NEW HISTORICISM

BACKGROUND INFORMATION

 New Historicism (sometimes referred to as Cultural Poetics) emerged in the

1970s and 1980s, largely in reaction to the lingering effects of New Criticism and
its historical approach.

 "New" Historicism's adjectival emphasis highlights its opposition to the old

historical-biographical criticism prevalent before the advent of New Criticism.

 In the earlier historical-biographical criticism, literature was seen as a (mimetic)

reflection of the historical world in which it was produced. Further, history was
viewed as stable, linear, and recoverable--a narrative of fact.

 In contrast, New Historicism views history skeptically (historical narrative is

inherently subjective), but also more broadly; history includes all of the cultural,
social, political, anthropological discourses at work in any given age, and these
various "texts" are unranked - any text may yield information valuable in
understanding a particular milieu. Rather than forming a backdrop, the many
discourses at work at any given time affect both an author and his/her text; both
are inescapably part of a social construct. 

 New Historicism is a literary theory based on the idea that literature should be
studied and interpreted within the context of both the history of the author and the
history of the critic. New Historicism acknowledges not only that a work of
literature is influenced by its author's times and circumstances, but that the
critic's response to that work is also influenced by his environment, beliefs, and
prejudices. (Stephen Greenblatt and Michel Foucault)

 Cultural history can be revealed by studying the work — especially by studying

the use and dispersion of power and the marginalization of social classes within
the work. Studying the history reveals more about the text; studying the text
reveals more about the history.

 Underscores the impermanence of literary criticism - acknowledges and

embraces the idea that, as times changes, so will our understanding of great
literature.

 New Historicists concern themselves with the political function of literature and
with the concept of power, the intricate means by which cultures produce and
reproduce themselves. These critics focus on revealing the historically specific
model of truth and authority (not a "truth" but a "cultural construct") reflected in a
given work. In other words, history here is not a mere chronicle of facts and
events, but rather a complex description of human reality and evolution of
preconceived notions. Literary works may or may not tell us about various factual
aspects of the world from which they emerge, but they will tell us about prevailing
ways of thinking at the time: ideas of social organization, prejudices, taboos, etc.
  It is an approach to literary criticism and literary theory based on the premise that
a literary work should be considered a product of the time, place, and historical
circumstances of its composition rather than as an isolated work of art or text.

 Paradigm Shift
Traditional Historicists New Historicist
Ask Ask
1. What happened? 1. How has the event been interpreted?
2. What does the event tell us about history? 2. What do the interpretations tell us
about the interpreters?
Linear Nonlinear
1. A caused B which caused C 1. No clear causation, only
interpretations.
2. Too many interrelated forces at work
Objective Subjective
Truth is absolute; facts are facts. 1. Truth is relative: Observer influences
Observer does not influence the outcome. outcome, therefore, study the
observer, not the observed.
History is knowable and stable History is textual
1. It exists, has a presence 1. History is literature. History is not fact,
it is fiction.
2. History and literature are
interconnected
3. See history in literature, but literature
also creates history
Literature mirrors historical reality Literature is inter-textual
1. History comes first, literature second. 1. All cultural activities are potential
“texts” to be read
2. All texts combine to create a “web of
relationships and ideas”
There is such a thing as an objective view of Knowledge is power
history 1. How is knowledge created? Who has
the authority to make and impose
definitions of reality on everyone else?

MAJOR FIGURES
 Stephen Greenblatt   Catherine Gallagher
 Michel Foucault's (fou-KOH)  Jonathan Dollimore
 Clifford Geertz  Jerome McCann.
 Louis Montrose

KEY TERMS

 Discourse - [from Wolfreys] - "defined by Michel Foucault as language practice:

that is, language as it is used by various constituencies (the law, medicine, the
church, for example) for purposes to do with power relationships between
people"
  Episteme - [from Wolfreys] - "Michel Foucault employs the idea of episteme to
indicate a particular group of knowledge and discourses which operate in concert
as the dominant discourses in any given historical period. He also identifies
epistemic breaks, radical shifts in the varieties and deployments of knowledge for
ideological purposes, which take place from period to period"

 Power - [from Wolfreys] - "in the work of Michel Foucault, power constitutes one
of the three axes constitutive of subjectification, the other two being ethics and
truth. For Foucault, power implies knowledge, even while knowledge is,
concomitantly, constitutive of power: knowledge gives one power, but one has
the power in given circumstances to constitute bodies of knowledge, discourses
and so on as valid or invalid, truthful or untruthful. Power serves in making the
world both knowable and controllable. Yet, in the nature of power, as Foucault
suggests in the first volume of his History of Sexuality, is essentially proscriptive,
concerned more with imposing limits on its subjects."

