Between History and Literature - 1st Edition/1st Printing

Gossman, Lionel

ISBN 10: 0674068157 / ISBN 13: 9780674068155

Published by Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1990

About this Item

An attractive first edition/first printing in Near Fine condition in an alike dust-jacket; This book is a unique blend of history and literature. It traces the intertwined histories of both disciplines and how they have evolved over time. The author discusses how literature has helped to shape historical understanding and vice versa. By examining a wide range of examples, he makes a strong case for the importance of literature in historical research.; 8vo; 412 pages.

Seller Inventory # 50749

Bibliographic Details

• Title: Between History and Literature - 1st Edition/1st Printing
• Publisher: Harvard University Press, Cambridge
• Publication Date: 1990
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0674068157
• ISBN 13: 9780674068155
• Binding: Cloth
• Edition: First Edition; First Printing.
• Condition: Near Fine
• Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
• Seller catalogs:
  • First Editions
  • History::General
  • Collection Starter::Hundred Dollars or Less
  • By Year Of Issue::1990s

About this title

Synopsis

In our world of sophisticated literary theory and cliometrics, the gap between literature and history, between literary scholars and historians, has at times seemed to be widening. Drawing on essays written over the course of a distinguished teaching career, Lionel Gossman illuminates the many facets of the problematic relationship between history and literature and shows how each discipline both challenges and undermines the other's absolutist pretensions.

In his first chapters Gossman underlines the historicity of the very category of literature and explores the political and social implications of the notions we have of it. Literature emerges as something whose meaning and content are not as self-evident as we think; instead, what is designated by the term literature is defined by a larger cultural structure that is constantly changing. Gossman then turns to the interweaving of history and literature in historical writing itself, showing how literary narratives, philosophy, and politics are inextricably bound up in the texts of two major Romantic historians, Augustin Thierry and Jules Michelet. Seeing ourselves in relation to our Romantic predecessors--set out sympathetically and fully here by Gossman--should cause us to reflect on the current disjunction between literature and history and to try to imagine new ways in which one practice may assist and enrich the other. The final chapters deal directly with the question of the relationship between history and literature, both historically and as a contemporary problem. The last essay in particular addresses the twin issues of the place of narrative in historiography and the alleged incommensurability of historical narratives.

Gossman's detailed inquiries into the work of the Romantic historians and his thoughtful reflections on his own assumptions and practices as a scholar exemplify the highest ideals of humanistic scholarship. This eloquent and erudite work challenges us to rethink our notions about literature and history while enriching our understanding of both disciplines.