This pedestrian term is actually the key to my historical period.
A disputatious panel at last year’s professional conference revealed the surprising state of the field (it’s as bad as you think).
My historical period, properly understood, includes yours.
What looked like a moment of failure, confusion, or ugliness in this well-known work is better seen as directions for reading the whole.
A problem you thought you could solve defines your field; you can’t imagine the field without the problem.
The only people able to understand this work properly cannot communicate that understanding to you.
Those two apparently incompatible versions of a thing are better regarded as parts of the same, larger thing.