The Work of History by Kalle Pihlainen

Author:Kalle Pihlainen [Pihlainen, Kalle]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: History, Historiography, Study & Teaching, General
ISBN: 9781315521596
Google: 7OE2DwAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2017-09-22T01:31:02+00:00

The Seepage of Reality into Story

Where textual differences between genres are admittedly hard to pin down, there is, for history writing as contrasted to literary creation, a definitive difference in the nature of the communicative act. As noted, this difference can be defined in terms of the commitments of the writer regarding reality and hence in terms of the generic commitments governing that act. There is no doubt that this attitude is shared by readers as long as the intentions and function (both textual and extra-textual) of the text are clear. Because of a difference in purpose, however, the specificity of the history text can also be seen as a seepage of reality into story, resulting from the disruptive nature of historical (qua historical) materials—as opposed to the incorporation of reality into story more obviously occurring both in history and literary fiction. This difference is evident from the text as text. (For an in-depth discussion of the textual differences between fact and fiction, see Pihlainen 2002a.) The realness of history does not come, then, from the use of historical material but from the untameability of that material by story. And this untameability, in turn, stems not from the nature of the material but from the capacities and limitations of the historical narrative, the conditions governing its story formation. So, in addition to—and in line with—the product of history being a disturbed narrative, the process itself is already one of narrative failure to begin with. That is so, of course, only as long as we are willing to import our definitions for failure and success from a foreign, and in many ways quite outmoded, theory of narrative.

Yet, keeping in mind the intentions and commitments of history writing, it might make better sense to say that this inability to fit materials in in a remainderless way is a good thing. The aesthetic goals of a historical narrative need not be the same as those of overtly fictional ones. Importantly though, history does need aesthetic acuity too; as Hayden White has repeatedly reminded, without the capacity to move readers and elicit emotional responses and involvement, narratives are useless for any kind of social or political efforts.13 And there is no reason—other than persistent misconceptions regarding objectivity—why historical narratives should be somehow exempt from such responsibility. Sadly, however, readily available literary examples for a history writing that does not aim at aesthetic closure and coherence are scarce. The examples offered by theorists of history tend to involve literary work with primarily artistic ambitions (and often, admittedly, also great artistic value and influence) (see, for example, White 1987; 1999; and LaCapra 1982). Although this has been extremely useful in moving attention as well as the search for models away from the classic realist novel, it has also furthered the impression of an excessive aestheticization taking place in these theories of history writing. Following this shift in the theory of history—and the overall, intimately related, rise of constructivism—emphasis has increasingly been placed on form and aesthetic values that hide rather than make use of history’s particularities.

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