Modern and Contemporary Studies (1800−Present)

Historicising Art and Literature

Historicising Art and Literature is one of the six research themes of the LUCAS Modern and Contemporary cluster.

The researchers who can see their critical practice reflected in this theme will be all those who understand and explore texts in relation to the historical and cultural moment of their production. History and culture are, of course, hardly neutral concepts, and their meanings are powerfully contested. Colleagues working within this theme adopt different approaches to their research and writing. It is hoped that together we will reflect the breadth of critical thinking when it comes to an historical approach to texts, sharing methodologies and approaches with each other. Contextual work and archival scholarship, close-reading in context, discourse and ideology, intertextuality, the reception of texts, the complexities of periodization, and notions of influence may all form productive elements in our practice. The theme does not mean that we must all work in the same way, but is meant to provide a space for discussion, support, and reflection, that will together deepen and nourish our work.