Trials of Irish History: Genesis and Evolution of a Reappraisal

ISBN-13: 9780415329187 / Angielski / Twarda / 2006 / 336 str.

Evi Gkotzaridis

Opis

In "Trials of Irish History," Evi Gkotzaridis brings her original insights into theory and philosophy to bear upon the controversial question of revision in Irish history. In an incisive restaging of the passionate joust that took place between revisionists and traditionalists in the shadow of the 'Troubles' the book prises open conflicting intellectual notions about the function of history in a divided society. This Irish "Kulturkampf "is compared with similar discussions in Germany and France in order to identify and magnify the strengths, weaknesses and temptations hidden in the arguments propounded by each side.
Here for the first time, the historical and the theoretical fuse in an attempt to enter the minds of those trailblazer historians who from 1938, against considerable odds including: the painful memory of the Irish Civil War; the cultural contraction of the first decades of independence; the estrangement between two regimes; and the devastation of the Second World War, spearheadedan unpoliticized history. Drawing on hitherto unused archives, the book shows how the venture to disenthrall Irish and European history from the fiend of official propagandas proved stimulating, challenging and also perilous. "Trials of Irish History "unveils a crucial chapter in the history of Irish revisionism - when the 'new historians' clashed with the Bureau of Military History over the handling of oral records related to the War of Independence - refuting the accusations of collaboration with the Political Establishment laid at the door of the revisionist school of history.
This book provides a provocative and spirited defense of the revisionists. While recognizing that revisionismis a path littered with booby traps which needs to be trod carefully, the author nonetheless commends the spirit and ingenuity of the revisionists, showing how the post modern interpretative turn at the end of the twentieth century has by and large vindicated it.

Recenzje

'This is a remarkable book, underpinned by a remarkable historical intelligence ... the book is compellingly clever and anyone with an interest in Irish history or historiography should read it thoroughly.' –The English Historical Review

Spis treści

Part 1: History and Theory in the Irish Debate : Foes or Allies ?  1. The Intellectual Mood in the 1990s  2. The Revisionist : A New Type of Intellectual  Part 2: The Genesis of Modern Historical Scholarship in Ireland  3. Internal Critique : Vicissitudes and Potentials  4. The Loss of History and the New Historians’ Fight against Propaganda on the Irish and Continental 'Front'  5. The Clash between the New Historians and the Bureau of Military History   Part 3: The Great Famine: The Crisis of Representation and the Limits of Empirical History  6. Weaknesses in Ethnographic Method  7. Theoretical Underpinnings and their Impact  8. The Claims of Memory and Critique  Part 4: Master Narratives: Discarding of Historical Thinking ?  9.  The Epistemological and Philosophical Position of Irish Revisionism  10. The Revolution Comes Under Revisionist Scrutiny  11. The Concept of Totalitarianism : Comparison and its Pitfalls  12. Revision, Deconstruction, Semiology : Similar Methods?  Part 5: Tensions between Theoretical Intuition and Empirical Reflex  13. Relativism and its Opponents  14. The Problematic of Ends and Means  15. Grappling with the Problem of Objectivity  Bibliography  Index

O autorze

Evi Gkotzaridis