Literary historiography - and beyond.

Organising literary texts into diachronic segments based on historiographic and rhetorical concepts seems restrictive to Moretti.The popular literary histories available to us heavily recline on historiographical disciplines like History and Sociology. There is a tendency to align every major literary moment and phase to a corresponding historical event or movement. In this process, an important theoretical apparatus- literary genre remains underused. Though excellent historical- sociological criticism within genre studies has been identified, the internal laws and sociological range of many genres are overlooked. Moretti condemns Lukcas coagulated distinction between Life and Form for the confinement of literary genres into the realms of theoretical oblivion. Lukcas effort to preserve Life away from the petrified Form hampered the advancement of genre in re- ordering literary history. However, Moretti doesnot blame Lukcas solely for the slower and discontinuous pace of literary genre (Moretti, 16). He states that a literary text is in obedience to a prevailing system of laws and the criticism on that text should employ an analysis of the power at work (Moretti,12). Thus the study of a specific genre introduces longue duree( cf. French Annales school of historical writing). Here, long term historiographical structures supporting the states of civilzation gain primacy over isolated historical events within literary history to be historieevenementielle (Moretti,13). This questions the aura of prominence around the masterpieces that relegate genre as a background. But Moretti postulates a masterpiece to be the fullest realisation of a genre and a producer of historical stability undercutting the supremacy of masterpieces over genre. He pleads not to fixate on the elite literature instead to explore Mass/Conventional/normal literature. As such selective reading stereotypes the conventions of texts and minimizes the scope within literary historiography. Often, to define or/and to reinvent innovation, convention should be revisited.

As the idea of normal literature has not been dealt with sufficiently, our sparse knowledge of literary historiography opens new spheres of research. Mass/ conventional literature with its dawn can highlight several blind- sighted areas. Moretti believes that this will allow restructuring of the existing literary system observing fidelity to literature. On extending Morettis manifesto for literary historiography and rhetorical genre studies, literary genre can contribute to the clear demarcation of literary historiography by sublimating the overflowing element within Forms that disallows historical division. In this way, literary historians can also counter the false claim of the irrelevance of literary history as it deals with imaginary. (Moretti,18) Rather literary historiography is the bridge between a sociology of symbolic forms, a history of cultural connections.(Moretti,19) However, for all these to be true, the basics of literary historiography needs to be revised. Instead of relying on historical factors or judging its reluctance through the lenses of history, literary historiography has to chart out its own evolution independent of the discipline of History as what is monumental to History might not be significant to Literature and literary history. To this Katie Trumpener in her critical response to Franco Morettis rhetorical genre studies gives a convincing example. Between 1790s 1820s, the courtship / marriage novel flourish without gaining any generic demarcation. They use single proper nouns as names (mostly Christian names) as the title of novel, marking the female protagonist who is involved in a courtship leading to a marriage. They have specific subtitles like A marriage novel and Or,which should she wed? demystifying the whole lot. For example - Frances Burneys Cecila or memoirs of an heiress (1782), Maria Hedgeworths Belinda (1801), Charlotte Smiths Emmeline. Here, the study of such conventional novels would help us create an alternate sociological and historical perspective of the 1790s 1820s. Independent of any major historical event or movement, it will give us an understanding of the then

society. As a part of the Mass/ Conventional literature it highlights the blind sighted areas of sociologicaland historical enquiry allowing a restructuring of the literary history. Bibliography; 1.Moretti,Franco.The soul and the harpy:reflections on the aims and methods of litearay historiography. Signs Taken for Wonders: Essays in the Sociology of Literary Forms 4. 4.London:Verso.1983.1-41.Print. 2.Trumpener,Katie.Critical Response I:Paratext and Genre System: A Response to Franco Moretti.Critical Inquiry 36.1 (2009).Jstor.org.Web.15 November,2013.