Wesleyan University

Historical Narration: Foundation, Types, Reason

Author(s): Jrn Rsen
Reviewed work(s):
Source: History and Theory, Vol. 26, No. 4, Beiheft 26: The Representation of Historical
Events (Dec., 1987), pp. 87-97
Published by: Wiley for Wesleyan University
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HISTORICAL NARRATION: FOUNDATION, TYPES, REASON

JORN RUSEN
Queen:
Lady:
Queen:
Lady:
Queen:

. . . no dancing, girl - some other sport.

Madam, we'll tell tales.
Of sorrow or of joy?
Of either, madam.
Of neither, girl.'

Whatis historicalnarration?Most historianswill feel boredwhentheyhearthis

question,sincetheywill not feel concernedwiththis problem;andprobablywill
think, leavethis matterto the people in the literatureand philosophydepartments. But in fact this questionbearson the fundamentalsof their own work
andbringsphilosophyandlinguisticsmuchnearerthanusualto historicalstudies.
HaydenWhite,with elaboratesagacity,laboredto convincehistoriansof this
fact whenhe treated"thehistoricalworkas whatit most manifestlyis: a verbal
structurein the formof a narrativeprosediscourse."But sincehe explicatedthis
discourseof historiansas "generally
poetic,andspecificallylinguistic,in nature,"'
he shockedmost historians.Theyfelt consignedto the uncomfortableand ambiguousvicinityof poetryand robbedof theirhard-earneddignityas scholars
of a highly rationalized,methodologicallyconfirmeddiscipline.Nevertheless,
it is worthwhileto enterthe poeticalsphere.The word"poetical"shouldbe understoodin theoriginalsenseof poiesis,whichsimplymeansmakingor producing
something.Indeed,no historiancould denythe fact that thereis a creativeactivity of the humanmindworkingin the processof historicalthinkingand recognition. Narrationis the waythis activityis being performedand "history"more precisely,a history- is the productof it.
I willnot enterintoa complex,epistemological
discussionof the narrative
structureof historicalknowledge.3Instead,I wantto demonstratethe narrativefundamentalsof historicalconsciousnessby quotingan inconspicuousargumentation: despite the prejudiceagainst locating poetry with the fundamentalsof

1. William Shakespeare, Richard II, act 3, sc. 4, lines 9ff.

2. -. White,Metahistory:TheHistoricalImaginationin Nineteenth-Century
Europe(Baltimore,
1973), ix.
3. A. Danto, Analytical Philosophy of History (Cambridge, 1965); H. M. Baumgartner, Kon-

tinuitatand Geschichte:ZurKritikundMetakritikderhistorischenVernunft(Frankfurt,1972);F.
Ankersmit,NarrativeLogic:A SemanticAnalysisof the Historian'sLanguage(TheHague,1983);
Knowingand TellingHistory:TheAnglo-SaxonDebate,ed. F. R. Ankersmit,Historyand Theory,
Beiheft 25 (Middletown, Conn., 1986).

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JORN RUSEN

historical studies, I want to quote a small dialogue between King Henry IV and
his noble counselor Warwick:
King Henry:0 God! that one might readthe book of fate,
And see the revolutionof the times ...
... how chancesmock,
And changesfill the cup of alteration
With diversliquors!0, if this wereseen,
The happiestyouth, viewinghis progress
through,
What peril past, what crossesto endure,
Wouldshut the book, and sit him down and
die.
Warwick: Thereis a historyin all men'slives,
Figuringthe natureof the times deceased;
King Henry:Are these things then necessities?
Then let us meet them like necessities. . .4
From this small but profound dialogue we can learn what historical narration
is: it is a system of mental operations defining the field of historical consciousness. Here time is seen as a threat to normal human relations, casting them into
the abyss of uncertainty. The most radical experience of time is death. History
is a response to this challenge: it is an interpretationof the threateningexperience
of time. It overcomes uncertainty by seeing a meaningful pattern in the course
of time, a pattern responding to human hopes and intentions. This pattern gives
a sense to history. Narration therefore is the process of making sense of the experience of time.
In this way I understand Hayden White's statement about narration as a poetical act constituting historical knowledge.5 Narration is a process of poiesis, of
making or producing a fabric of temporal experience woven according to the
need to orient oneself in the course of time. The product of this process of narration, the fabric capable of so orienting, is "a history."With respect to the threat
of death, narration transcends the limits of mortality into a broader horizon of
meaningful temporal occurrences. This is one of the essential truths of the tales
of A Thousand and One Nights. Scheherazade knows that to narrate is to overcome death; narration is an act of de-mortalization of human life.6
But the Shakespearean answer to the question "what is historical narration"
is as ambiguous as poetry itself. It tells enough about narration to understand
it as a fundamental operation in the depths of historical consciousness; but since
not all narration is historical, it tells too little about this difference. And this is