 Self-positioning - [from Lois Tyson] - "new historicism's claim that historical

analysis is unavoidably subjective is not an attempt to legitimize a self-indulgent,
'anything goes' attitude toward the writing of history. Rather, the inevitability of
personal bias makes it imperative that new historicists be aware of and as
forthright as possible about their own psychological and ideological positions
relative to the material they analyze so that their readers can have some idea of
the human 'lens' through which they are viewing the historical issues at hand."

 Thick description - a term developed by Clifford Geertz; [from Charles

Bressler]: a "term used to describe the seemingly insignificant details present in
any cultural practice. By focusing on these details, one can then reveal the
inherent contradictory forces at work within culture. "

GUIDE QUESTIONS
1. What aspects present in the work reflect the current events of the author’s day?
2. Are there period dated terms?
3. How are the events interpreted?
4. What position is the author taking regarding the events or conditions of the time?
5. What literary or historical influences helped shape the work?

LITERARY EXCURSION
12 YEARS A SLAVE (Film Showing)

Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave recounts the author’s life story as a free black
man from the North who was kidnapped and sold into slavery in the pre-Civil War
South.

The son of an emancipated slave, Northup was born free. He lived, worked, and
married in upstate New York, where his family resided. He was a multifaceted laborer
and also an accomplished violin player. In 1841, two con men offered him lucrative work
playing fiddle in a circus, so he traveled with them to Washington, D.C., where he was
drugged, kidnapped, and subsequently sold as a slave into the Red River region of
Louisiana. For the next twelve years he survived as the human property of several
different slave masters, with the bulk of his bondage lived under the cruel ownership of
a southern planter named Edwin Epps. In January 1853, Northup was finally freed by
Northern friends who came to his rescue. He returned home to his family in New York
and there, with the help of editor David Wilson, wrote his account in 12 Years a Slave.

Written by: Solomon Northup (as told to editor David Wilson)

Type of Work: Slave narrative

Genre: Autobiography/Memoir

First Published: 1853

Setting (primary): The Red River region of Louisiana

Settings (secondary): Saratoga Springs, New York; Washington, D.C.; New Orleans,

Louisiana

Main Characters: Solomon Northup (aka “Platt”), James H. Burch, William Ford, John
M. Tibeats, Edwin Epps, Patsey, Mistress Epps, Mr. Bass, Henry B. Northup

Major Thematic Topics: Slavery as a moral cancer; freedom; injustice; the inherent

dignity of all humanity; the place of women in society; religion and slavery; man’s
inhumanity to man; slavery’s toll on servant and master alike

Major symbols: Chains; the whip; the Bible; water; the swamp

Movie Versions: 12 Years a Slave (2013)

The three most important aspects of 12 Years a Slave: 12 Years a Slave presents a
startlingly accurate and verifiable account of the common slave experience in the United
States in the antebellum (pre-Civil War) South. From start to finish, basic facts about the
time, the places, the people, and the practices of the day are incorporated, sometimes
in excessive detail, into Northup’s story. He speaks with authority on all subjects of his
enslavement, naming names and pointing out landmarks along the way. In doing so, he
dares skeptics to refute his story, knowing that public records and common knowledge
would defend it. For example, when Northup accuses a wicked slave trader of keeping
him captive in Washington, D.C., he not only names that slaver, he names the slaver’s
accomplice, identifies exactly where the slave pen is hidden, and describes the physical
structure of the slave pen in detail. The result? During the trial that took place after
Northup had been freed, that slave trader couldn’t deny having kept Northup as his
captive in that now-exposed slave pen. Additionally, the accuracy of and factual detail
in 12 Years a Slave have kept this book prominent as a reliable historical reference on
slavery for more than 150 years since it first debuted.

