VEDA’S JOURNAL OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE (JOELL)

An International Peer Reviewed (Refereed) Journal

Impact Factor (SJIF) 4.092           http://www.joell.in

Vol.6,Issue 2,2019

HISTORY AND LITERATURE: INSTITUTIONAL STRUCTURE OF LITERARY HISTORY

Naruhiko Mikado

Email: track.and.basketball@gmail.com

(Graduate Student, Department of English and American Literature, Graduate School of Letters, Osaka University, Japan)

doi: https://doi.org/10.33329/joell.62.1

ABSTRACT

               Nowadays, more and more questions are being posed to literary history. However, despite the palpable fact that it has a profound interdisciplinary relevance with the field of literature, few have attempted to theorize on the situation in the sphere of literary studies. Considering the situation, this paper will analyze literary history as an institution to illuminate it from multiple angles. First, history in general and literary history will be compared to bring it into relief. Second, internal properties of literary history will be scrutinized with recourse to the comparison between texts of Milton and Wordsworth. Third, the relationship between literary history and literature as a discipline will be examined. Fourth, the ongoing revamping of American literary history will be explored as a concrete instance. In conclusion, this paper will discuss a possible way that literary history would be like and highlighting the fact that what has been taken for granted is by no means tantamount with an absolute truth. The contribution which this essay will make is to explore

Keywords:  Literary history, Literary theory, Literary criticism.

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