مشخصات پژوهش

This proposal examines selected essays by Joseph Addison through the lens of New Historicism, focusing on the concepts of discourse, cultural artifacts, and self-fashioning. It argues that Addison’s essays from The Spectator are not merely moral writings but active discursive tools that shape social identity in early eighteenth-century England. Using Stephen Greenblatt’s theories, the study highlights how literature both reflects and produces cultural meaning. The research interprets Addison’s essays as part of larger ideological systems related to class, gender, civility, and bourgeois values. Drawing on Michel Foucault’s concept of discourse, the study explores how Addison’s writings contribute to regulating moral behavior and defining acceptable social norms. The essays are treated as cultural artifacts that mirror Enlightenment ideals such as rationality, politeness, and civic virtue. Through Clifford Geertz’s anthropological lens, the proposal views Addison’s texts as “webs of significance” that encode the concerns and aspirations of their historical moment. Central to the analysis is Greenblatt’s notion of self-fashioning, which reveals how Addison constructs a model of the ideal gentleman, guiding readers toward specific forms of identity. The proposal argues that Addison’s rhetorical strategies function as tools for shaping bourgeois subjectivity. The research also surveys related literature, emphasizing how New Historicism reconnects Addison’s prose to its ideological and political contexts. Methodologically, the study uses qualitative analysis, close reading, and intertextual comparison with sermons, conduct books, and political texts. It aims to show how Addison’s essays participate in discourses of power and cultural formation. The proposal’s innovation lies in applying New Historicist principles to Addison’s work, a field that has been underexplored. Ultimately, the study positions Addison as an influential cultural agent whose essays shaped public ethi