Mourning and Restitution: Michel de Certeau Textual Creature. Echoes of a Furtive Dialogue

Abstract

“What does the historian create when he ‘makes history’ ?” With this question, Michel de Certeau inaugurates his famous essay on the historical operation. As he anticipates, it is an “enigmatic relationship” that the historian maintains “with pre­sent society and with death through the mediation of technical activities.” Fifty years after the first edition of this famous es­say, I wish to contribute to a necessary balance of the meanings and uses of the historical operation. In light of Andrés Freijo­mil’s invaluable contribution in Arts de braconner. A material history of reading with Michel de Certeau (Garnier, 2020), that illuminates truer orders of meaning for the understanding of his work, I ask myself: What did Freijomil do to achieve this surprising turn? In this essay, I will try to reveal the secrets of his magical operation based on the very material he addresses: the work of Michel de Certeau.