4. King Henry IV, act 2, sc. 1, lines 45-56.

5. Cf. also H. White, The Content of the Form: Narrative Discourse and Historical Representation (Baltimore, 1987).
6. This is emphasized by V. Klotz, "Erzahlen als Enttoten: Notizen zu zyklischem, instrumentalem und praktischem Erzahlen," in Erzadhlforschung:Ein Symposion, ed. E. Lammert (Stuttgart,
1972), 319-334.

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HISTORICAL NARRATION

89

veryoften the case in the topicaldiscussionof the philosophyof historywhen

it stressesthe narrativeproceduresof historiography.
So weneedthe helpof moretheoreticalargumentsto complementShakespeare.
The traditionalargumentwouldbe to differentiatebetweenfactualandfictional
narrations.Historicalnarrationis usuallydefinedas dealingonly with factsand
is veryproblematical,and finallynot connot with fictions.This differentiation
vincing,becausethe all-importantsenseof a historylies beyondthe distinction
betweenfictionand fact. In fact it is absolutelymisleading-and arisesfrom a
good deal of hiddenand suppressedpositivism-to call everythingin historiographyfiction which is not a fact in the sense of a hard datum.
I thinkthatthe peculiarityof an historicalnarrationliesin the followingthree
qualitiesand their systematicrelationship:7
1. An historicalnarrativeis tied to the mediumof memory.It mobilizesthe experienceof past time, whichis engravedin the archivesof memory,so that
the experienceof presenttime becomesunderstandableand the expectation
of futuretime is possible.
2. An historicalnarrativeorganizesthe internalunityof thesethreedimensions
of time by a conceptof continuity.This conceptadjuststhe realexperience
of time to humanintentionsand expectations.By doing so it makesthe experienceof the pastbecomerelevantforpresentlife andinfluencesthe shaping
of the future.
3. An historicalnarrativeservesto establishthe identity of its authors and
listeners.This functiondecideswhethera conceptof continuityis plausible
or not. Thisconceptof continuitymustbe capableof convincingthe listeners
of the permanenceand stabilityof themselvesin the temporalchangeof their
world and of themselves.
By these threequalitieshistoricalnarrationbringsabout the orientationof
practicallife in time- an orientationwithoutwhichit is impossiblefor humans
to find their way.
Till now I haveonly givena roughoutline of the wide and manifoldfield of
historicalnarration.It is necessaryfirstto establisha generaltheoreticalmodel
of the structure,process,and functionof historicalnarrationbeforeconsidering
the varietiesof historiography.
Onlywithsucha modelcanweadequatelydistinguishhistoriographyfrom otherformsof understandingin our and in all other
cultures.
But the proof of the puddingis in the eating,and so the proof of the abstract
descriptionis in the understandingof concretephenomena.Thereforethe question is inevitable:how can we developthe understandingof the narrativefundamentalsof historicalknowledgeinto the cognitionof the manifoldmanifesta-

7. For a more detailed argumentation see J. Rusen, "Die vier Tbpen des historischen Erzahlens,"
BeitragezurHistorik,
ed. R. Koselleck (TheoriederGeschichte,
in FormenderGeschichtsschreibung,
vol. 4) (Munich, 1982), 514-605.

