New historicism is a field of literary analysis that stemmed from cultural studies, which started in the 1960s and brings together aspects from many other theories, including Marxism, feminism, and others. People began to apply new historicism to texts in the 1970s and early 1980s, and this type of analysis was a response to traditional historicism. Unlike traditional historicists, new historicists believe that it is impossible to truly understand exactly what happened during a specific event. They believe that history is not simply a list of causes and effects, but rather is an analysis of many somewhat subjective reports from all sides of the story. New historicists also discuss the presence of the powerful and the powerless. To new historicists, these people who are not in the dominant party, or the subaltern writers, are vital to achieve a greater understanding of truly what happened in history. A new historicist must recognize that much of the historical information that is recorded and more importantly passed down is that of the people of power, or often the winners. These ideas are also shown in the work of Mikhail Bakhtin, who considers the concept of carnival, which presents a whole culture that exists behind the mainstream world, one that is marginalized but subverts accepted hierarchies. In general, a new historicist, influenced by the works of Foucault, Marxism, and others, recognizes that a historical text is not simply a factual background, but is something that must be analyzed through all discourses, fields of study, cultures, and points of view of recorders of information during that time.
Los cuentos en “1976” describen los eventos que ocurrieron durante la guerra sucia en Argentina después del golpe de estado, y mientras el gobierno militar tenía el poder. Durante este tiempo, los ciudadanos vivían en miedo de las desapariciones y el gobierno brutal. Porque los militares tenían todo el poder, ellos también creaban mucha de la historia del tiempo. Los cuentos en “1976”, como “Anaztázia” muestran la historia desde otras perspectivas, incluso las de ciudadanos y victimas sin poder. El marco y la discusión de la literatura en “Anaztázia” ayuda explicar el sufrimiento y la tristeza, pero también el optimismo de los ciudadanos sin poder de Argentina durante este tiempo, y son necesarios en la entendimiento de esta etapa.