New historicism is a method of understanding and evaluating a literary piece. While traditional historicism uses what happened during the time period the story takes place as a reference, new historicism uses the perspective of people who aren’t necessarily the ones being written about. For example, slaves or lower class during an oppressive time period. Developed in the 1980’s, new historicism was a method that challenged traditional historicism. Stephen Greenblatt is seen as the founder of new historicism, which he wrote about in the journal Gene in 1982. Other influencers and contributors include Michel Foucault, who challenged the accepted truth about history. A key idea of new historicism is that history is a lot of stories and cultures passed down, usually from a person of power, so there are many other perspectives and sides that can be discovered. As a result, new historicists question what is missing.
En la historia, Nuevas etapas, un hombre habla sobre su pasado en Argentina en 1976. Él habla sobre la día del 24 de marzo de 1976, un golpe de Estado y la termina de la presidencia de Isabel Martínez de Perón. Al tiempo, él tiene trece años. Con este cuento es posible a ver la historia de la golpe a través los ojos de un chico joven y inocente que escapó de Argentina. Con el lenguaje y él use como “había tomado el poder y la dirección de mi país,” las observaciones de las personas alrededor de él, y su estado como un chico joven, es evidente que el cuento dice un historia diferente de la historia famosa.