History as a Kind of Writing
Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography
Philippe Carrard
- In
- academia,
- the
- traditional
- role
- of
- the
- humanities
- is
- being
- questioned
- by
- the
- “posts”—postmodernism,
- poststructuralism,
- and
- postfeminism—which
- means
- that
- the
- project
- of
- writing
- history
- only
- grows
- more
- complex.
- In
- History
- as
- a
- Kind
- of
- Writing,
- scholar
- of
- French
- literature
- and
- culture
- Philippe
- Carrard
- speaks
- to
- this
- complexity
- by
- focusing
- the
- lens
- on
- the
- current
- state
- of
- French
- historiography.Carrard’s
- work
- here
- is
- expansive—examining
- the
- conventions
- historians
- draw
- on
- to
- produce
- their
- texts
- and
- casting
- light
- on
- views
- put
- forward
- by
- literary
- theorists,
- theorists
- of
- history,
- and
- historians
- themselves.
- Ranging
- from
- discussions
- of
- lengthy
- dissertations
- on
- 1960s
- social
- and
- economic
- history
- to
- a
- more
- contemporary
- focus
- on
- events,
- actors,
- memory,
- and
- culture,
- the
- book
- digs
- deep
- into
- the
- how
- of
- history.
- How
- do
- historians
- arrange
- their
- data
- into
- narratives?
- What
- strategies
- do
- they
- employ
- to
- justify
- the
- validity
- of
- their
- descriptions?
- Are
- actors
- given
- their
- own
- voice?
- Along
- the
- way,
- Carrard
- also
- readdresses
- questions
- fundamental
- to
- the
- field,
- including
- its
- necessary
- membership
- in
- the
- narrative
- genre,
- the
- presumed
- objectivity
- of
- historiographic
- writing,
- and
- the
- place
- of
- history
- as
- a
- science,
- distinct
- from
- the
- natural
- and
- theoretical sciences.