12 Years a Slave serves as a timeless indictment of the practice of “chattel bondage,” or

human slavery. Northup’s detailing the abuses he endured—and those he was forced to
inflict—provides a warning to all generations of the moral costs that slavery exacts from
everyone involved. The slave himself or herself is degraded, made to suffer awful
torments, and cruelly robbed of physical, emotional, and spiritual riches. Still, the slave
is not the only one who suffers. By participating in slavery, the master is morally
degraded and emotionally desensitized. His religion is made hypocrisy. His family
legacy is robbed of basic human graces like love, justice, and integrity. In this respect,
Northup’s 12 Years a Slave is notable for giving human faces to the evil that was once
common practice, and for sounding a constant warning of the awful consequences of
chattel bondage.

12 Years a Slave is a testimony to the power of the human spirit and the enduring
determination of hope. Solomon Northup is deceived, kidnapped, abused, removed
from family, deprived of identity, and beaten into a long, weary, unjustified submission.
Yet he is never broken. Even in his worst days of sorrow lived under the cruelties of
Edwin Epps, he never gives up hope that one day he will be free. He never loses faith in
his friends, constantly assured that if he can only get word to the North then they will
indeed come to his rescue. And they do. In the end, Solomon Northup’s heartbreaking
journey uplifts because in his testimony is evidence that faith and hope can endure—
and triumph.

CHARACTERS

Major Characters
 Solomon Northup, aka “Platt” A free black man who lived in the northern
United States in the 1800s, Solomon was kidnapped in 1841, at age 33, and sold
into slavery in the South, where he lived until he was rescued by friends in 1853.
Solomon was married to Anne (Hampton) Northup and with her had three
children: Elizabeth, Margaret, and Alonzo. The author of the memoir 12 Years a
Slave, he chronicled his experience and ultimate emancipation as part of the
abolitionist movement in the mid-1800s.

 Henry B. Northup A white man, related to the family that owned Solomon’s
father as a slave, and from the family from which Solomon took his last name. A
lawyer, he journeyed south to rescue Solomon from captivity.

 Merrill Brown One of two white con men who, with Abram Hamilton, deceived
Solomon Northup and orchestrated his kidnapping. About 40 years old, short,
and thick-set, Brown, with Hamilton, promised Northup lucrative work as a violin
player in a circus, and thereby convinced him to accompany them to Washington,
D.C. There they drugged him and allegedly sold him to slave trader James H.
Burch while he was unconscious.

 Abram Hamilton With Merrill Brown, co-kidnapper of Solomon Northup. Around

25 years old, tall, thin, and somewhat effeminate.

 James H. Burch A brutal slave dealer who first kept Solomon Northup in
captivity in Washington, D.C. A business partner with Theophilus Freeman of
New Orleans, Burch was white, around 40 years old, and a large, powerful man
with chestnut hair, slightly gray. Burch shackled Northup in a hidden slave pen
and then, apparently enraged by Northup’s claims that he was a free man, beat
and whipped Solomon into submission. After the brutal beating, Burch threatened
to kill Solomon if he ever mentioned his freedom or background again. Believing
that threat applied to all slavers, Northup never spoke to anyone again of his
being born free until nearly 12 years later. Upon being emancipated, Northup and
his lawyer pressed criminal charges against Burch and his accomplice, Ebenezer
Radburn. However, Burch prevailed in the proceedings by hiring false witnesses
to testify on his behalf.
 Eliza Berry A fellow black captive in James H. Burch’s Washington, D.C. slave
pen and lifelong friend to Solomon Northup. She was the mother of both Randall
Berry and Emily Berry. She had been the slave and mistress of a rich white man
named Elisha Berry, who treated her kindly and fathered her daughter, Emily.
Elisha Berry promised emancipation for Eliza and her children upon his death;
however, when he passed away, his heirs reneged on that promise. Under the
ruse of taking her to get her free papers, the heirs sold Eliza and her children into
Burch’s slave pen. From there, she was sent downriver, where Theophilus
Freeman cruelly separated her from her children. She was sold, with Solomon
Northup, to William Ford in Louisiana. She never recovered from the emotional
devastation of losing her children, mourning them the rest of her life and dying
without ever seeing Randall or Emily again.

 Theophilus Freeman A New Orleans, Louisiana, white slave trader who worked
in association with James H. Burch. He took possession of Solomon Northup in
New Orleans and there forcibly assigned him the name “Platt.” He ran the slave
auction that sold Platt to William Ford of Louisiana. He was responsible also for
separating Eliza Berry from her children.

