In White's view, beyond the surface level of the historical text, there is a deep structural, or latent, content that is generally poetic and specifically linguistic in nature. This deeper content - the metahistorical element - indicates what an appropriate historical explanation should be.
In White's view, beyond the surface level of the historical text, there is a deep structural, or latent, content that is generally poetic and specific...
Tropics of Discourse develops White's ideas on interpretation in history, on the relationship between history and the novel, and on history and historicism. Vico, Croce, Derrida, and Foucault are among the figures he assesses in this work, which also offers original interpretations of a number of literary themes, including the Wild Man and the Noble Savage. White's commentary ranges from a reappraisal of Enlightenment history to a reflective summary of the current state of literary criticism.
Tropics of Discourse develops White's ideas on interpretation in history, on the relationship between history and the novel, and on history and histor...
Hayden White borrows the title for "The Practical Past "from philosopher Michael Oakeshott, who used the term to describe the accessible material and literary-artistic artifacts that individuals and institutions draw on for guidance in quotidian affairs. "The Practical Past," then, forms both a summa of White s work to be drawn upon and a new direction in his thinking about the writing of history.
White s monumental "Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe "(1973) challenged many of the commonplaces of professional historical writing and wider assumptions...
Hayden White borrows the title for "The Practical Past "from philosopher Michael Oakeshott, who used the term to describe the accessible material a...