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90

JORN RUSEN

tions of historiography?
ToparaphraseKarlMarx:how can we ascendfromthe
abstractto the concrete?We can do this by the means of typology.
And so we havecome to the secondpoint of my paper,in whichI wouldlike
to give an outline of a generaltypology of historicalnarration,which should
In this typologyI try to
disclosethe wide and manifoldfieldof historiography.
stressthe specifichistoricalcharacterof makingsenseof the experienceof time
by narration.With this intention,which is similarto that of Johann Gustav
DroysenandFriedrichNietzsche,the followingtypologydifferssubstantially
from
that of HaydenWhite,whichinterpretshistoriography
as literatureanddoes not
at all recognizeits specificity.
So the point I startfrom is the functionof historicalnarration.As I havealreadymentioned,historicalnarrationhasthe generalfunctionof orientingpracticallife in timeby mobilizingthe memoryof temporalexperience,by developing
a concept of continuityand by stabilizingidentity.This generalfunction can
be realizedin fourdifferentways,accordingto thefournecessaryconditionswhich
mustbe fulfilledso that humanlife can go on in the courseof time:affirmation,
regularity,negation,transformation.
ThereforeI cansee fourdifferentfunctional
types of historicalnarrationwith correspondingforms of historiography.
I wouldliketo illustratethe typesof examplesdrawnfromthe fieldof women's
history,a subject-matter
whichtodayfocusesthe discussionon the fundamentals
of historicalstudies.8
(1)Everyformof humanlife is necessarilyorganizedbytraditions.Theycannot
be deniedtotally,otherwisepeoplewouldlose the groundundertheirfeet. The
firsttype takes this into account.Traditionalnarrativearticulatestraditionsas
necessaryconditionsfor humansto findtheirway.Traditionalnarrativesin the
field of women'shistoryare veryrare,but monumentsare a traditionalway of
historicallymakingsenseof the experienceof time. I found a good examplein
Grahamstown(SouthAfrica) in the Main Streetleadingfrom RhodesUniversity to the cathedral.Herethereis a monumentwhichis dedicated"to Pioneer
women"and inscribedas follows,representinghistoricalmeaningas traditional
narrativesdo: "Keeptheirmemorygreenand sweet/ they smoothedthe thorns
with bleedingfeet."
To say it in the generalizingwayof theory:traditionalnarrativesremindone
of the originsconstitutingpresentsystemsof life; they constructcontinuityas
permanenceof originallyconstitutedsystemsof life, and they form identityby
affirming given- or more precisely, pre-given- cultural patterns of selfunderstanding.Otherexamplesare:storieswhichtell about the originand the
genealogyof rulers,in orderto legitimatetheirdomination;withinreligiouscommunities,storiesof their foundation;storieswhich are told at the occasion of
centennialsand otherjubilees(in Bostonyou can evenwalka traditionalnarrative followingthe FreedomTrailpaintedas a red line on the pavement).In all
these stories,time gains the sense of eternity.
8. Cf., e.g., Weiblichkeitin geschichtlicherPerspektive, ed. U. A. J. Becher and J. Risen (Frankfurt, 1988), forthcoming.

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91

HISTORICAL NARRATION

Typologyof historicalnarration

memoryof 'continuityas identityby

origins

traditionally constituting
present forms
narrative

of life

permanence
of originally constituted forms
of life

af f irming

pre-given cultural patterns

of self-under-

sense of time
time gains the

sense of

eternity

standing

cases

validity of

demonstrating
exemplary applications
exemp~~~ary
of
narrative general rules
.of conduct

