The term cultural materialism became popular in literary theory and cultural studies in 1985, when it was used by Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield who developed a methodology that included the analysis of any historical material (including literature) within a political framework.
Their four main methods of cultural materialism are:
Historical context
Theoretical method
Political destination
Textual analysis
These characteristics explain that cultural materialism seeks to recover the history of the text (historical context), which wants to offer a critique of the present and also means the influence. Marxist and feminist perspectives and a break from the conservative – Christian system that dominated Shakespearean criticism (political office). Cultural materialism is not so much interested in abstract theorizing, but in applying and using theory to read the text of canons (textual analysis). Cultural materialism also represents a break with liberal humanism criticism. This means being involved with readings of structuralism, post-structuralism, Marxism, feminism and other critical methods (theoretical method).
In addition to Jonathan Dollimore and Alan Sinfield, whose influence in the development of the cultural materialism movement was great and great, Raymond Williams also played a significant role. Left-wingliterary criticism has developed the term “structures of feeling. These “structures of feeling” are involved in “Meanings and values while living and they are felt”. They are often found in literature and the status quo materialistic cultures reject the past to read the present, the politics of the present manifests itself in what we emphasize or suppress in the past.”
In order to better understand how cultural materialism “renew certain historical documents and attempts to analyze and zeitgeist a certain moment in history”, we should look at Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre.
Cultural materialism analyzes the conditions of production of the text, it must consider the history of Jane -Eyre production to fully understand the reasons behind its creation and possible influences author Anyone who has read Jane Eyre and is informed about the life of Charlotte Bronte can see that she was inspired in her career with Victorian Era and it is possible to understand how these beliefs influenced and determined the lives of the protagonists.
Barry, Peter. Introduction Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 1995
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