Many years ago, in a well-lit room of the Old Arts Building at the University of Alberta, in a comparative literature graduate seminar, I and a few other students would often debate the merits and weaknesses of literary periodisation with the late Professor Ted Blodgett. Of primary concern in those discussions was the often wide spectrum under which period concepts operated, some with greater specificity, and others with too general a connotation. Mentioned in those classes were such names as David Perkins, Virgil Nemoianu, René Wellek, Helmut Hatzfeld, Wylie Sypher and others. Care was taken to point out how, by the 1990s, as evident in Perkins’ later work, a more lamentable tone was presented in relation to period concepts, in the sense that the spirit of literary taxonomy was…

7818 words

Citation: Sucur, Slobodan. "Period Categories in Literature and Literary History". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 27 October 2019 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/stopics.php?rec=true&UID=19573, accessed 24 April 2024.]