Published online by Cambridge University Press: 23 October 2020
The unevenness of periodization across different national traditions provides the perfect opportunity for a comparative and transnational inquiry. While the initial temptation is to deem literatures demarcated by national tradition incommensurate or simply to juxtapose them as disparate objects, the more compelling project, particularly for the early modern period, is to show how literary periodization itself becomes part of the project of national distinction. In this essay, which I want to place in dialogue with Margaret Greer's and Alison Weber's contributions to PMLA's January 2011 “Theories and Methodologies” forum on the Spanish Golden Age, I argue that periodization must be considered in a transnational framework, for our conception of significant literary epochs is closely tied to the relative value that literatures are assigned, especially when national traditions are coalescing.