Preparing for A150 before the course starts: what history is
From Book 1, Reputations, Chapter 5 Stalin, p. 126.
Activity
Look up the terms ‘history’ and ‘myth’ in a dictionary, and then take some time to reflect on the differences between them.
Discussion
I expect that most answers to this activity will point out
that, in relation to the past, a myth is a distorted account of events,
whereas a historical account is more ‘truthful’. This is not inaccurate,
but the issue is slightly more complicated than this.
I looked up ‘myth’ in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED). At first sight it
didn’t seem that the definition helped very much: ‘A purely fictitious
narrative usually involving supernatural person, actions, or events, and
embodying some popular idea concerning natural or historical phenomena.’
Obviously we can’t use a definition of myth that emphasises the purely
fictional, but we can work to some extent with a definition that stresses a
‘popular idea concerning ... historical phenomena’. We need also to revisit
the ‘fictional’ aspect of the OED’s definition, because our definition should
look something like ‘a popular idea concerning historical phenomena, which
distorts the reality of past events, or cannot be fitted with the weight of
the available evidence’.
When I looked up ‘history’ I found a large number of possible definitions and
a multitude of examples of their use. There seemed to me to be two
definitions given by the OED which are relevant to
us: ‘A written narrative
constituting a continuous methodical record, in order of time,
of important
or public events, esp. those connected with a particular
country, people,
individual etc’; and ‘That branch of knowledge which deals
with past events, as recorded in writings or otherwise
ascertained; the formal record of the past, esp. of human
affairs or actions; the study or formation and growth of
communities and nations.’
The question of what history is, of course, is a complex one, and there are
many definitions and much academic dispute over them. All we need here is
a provisional working definition. ‘A written narrative constituting a
continuous methodical record’,as the OED puts it, is
often the end result of
historical investigation. In order to answer what history is,
we need to
combine our sense of the end product with the description of
history as a
field of knowledge contained in the second definition.
Let’s define history as an account of past events based upon the
interpretation of all the available evidence that relates to the
particular aspect of the past it is studying.
The key, therefore, to grasping the difference
between myth and history is that where myth is a distortion and cannot
be fitted with the weight of the available evidence, history is an
account that aims at capturing the truth about the past through a
careful interpretation of evidence. It is worth noting that the issue is
slightly more complex, for myths about the past play important roles in
shaping the actions of historical actors. Historical accounts of the
past are often constructed as replies to mythical accounts. Therefore,
even though they are distinct, in practice the two are locked in
continuous dialogue with each other.
I’d like you to put to one side any notes you have
made on this activity for now. We will revisit and expand upon some of
these themes later in the chapter.
#A150
#BOOK3
#BOOK3
#Prepare Your Self
#History
#Open University
#Open University
