History Writing as Narrative Art

The course starts from the methodological claim that the history writing that has lasted and has had the most important impact in shaping history itself has been history written as a form of narrative art.  This claim is not meant to deny the immense contribution that social science methodologies have made to historical scholarship, but to argue that it is the integration of these methods into narrative art that gives history writing its impact on the historical understandings and mythologies of nations and societies.  Narrative art is intrinsic to the making of national mythologies, and this class will evaluate what responsibilities the historian as artist bears for the uses made of his works.