critical
narrative

alteration
of given ideas
of continuity

conduct

denying
given patterns
of identity

time gains the

sense of

spa tial extime gains the

sense of being
an object of

judgment

proper ones

_m

ferent

tension

problematizing
present forms
of life

transformations of alien
narrative.forms of life into
narrative
_______

or

devia tions

genetic[
L

generalizing

experiences of
rules covering
to rules of
tep gal dfenttime

development

mediating

in which forms of

permanence

life change inorde

to establish
their
permanence dyna-

and change to
a process of
self-definition

time gains the

sense

of

temporalization

ically

(2) Traditionsalone are not sufficientas forms of orientation,becausethey

are very limitedin their empiricalcontent;and furthermoreare manifoldand
heterogeneous,callingfor an integrationby rulesor principles.Theserulesand
principlesareabstractbecausetheyaregeneraland covera widerangeof diverse
experiencesof time.Theythereforerequirerelationto this diversity.It is exemplarynarrativeswhichbringabout this relation.Theymake abstractrulesand
principlesconcrete,tellingstorieswhichdemonstratethe validityof the rulesand
principlesin singlecases. To use our exampleof women'shistory,one can look
backat an earlyperiodof women'sstudies.In orderto demonstratethe abstract
principleof women'sequality,femalehistorianspreferredstorieswhichtold a
lot aboutthe accomplishments,capacities,importance,andefficiencyof women
of the past. This approachhad the effectthat manyimportantwomenand their
worksin art, handicraft,science,religion,learning,the economy,and politics
weresaved from oblivion.
Tosayit againin the generalizingwayof theory:exemplarynarrativesremind
one of cases whichdemonstrateapplicationsof generalrulesof conduct;they
imposecontinuityas the supertemporal
validityof ruleswhichcovertemporally
differentsystemsof life; and they form identityby generalizingexperiencesof
time to rulesof conduct.Otherexamplesof this type of historicalnarrationare
storieswhichpresentmodelsof virtueor vice. In the newspaperswe can always
find allusionsto historicaloccurrences,and these allusionsfollow the logic of
exemplarynarration.An exampleis the followingpartof an articleof the Cape
Times from 17 February1987:
Will we say: "Wedid not know"?
[T]herecentaddressin Parliamentby the Ministerof Finance... wherehe admitted

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92

JORNRUSEN

that he himself . .. did not know what was going on in the black townshipsis cause
for concern.
Weall knowthat the Germanpeoplewerenot informedaboutthe terribleconditions
in the ghettos and prisoner of war camps or the extermination horror camps .

. and

at the end, their answerto all this was:"wedid not know."Some terribleparallelscan
be formedwhich could apply in the South African contextand will we, at the end of
the day, also say "wedid not know"?
The core of the logic of exemplary narration is formulated by the old prase:
historia vitae magistra (history is the teacher of life). Stories of the exemplary
type open up the field of temporal experience beyond the limits of tradition: time
gains the sense of spatial extension.
(3) The third type is critical narration. It is based on humans' ability to say
no to traditions, rules, and principles, which have come down to us. This "no"
stands before each intended alteration of the cultural patterns of historical understanding. It clears the space for new patterns.
In women's history this type of narration is abundant. Well known are the
depressing stories relating the suffering of women in the long career of patriarchal domination. By these stories feminist historians shake the validity of traditional patterns of womanhood, thus opening minds for alternatives.
To say it in terms of theory: critical narrativesremind one of deviations which
make the present conditions of life problematic; they schematize continuity only
indirectly, namely by dissolving or destroying culturally effective ideas of continuity. On the line of continuity these stories live on what they destroy. They
form identity by denying given patterns of self-understanding: it is the identity
of obstinacy.
Other examples of this type are the historical works which follow Voltaire's
motto: "When reading history it is but the only business of a healthy mind to
refute it."9 Critical narratives are anti-stories. These stories call temporal experiences before the tribunal of the human mind: time gains the sense of being
an object of judgment.
(4) But critical narrative is not the last word of historical consciousness. Its
dynamic of negation is not sufficient; it only replaces one pattern with another.
The pattern that finds the change itself meaningful and significant is still missing.
This pattern defines the fourth type: that of the genetical narrative.
Stories of this type give direction to the temporal change of humans and the
world, to which the listeners must accordingly adjust their lives in order to cope
with the challenging alterations of time.
In women's history stories of this type of narrative overcome the alternative
of affirmation or negation, of defining or refusing given traditions and principles
of womanhood. They replace the abstract antithesis by stressing the element of
dynamic structural change and using gender as an historical category. It is this
element of structural development which mediates the anticipation of alterna-

9. Oeuvres completes de Voltaire, ed. Moland, vol. 11, p. 427.

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HISTORICAL NARRATION

93

tiveswiththeexperienceof the hithertoachievedalterationsof the stateof womanhood and of gender-relations.

