ABSTRACT
Ever since their emergence as academic disciplines, literary studies and history have had a close but problematic relationship. As I pointed out in Chapter One, the two subjects were sometimes taught together in early degrees at dissenting colleges in the nineteenth century, and they developed as fully-fledged academic subjects at around the same time. Each of these disciplines contains elements of the other: literary studies often draws on historical material, while everything, including literature, could be said to have a history. The obvious connections between the subjects, however, have not always encouraged co-operation; they have often led to greater territoriality, as each subject has sought to consolidate its own separateness and uniqueness. It might be helpful to trace a brief history of the attempts within the disciplines to cordon themselves off from each other, before looking at more recent, interdisciplinary efforts to work across these divisions.
