History as a Kind of Writing: Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography
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.
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History as a Kind of Writing: Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography
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.
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History as a Kind of Writing: Textual Strategies in Contemporary French Historiography

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

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

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

by Philippe Carrard

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Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780226427966
Publisher: University of Chicago Press
Publication date: 03/07/2017
Pages: 264
Product dimensions: 6.30(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Philippe Carrard is a visiting scholar in the Comparative Literature Program at Dartmouth College. He is the author of Poetics of the New History: French Historical Discourse from Braudel to Chartier and The French Who Fought for Hitler: Memories from the Outcasts. He lives in New Hampshire and Switzerland.

Table of Contents

A Note about Translations and Documentation
Acknowledgments
Preface
Introduction: French History and Its Manuals1 Dispositions
Squabbles about Narrative
Linear Narratives
Writing the Event
Synchronic Cross Sections
Stage Narratives
Theory of a Practice2 Situations
Enunciations
Perspectives
The Discourse of the Absentee
Readerships3 Figures
Attestations
References
Computations
Uncertainties
Wordplay and Figures of SpeechConclusion
Notes
References
Index
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