New Historicism and Cultural Studies Cultural studies "involves viewing and analyzing practically any recorded phenomenon, present or past, as a social text," including phenomenon not usually considered text, with a tendency to seek out subjects not considered to be art traditionally. (1207) Foucault: history is neither real nor objective. Not real because we only see it through representations of it (history books). Not objective because it is written by a subject constituted by society, ruled by …showed first 75 words of 316 total…

…showed last 75 words of 316 total…way knowledge and the power associated with it are originated and distributed." (1206) New historicism is a method based on the parallel reading of literary and non-literary texts, usually of the same historical period, in which the literary and non-literary texts are given equal weight and constantly inform of interrogate each other. New historicism is interested in history as represented and recorded in written documents, in history-as-text. Historical events as such are seen as irrecoverably lost.