice concept, psychological, technological and pedagogical foundations in ID as well as ET approaches and using visual rules for conducting multimedia projects in last decays. At the end of the study, conceptions of ET, ID models and HCI will be discussing to indicate design standards for multimedia projects in the field of IDT. We will also present the relationships between ET and designing problems for creating instructional materials in education. All steps in visual design, UID, UED and HCI design based on philosophical approaches and evaluations in the field are given at the end of the study. Keywords: User interface design, visual designs, human–computer interaction (HCI), user experience design, educational technology, IDT