A Critical Analysis of the Portrayal of the Historian in a Selected Sample of Twentieth Century English Novels
Date
2014-09-26
Authors
Contributor
Advisor
Department
Instructor
Depositor
Speaker
Researcher
Consultant
Interviewer
Narrator
Transcriber
Annotator
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
University of Hawaii at Manoa
Volume
Number/Issue
Starting Page
Ending Page
Alternative Title
Abstract
History, as well as historians, has frequently been maligned by a wide spectrum of European intellectuals in the twentieth century. Criticism has ranged from mildly derogatory pronouncements to sweeping condemnations of history’s ability to serve as a positive force in human life. Paul Valery, a noted French poet and philosopher, offers perhaps the best example of a contemptuous rejection of history’s worth. History is the most dangerous concoction the chemistry of the mind has produced… It sets people dreaming, intoxicates them, engenders false memories, exaggerates their reflexes, keeps old wounds open, torments their leisure, inspires them with megalomania…and makes nations bitter, proud, insufferable and vain. History can justify anything you like. It teaches strictly nothing, for it contains and gives examples of everything. Valery’s harsh assessments of history parallel criticisms of historians. Michael Oakeshott, himself a historian and a political scientist, disapproves of those historians who exult in the irrelevance of the past and who are oblivious to the world’s demands that history have some applicability to the present.
Description
Keywords
Citation
Extent
89 pages
Format
Geographic Location
Time Period
Related To
Related To (URI)
Table of Contents
Rights
All UHM Honors Projects are protected by copyright. They may be viewed from this source for any purpose, but reproduction or distribution in any format is prohibited without written permission from the copyright owner.
Rights Holder
Local Contexts
Collections
Email libraryada-l@lists.hawaii.edu if you need this content in ADA-compliant format.