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Further diss "angst"
May. 3rd, 2024 05:13 pmAngst is in scare quotes because it's just silly.
But anyway, I have this argument about how:
1) Historical context is profoundly important to consider when engaging with early modern literature and
2) This lens should not take precedence over the internal elements of a text and
3) Historicist critics should not only attend to the powerful influence of cultural context on early modern literature but also to the effects of critics' own cultural contexts, cultural anxieties etc on their literary analysis and their understanding of the periods they study and
4) It is not actually possible to understand your present "historical moment" and its impact on you with the same perspective you have on an era long past like early modern England because of uhhhh the nature of linear time and
5) You should still try.
The angst is that my first phrasing was "This is not actually possible because of the limitations of the space-time continuum" and then I was like "I don't think this is the project for referencing space-time or even the limitations of linear time lmao" and then I was like "I guess I could just reference 'human' limitations" and then I was like "but does that obscure the matter of chronological perspective that I'm trying to get at" and then I was like "this is a tangent of a tangent about at least trying to put in a modicum of critical thought about how you might be affected by your own culture and preconceptions so you're not a 21st-century version of the 1890s critics whining about the indelicacy of early modern drama..."
Now I kind of want to put the space-time continuum back.
But anyway, I have this argument about how:
1) Historical context is profoundly important to consider when engaging with early modern literature and
2) This lens should not take precedence over the internal elements of a text and
3) Historicist critics should not only attend to the powerful influence of cultural context on early modern literature but also to the effects of critics' own cultural contexts, cultural anxieties etc on their literary analysis and their understanding of the periods they study and
4) It is not actually possible to understand your present "historical moment" and its impact on you with the same perspective you have on an era long past like early modern England because of uhhhh the nature of linear time and
5) You should still try.
The angst is that my first phrasing was "This is not actually possible because of the limitations of the space-time continuum" and then I was like "I don't think this is the project for referencing space-time or even the limitations of linear time lmao" and then I was like "I guess I could just reference 'human' limitations" and then I was like "but does that obscure the matter of chronological perspective that I'm trying to get at" and then I was like "this is a tangent of a tangent about at least trying to put in a modicum of critical thought about how you might be affected by your own culture and preconceptions so you're not a 21st-century version of the 1890s critics whining about the indelicacy of early modern drama..."
Now I kind of want to put the space-time continuum back.
