1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910162715603321

Autore

Carrard Philippe

Titolo

History as a Kind of Writing : Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography / / Philippe Carrard

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Chicago : , : University of Chicago Press, , [2017]

©2017

ISBN

9780226428017

022642801X

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource

Disciplina

907.2/044

Soggetti

Historiography - France

History - Methodology

Literature and history - France

History - Philosophy

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Translated from the French.

Previously issued in print: 2017.

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Frontmatter -- Contents -- A Note about Translations and Documentation -- Acknowledgments -- Preface -- Introduction: French History and Its Manuals -- Chapter 1. Dispositions -- Chapter 2. Situations -- Chapter 3. Figures -- Conclusion -- Notes -- References -- Index

Sommario/riassunto

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.