 William Ford The white man who bought Solomon Northup and Eliza Berry from
Theophilus Freeman. Described by Northup as a “noble, candid, Christian man,”
he owned a large plantation as well as a lumber mill in the “Great Pine Woods,”
in the parish of Avoyelles on the right bank of the Red River in central Louisiana.
Highly regarded by Northup as a fair and kind slave owner, he rescued Solomon
from John M. Tibeats and others on several occasions. He was forced to sell
Northup after facing financial setbacks. He later became a Baptist preacher.

 John M. Tibeats A white carpenter who worked for William Ford. In 1842, he
took possession of Solomon Northup as payment of a debt by William Ford.
Described as a “quick-tempered, spiteful man,” Tibeats was Northup’s
archenemy. More than once, he tried to kill Solomon out of anger but was
prevented each time. Eventually, he sold Solomon to the cruel cotton planter,
Edwin Epps.

 Mr. Chapin William Ford’s white overseer on the Bayou Boeuf plantation.

Described as “a kindly-disposed man.” When John M. Tibeats tried to lynch and
hang Solomon Northup, it was Chapin who rescued him (at gunpoint) from
Tibeats’ gang. He then sent word to William Ford, who came to Solomon’s aid.

 Edwin Epps Solomon Northup’s final, and cruelest, master. A cotton planter, he

owned Northup for about ten years before the slave was freed by his friends from
the North. Epps was heavy, tall, with high cheekbones and blue eyes. A frequent
drunk, he was given to fits of rage and violent mirth. He delighted in both
whipping his slaves and in making them dance all night in false exhibitions of
happiness. Cunning, shrewd, and merciless, his own slaves nicknamed him “Old
Hogjaw.” He was guilty of frequently raping and whipping the slave girl Patsey.

 Mistress Epps Edwin Epps’ wife. Well-educated, attractive, and from a

respected family, she was generally kind to her husband’s slaves—except
Patsey, whom she hated as a jealous rival. Unable to convince her husband to
sell Patsey, she instead insisted that her husband punish Patsey with frequent
whippings and deprivations. When Edwin Epps tried to attack Solomon Northup
with a knife, she argued in Solomon’s defense.

 Patsey A 23-year-old black slave of Edwin Epps, and the most tragic figure in 12
Years a Slave. Naturally “a joyous creature, a laughing lighthearted girl,” frequent
beatings and abuse made her despondent and suicidal as the years went on.
She was a victim of repeated rapings by Edwin Epps and also of the jealous
 cruelty of Epps’ wife. Because she was the fastest, most productive cotton picker
on Epps’ plantation, Epps refused to sell her, despite his wife’s constant
demands in that regard. Solomon was forced to brutally whip a naked and
helpless Patsey while Edwin Epps and Mistress Epps goaded him on.

 Armsby A poor white man who worked alongside field slaves at Edwin Epps’
plantation for a short time. Solomon Northup asked him to mail a secret letter; in
return for payment, Armsby promised to deliver the letter from Solomon to the
post office. However, Armsby betrayed his promise and instead reported the
incident to Edwin Epps.

 Mr. Bass A white carpenter working to build a house on the Epps’ plantation.
Bass was a native of Canada and an outspoken abolitionist. Solomon Northup
confided in him, and he responded with loyalty and help. At great risk to his own
safety, Bass wrote and mailed letters to Northup’s friends in the North and was
instrumental in helping those friends find and rescue Solomon from slavery.

Minor Characters
 David Wilson Solomon Northup’s white editor and transcriber. Northup dictated
his story to Wilson, who wrote it down and prepared it for publication under the
title 12 Years a Slave.

 Anne (Hampton) Northup Solomon’s wife and the mother of his three children.
A black woman of mixed-race ancestry, she worked as a cook.

 Cephas Parker and William Perry Co-owners of stores where Solomon Northup

and his family shopped, and friends to whom Solomon addressed his letter for
help.

 Elizabeth Northup Solomon’s oldest child, she was 10 when her father was
kidnapped.
 Margaret Northup Solomon’s second child, she was 8 when her father was
kidnapped.

 Alonzo Northup Solomon’s youngest child, he was 5 when his father was

kidnapped.

 Ebenezer Radburn Accomplice of James H. Burch, who was a Washington,

D.C., slave dealer.

