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New Directions in Recent Milton Criticism
Author(s) -
West John
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
literature compass
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.158
H-Index - 4
ISSN - 1741-4113
DOI - 10.1111/j.1741-4113.2009.00634.x
Subject(s) - historicism , criticism , foregrounding , new historicism , politics , literature , literary criticism , historical criticism , state (computer science) , variety (cybernetics) , sociological criticism , aesthetics , philosophy , epistemology , law , literary science , political science , art , algorithm , computer science , artificial intelligence
This article considers the state of Milton criticism in 2008. It suggests that Milton criticism is emerging from a period when historicist criticism that investigated the politics of Milton's work was dominant and is now characterised by variety and change. The article considers how some historicist political criticism continues. It goes on to show how there is a new foregrounding of literary issues such as form and aesthetics and also how some Milton criticism is displaying an increasing interest in how Milton matters to the present. The article suggests that such changes could constitute a reaction against the historicist legacy but also argues that they build upon the insights of the past few decades by re‐examining the interactions of literature and politics.