In the wordsof theory:Geneticalnarrativesremindone of transformations,
which lead from alien forms of life into properones. They presentcontinuity
as development,in which the alterationof forms of life is necessaryfor their
permanence.And they form identityby mediatingpermanenceand changeto
a processof self-definition(in Germanthis is called"Bildung").Storiesof this
type representthe forcesof changeas factorsof steadiness;they take awaythe
threatof losing oneself in the temporalmovementof humansubjectivity,interpretingit ratheras a chance of gaining oneself. They organizehuman selfunderstandingas a temporallydynamicprocess:time gains the sense of temporality.
Now one mayask whatis won by discerningthese fourtypes. It is impossible
to answerthisquestionbeforewehavelookedintothecomplexrelationship
among
them.Eachtype correspondsto one necessaryconditionwhichmustbe fulfilled
if humanlife is to find its way in the courseof time. Thereforethe four types
do not excludeone anotherbut are closely connected,althougheach is clearly
distinguishedfromthe others.The complexityof this connectionis too wideto
explicateit hereto its full extent.So let me just summarizethe two mainpoints:
(1) All four elementsare found in everyhistoricaltext; one necessarilyimplies
the rest.(2) Thereis a naturalprogressionfromthe traditionalto the exemplary
and from the exemplaryto the geneticalnarrative.Criticalnarrativeservesas
the necessarycatalystin this transformation.
To realizethe whole fabricof relationbetweenthe types we haveto combine
the qualityof implicationwith that of transformation.The resultwill not be
a muddle,or a higgledy-piggledy
mess,but a systematicallyorderedtexture,the
logic of whichcan be calleddialectic.By this structurethe typologyenablesus
in a clear-cutconceptualframework.
to analyzeconcreteworksof historiography
As Max Weberhas demonstrated,it is the systematical,abstract,and strictly
conceptualizedform of theorywhichmakestypologiesuseful for empiricalresearch.And it is about this usefulnessor functionof the typologyof historical
narrationthat I want to make some remarks.
The firstand most simpleuse of the typology is to classifyhistoricalworks.
So wecancharacterize
historyof the Greekcultureor George
JacobBurckhardt's
Bancroft'sHistoryof the UnitedStatesas a traditionalnarrative,Machiavelli's
History of Florenceas exemplary,Voltaire'sEssai sur les moeurset l'espritdes
nationsas critical,and TheodorMommsen'sRomanHistoryas genetical.But
such a classificationdoes not take us veryfar.Only whenwe take into account
the internalrelationshipamong the types can they disclosemuch more about
historicalworks.In everyhistoricalworkit is the compositionof thesefournarrativeelementsthat constituteits peculiarity.The typology allows one to disclose this peculiarity:it furnishesthe conceptualmeansof discerningdifferent
elementsof historicalnarrativeand of reconstructingtheircompositioninto a
whole.Thuswe can exactlyidentifyan historicalnarrativewith respectto those

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JORN RUSEN

qualitieswhichfulfillthe specificallyhistoricalfunction.Togivea smallexample:

in the historiographyof historicismthe geneticaltype prevails.Turningto the
firstwork of Ranke,one of its leadingrepresentatives,
in the Geschichtender
romanisch-germanischen
Volkervon 1494 bis 1514 (1824) the typologically
sophisticatedeye neverthelessfinds distinctlyexemplaryforms which are not
sufficientlyintegratedinto the prevailinggeneticalsenseof the book. Thisis even
moresurprisingsince,as is wellknown,in the forewordRankewrotethe famous
denialof exemplaryhistory:he said he did not wantto judge the past, but his
historyjust wantedto show how it actuallyhad been ("erwill bloss zeigen,wie
es eigentlichgewesen").By detectingthis qualityof Ranke'sfirstbook, the typology opens a new way to understandit.
As we can characterizethe peculiarityof a singlehistoricalworkby usingconceptsof historicalnarrationin general,we can also applythe typologyfor comparativeanalysis.It offersus the criteriaof comparison,aimingat the deepstructure of historicalnarration,and it also offersus a procedureof differentiation
concerningthe specificallyhistoricalqualityof the comparedworks.Furthermorewe can employthe typologyto open up historicalperspectiveson historiography.
Historicalperspectivesare drawnfrom leadingideas of temporalchange:in
the light of such ideastemporalchangesgain the qualityof historicaldevelopment.10Concerninghistoriography,
leadingideasof its developmentcanbe drawn
from the internaltendenciesof the types of historicalnarration.The types can
be arrayedtogetheraccordingto a certainlogicalorder.Eachgeneticalnarration
has exemplaryand traditionalformsand functionsof historicalnarrationas its
preconditions;likewiseeachexemplarynarrationhastraditionalones.Thetraditional one itself is original.The criticalnarrationis definedby its negationof
the other threetypes.
If we now give a temporalsenseto this logicalorder,we achievea conceptual
frameworkforthe historicaldevelopmentof historiography.
Historically,historiographycan be seenin the lightof a generaltendencyleadingtraditionalnarratives to exemplaryand exemplaryto geneticalones; the criticalnarrativesare
catalysts.I wouldlike to call this tendency,in the wordsof the Enlightenment,
a "theoretical"or "hypotheticalhistory."By this I do not want to attributeto
the tendencya metaphysicalmeaning,but the qualityof a rationalorderof historicalexperience.Thereforethe tendenciesdo not separatethe temporalchange
of historiographyfromgeneralhistoryand do not form an autonomoussphere
of Geistesgeschichte,but, as it were,its conceptionservesas a mirror,showing
how the challengeof temporalchangeis met by a structuralchangeof historical
narration.
The conceptionof the internaldynamictendenciesin the relationshipof the
In this periodifourtypescan be usedto periodizethe historyof historiography.
zationthe threetypesmarkthe threemainstepsin the evolutionof the historical
10. The logic of theoretical perspective is described in J. Rusen, Rekonstruktion der Vergangen-

