History’s languages: between analysis and narration

• Published in: Memoria y civilización Vol. 15; pp. 301 - 317
• Main Author: Jaume Aurell
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: Spanish
• Published: Universidad de Navarra 01.12.2012
• Subjects: historia científica; historia de la historiografía; historia narrativa; referencialidad
• ISSN: 1139-0107; 2254-6367

The article describes the diverse narrative forms that historians have used to deliver their texts. From classical antiquity till the 19th century, the prevailing style used by historians was descriptive narrative, which made their accounts a branch of literature. With the emergence of nineteenth-century historicism, historians began to use an analytic scientific language borrowed from the natural sciences. This approached history to social sciences, combining analytic language with quantitative methods. Eventually, starting in the early 1970s, historians restored classic narrative language, but emphasising the interpretive dimension rather than the strictly descriptive or analytic. The article posits a history of historiography from this perspective and argues that, whatever kind of language he/she uses, the historian has the responsibility to ensure that their language does not veer off either into anti-humanistic scientism or else into anti-referential rhetoric.