It seems apparent that New Historicism is correct in its assumption that literary texts reflect the historicity of a given time or period in which the texts were written. With the exception of a few genres, such as science fiction and futuristic texts, most literary texts are connected to the power, societal and ideological relationships of a given time. It is actually illogical for them not to be tied to the time period since the context of that given time period would be most familiar to the authors.

The Victorian Era is depicted in Henry James’ 1898 novella The Turn of the Screw. The limited relationships between the uncle and the governess show the relatively “separate lives” that men and women led during this time period. Similarly, this connection with the time period is also present in literary texts of today. For example, David Baldacci’s The Target reflects the present conditions and the treatment of prisoners, both political and criminal, in the North Korean concentration camps is vivid detail. One can feel the horrible torture and blatant disregard for human life coming from the prison camp guards as one hurries through the pages. This feeling of the period makes the text come alive for the reader and heightens the connection to the story.

It is not clear whether James is simply using the Victorian Era as a background for the story in The Turn of the Screw or if he is challenging the relationships of the time by exaggerating the distances between the uncle and the governess. It was noted that in another novel, Daisy Miller, James has Daisy break all the rules governing the relationships between a man and a woman during this Era. Daisy takes on the label of “flirt” because she breaks the tradition of speaking to a man when no one else is with them. Maybe James is simply calling attention to some absurdity he sees, but in any case, the traditions and relationships of the period are used to communicate his ideas, which reinforces New Historicism.

I do not believe, however, that the literary text ceases to reflect history in order to become part of the historical discourse, thereby producing history. There are, perhaps, a few literary texts that might support the notion of novel as history. Such texts as Gone with The Wind and Uncle Tom’s Cabin may well fall into that category, but most novels and novellas reflect history by using the relationships of the time period to support the story rather than becoming the story.