heit: GrundzugeeinerHistorikII: Die Prinzipiender historischenForschung(Gottingen,1986).

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HISTORICAL NARRATION

95

consciousnessfromearlypre-neolithicculturesto pre-industrialculturesand to
modernsocieties.
In this evolutionthe acceptanceand significanceof timeitself is transformed.
In the firstperiodthe courseof time becamearrestedin eternity;in the second
period,whichin our culturecan be tracedfromHerodotusto Voltaire,this eternity acquiredthe qualityof supertemporally
validprinciples,and the courseof
time widenedto a multitudeof experiences;in the thirdperiod, which began
in the secondhalf of the eighteenthcentury,11
time is temporalized:humanselfunderstandingis no longerseen as a rejectionof varietyand chance,but rather
as definedby change and variety.The sphereof real historicalexperiencebecomes infinite.
Butthe typologynot only givesus generalperiodizationof the historyof historicalthinking;it also givesspecialperiodizationswithinparticularepochs.As
I havesaid,the fourtypesarealwayspresentin historicaltexts;one is dominant,
the otherssecondary.The dominantform establishesa generalepoch;the relationshipamongthe secondaryones and betweenthem and the dominantmay
define subperiods.
Thesetheoreticalconsiderationscanleadto conceptualframeworksof empirical researchand interpretation.The epoch of the late Enlightenment,for instance,can typologicallybe describedas a structureshift fromexemplaryto geneticalnarrationas dominantformsin the deepstructureof historicalnarration.
ReinhartKoselleckdepictedthisshiftas a dissolutionof thetoposhistoriamagistra
vitaeat the outsetof the movetowardsmodernhistory.12 It wouldbe worthwhile
to look for the analogous shift from traditionalto exemplarynarrationas a
foundingformof historicalthinking.I assumethat this shift took placeduring
the rise of ancientcivilizations.
Thereis anotheruse of the typology which I only wantto point to without
dealingwithit in detail.It is still a veryhypotheticalone. Weknowscarcelyanything about the structuraldevelopmentof historicalconsciousnessin the process of individualizationand socialization.But the temporalinterpretationof
the logicalorderof the four typeswouldlead to an hypothesisaboutthis development.It seemsworthwhilefor furtherdifferentiationand empiricalinvestigation to conceptualizethe ontogeneticaldevelopmentof historicalconsciousness
as a structuralprocesswhichbringsabout narrativecompetencein a sequence
of the four types along with the stagesof developmentin other fieldswe know
much more about, as for instancethe stagesof moraldevelopmentaccording
to Piaget and Kohlberg.
11. Peter Reill illuminated the German part of this beginning: The German Enlightenment and

the Rise of Historicism(Berkeley,1975);cf. VonderAufklarungzumHistorismus:ZumStrukturwandel des historischen Denkens, ed. H. W. Blanke and J. Rusen (Historisch-politische Diskurse,
vol. 1) (Paderborn, 1984).
12. "DieAuflosung des Topos im Horizont neuzeitlichbewegterGeschichte."R. Koselleck, "Historia
magistra vitae: Uber die Auflosung des Topos im Horizont neuzeitlich bewegter Geschichte,"in Vergangene Zukunft: Zur Semantik geschichtlicher Zeiten (Frankfurt, 1979); cf. J. Rusen, "Von der
Aufklarung zum Historismus: Idealtypische Perspektiven eines Strukturwandels,"in VonderAufk-

larungzum Historismus,15-58.

