INTERVIEW: BERTRAND WESTPHAL
INTERVIEW: BERTRAND WESTPHAL

Summary/Abstract: Q: Literary history, be it national, local, or regional, is perhaps the most conservative form of literary study, with many claiming that the method is outmoded. What can literary histories do to overcome both the risk of obsolescence and their inherent conservatism?A: In itself, your question seems to call for an unequivocal answer. It is as if literary history, perceived at a local, in other words national or regional level, were systematically marked by conservatism and, thereby, doomed to inexorable obsolescence. This is both absolutely true and eminently debatable. It all depends on the issues and the methods underlying its development. It seems to me that everything that pertains to literary history would benefit from being explicitly and systematically situated in a context, whether geographical or historical—because this context is never self-evident: it is itself the subject of a narrative.

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