 Clemens Ray A fellow black captive in Burch’s Washington, D.C., slave pen.

 Randall Berry Eliza’s treasured son and a captive in Burch’s Washington, D.C.,

slave pen.

 Emily Berry Eliza’s daughter, about 7 or 8 years old, and a fellow captive in

Burch’s slave pen.

 Robert A captive with Solomon Northup, he was a co-conspirator in an aborted

plan of revolt against his white captors. He died from smallpox before the plan
could be carried out.

 Arthur A captive with Solomon Northup, he was a co-conspirator in an aborted

plan of revolt against his white captors. He was rescued by friends in New
Orleans.
  Peter Tanner William Ford’s brother-in-law, he took possession of Solomon
Northup for a short time. He used the whip, the Bible, and wooden stocks as
means of keeping his slaves subdued.

 Abram An elderly slave of Edwin Epps of failing strength and mental faculties.
Kind-hearted but absent-minded, and a great admirer of philosophy and General
Jackson, he was sometimes called “Uncle Abram.”

 Wiley A 48-year-old field slave of Edwin Epps and married to Phebe. He tried to
run away once but was returned to Epps and beaten severely as punishment.

 Phebe A house slave of Edwin Epps married to Wiley, mother of Bob and Henry,
and sometimes called “Aunt Phebe.”

 Bob A field slave of Edwin Epps and Phebe’s son by a former husband.

 Henry A field slave of Edwin Epps and Phebe’s son by a former husband.

 Edward A house slave of Edwin Epps and the son of Wiley and Phebe.

 Harriet Shaw Black wife of the white Mr. Shaw and a friend to Patsey.
 Young Master Epps The son of Edwin and Mistress Epps. A bright, energetic
boy of 10 or 12 years, who imitated with joy the cruelties of his father.

 John P. Waddill A lawyer in Marksville, Louisiana, who assisted Henry B.

Northup in rescuing Solomon Northup.

 Benjamin O. Shekels A slave trader and witness on behalf of James H. Burch

during the trial of James H. Burch and Ebenezer Radburn.

 Benjamin A. Thorn A witness on behalf of James H. Burch during the trial.

 Solomon Northup Staunton Margaret Northup’s son and Solomon Northup’s

grandson.

BOOK SUMMARY

12 Years a Slave covers five primary periods in Solomon Northup’s life:

1. Solomon Northup: Free Man

In Chapters I and II, Northup tells of his life as a free black man living in upstate New
York. Born in July 1808, he was the son of an emancipated slave. He grew up working
on a farm at his father’s side, and also was educated to a degree of competence in
reading and writing. Additionally, he learned to play the violin, a skill that would be both
a blessing and curse to him in coming years. At age 21, he married Anne Hampton, and
they settled down to raise a family. Solomon worked in many trades, including farming,
lumberjacking, and performing on the violin, while Anne earned money as a cook. They
had three children.

In 1841, Solomon met two white men who offered him lucrative work with a circus—if he
would travel with them to Washington, D.C. Unsuspecting, he joined them in their
travels and in Washington, D.C., after a day of unusual revelry and drinking, became
terribly ill. On his way to see a doctor, he passed out. When he woke up, Solomon
Northup was alone, chained in darkness.
2. Solomon Northup: Captive

This second period of 12 Years a Slave, told in Chapters III–VI, relates how Solomon
finds himself a prisoner in the slave pen of James H. Burch, a brutal slave trader in
Washington, D.C. When Solomon protests his captivity and asserts his right to freedom,
Burch responds by beating him into submission and threatening to kill him if he ever
mentions his freedom again. At length, Solomon is allowed to join the other slaves being
held by Burch, and he discovers just how hopeless his situation is. Surrounded by
slaves and a few other kidnap victims, he is transported downriver, eventually landing in
New Orleans, Louisiana.

Solomon and the rest of “Burch’s gang” are transferred into the slave pen of Burch’s
associate, Theophilus Freeman. Freeman changes Solomon’s name to “Platt,” thereby
erasing any connection to his past. Solomon is put up for sale, but his sale is delayed
when he contracts smallpox, which nearly kills him. After he finally recovers, he is sold,
along with a slave girl named Eliza, to a man named William Ford.