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JORN RUSEN

Afterthis quickexcursioninto the historyof historicalthinkingand afterthe

even quickerglimpseof the psychologyof historicallearning,I would like to
concludemy considerationson historicalnarrationwith a glance at its most
elaborateforms:that is, modernhistoricalstudiesand modernhistoriography.
I will raisejust one question:In whichwaywouldmodernhistoricalstudiesand
fitinto the typologyof the fourfunctionsof historicalnarration?
historiography
fromotherforms
aredistinguished
Modernhistoricalstudiesandhistoriography
of historicalnarrationby the achievementsof theoreticallyand methodologically organizedempiricalresearch.Can one of the four typesbe appliedto this
research,or do we haveto ask for a new,fifth type? Both questionsare inappropriate,becausethe peculiarityof modernhistoricalstudieswith respectto
the structureand functionof historicalnarrationlies acrossthe fourtypes.This
peculiarityis based on the specialmannerof realizingthe fabricof historical
narrationwovenby elementsof all types:it is the mannerof reasoningand arguing theoreticallyand methodicallyin the processof makingsense of the experienceof time. In each historicalnarrativewe can findelementsof reasoning
andarguing:theyhaveto makethe storiescredible.Historicalstudiesarenothing
of thisreasoningandarguing.13 Most
but an elaborationandinstitutionalization
historiansidentifythis reasoningand arguingin theirdisciplineas the methodical rationalityof empiricalresearch.
of historiansas scholarslacksinsightinto the funButthis self-understanding
damentalpracticalfunctionof historicalnarration.As I haveshownin the first
partof thispaper,thisis the functionof formulatinghumanidentitybymobilizing
the forcesof historicalmemory;or, to say it briefly,orientinghumanlife in the
courseof time. If professionalhistoriansrecognizedthis functionas a function
of theirown work,maybetheirworkwouldgive a little bit morereasoningand
arguingto practicallife.
is one of the mainpurposesof thetheory
Tostressthisaspectof historiography
of historyin generalandthe typologyof historicalnarrationin particular."4But
He or she only
it is not the task of the theoreticianto prescribehistoriography.
can try to elucidatethe structureof historicalnarrationand discussaspectsof
reasoningand arguingin it. So finallyI wouldliketo raiseone point concerning
the historiographicalrepresentationof continuity.As I havealreadysaid, continuityis the leadingidea of a historyconnectingthe experienceof the pastwith
the expectationof the future,thus realizingthe unity of time. Historianshave
presentedthis idea in differentways.In the good old timesof so-callednarrative
theypresentedit bythe streamof eventsseenby a god-likeomnihistoriography,
scient author.In the moderntimes of structuraland social history,historians
often presenttheirideaof continuityin the formof a theory(forexample,theory
of modernization).Thismeansa progressin reasoning,for in this formconcepts
13. J. Rusen, Historische Vernunft:GrundzugeeinerHistorik I: Die Grundlagender Geschichteswissenschaft (G6ttingen, 1983), 85ff.
14. Cf. J. Rusen, "The Didactics of History in West Germany: Towards a New Self-Awareness
of Historical Studies," History and Theory 26 (1987), 275-286.

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HISTORICAL NARRATION

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of continuityarea matterof discussion;but nevertheless,the readeris exposed

to a finishedprocessof makingsense of temporalexperience.
I can imaginea furtherprogressin reasoning.Thismighthappenif historians
presentedhistoryto readersin a waythat by readingit theywouldhaveto create
the sense-makingidea of continuitythemselvesusing their own reason.Then
historiographywould gain a form which does lie in the vicinity of modern
literature.
Bochum
Ruhr-Universitdt

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