Hayden White and the problem of narrative

Abstract

In the essay “The question of narrative in contemporary historical theory”, published in 1984, Hayden White addresses the centrality of narrative in the process of constructing historical knowledge, arguing for the impossibility of a privileged access to the past, which, however, does not in any way diminish the historian’s professional credibility. The understanding of historiography as a “poetic act”, and the acknowledgment of an imperative articulation between the real and the imaginary, ensures a dimension of both creativity as well as responsibility, and thus a more comprehensive role for the historian.