3. Solomon Northup: Slave

Next begins the third leg of Solomon Northup’s journey, told in Chapters VII–XI.
Solomon is now a full-fledged slave named “Platt,” working on the plantation and lumber
mill of William Ford, deep in the heart of Louisiana. Ford is a kindly master, devout in his
Christian faith, and given to generosity toward his slaves. Solomon finds it almost a
pleasure to be in Ford’s service and even figures out a way for Ford to save
considerable time and money by transporting lumber via waterway instead of by land.
Solomon is well-liked by Ford in return. However, a series of financial missteps result in
Ford selling Platt to a cruel carpenter named John M. Tibeats.

Tibeats soon becomes Platt’s worst enemy, constantly threatening and berating him.
While working on a project, Tibeats becomes so enraged that he attempts to whip Platt.
Platt is the stronger of the two, though, and he turns the tables on his new master,
whipping him instead. Hell-bent on revenge, Tibeats twice attempts to murder Platt.
Only the intervention of William Ford and his overseer, Mr. Chapin, saves the slave’s
life. Unable to kill him, yet bearing murderous hatred toward him, Tibeats sells Platt to
the notorious “nigger breaker,” Edwin Epps.

4. Solomon Northup: Slave Under Edwin Epps

The fourth phase of Solomon Northup’s 12 Years a Slave, told in Chapters XII–XX,

focuses on the ten years he lived under the tyranny of Edwin Epps on two different
plantations in Bayou Boeuf, along the banks of the Red River in Louisiana. Epps is
indeed a cruel master. A whip is his constant companion, and he uses it almost daily on
his slaves. Solomon describes his life under Epps in detail, relating stories of abuse,
humiliation, and deprivation among all the slaves.

Patsey, a slave girl, gets the worst of Epps’ treatment: She is repeatedly raped by him
and also whipped by him at the insistence of his jealous wife. At the worst point, she
visits a friend at a nearby plantation simply to get a bar of soap because Epps’ wife
won’t allow her to have any. When Patsey returns, Epps is furious, thinking her guilty of
a sexual encounter. Platt is forced to whip a naked, helpless Patsey while she screams
for mercy.

The years pass by, and Solomon almost loses hope. Then he meets a carpenter named
Bass, an abolitionist from Canada who is hired to work on a building project for Epps.
Bass learns of Solomon’s story and decides to help. He sends letters to Solomon’s
friends in the North, asking them to come and rescue the slave from his captivity.
5. Solomon Northup: Free Man Again

The final section of 12 Years of Slave, Chapters XXI and XXII (and Appendix), tells of
Solomon’s escape from captivity. Thanks to the faithfulness of Bass, Solomon’s friends
in the North are alerted to his location and come to set him free. Henry B. Northup, a
white man who is a relative of the person who once owned Solomon’s father, gathers
legal support and travels to Louisiana to find the slave. After some searching, he finds
“Platt” and, with the help of a local sheriff, emancipates him from the clutches of Edwin
Epps.

They travel back to New York, stopping for a time in Washington, D.C., to pursue legal
charges against James H. Burch for his role in the kidnapping of Solomon Northup. In
the end, though, Burch is acquitted because of false witnesses and racist bias in the
courtroom. After that, Solomon is finally reunited with his family in Saratoga Springs,
New York, where he finds that his daughter has married and he is now a grandfather.
His grandson has been named in his honor: Solomon Northup Staunton.

REFERENCE
 Dr. Kristi Siegel, Introduction to Modern Literary Theory,
http://www.kristisiegel.com/theory.htm#newhist

 CliffNotes, What is New Historicism,

https://www.cliffsnotes.com/cliffsnotes/subjects/literature/what-is-new-
historicism#:~:text=New%20Historicism%20is%20a%20literary,the%20history
%20of%20the%20critic.

 Michael Delahoyde, Introduction to Literature: Marxism,

https://public.wsu.edu/~delahoyd/new.hist.html

 New World Encyclopaedia, New Historicism,

https://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/New_Historicism

 Abby Hall, New Historicism Part 1, https://www.youtube.com/watch?

v=BLzDu2772So

 Zeroun Hoffman, Historical Criticism New Historicism, Cultural Studies (1980s-

present), https://www.slideserve.com/zeroun/historical-criticism-new-historicism-
cultural-studies-1980s-present

 Cliffsnotes, 12 Years a Slave, https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/t/twelve-

years-a-slave/character-list