Metahistory

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An introductory guide to historiography

Creating Narrativity from Source Material

the art of creating story spaces without losing sight of the facts

By Donnie Daugherty

Presenting history as a compelling story with a beginning, middle, and an end is at the heart of many historians aim and expected by many readers of history. However, in pursuing an orderly account of past events, details can be exaggerated or overlooked, and the ever-elusive truth of the matter grows further beyond our present time’s grasp. That is especially true as we walk the delicate tight rope of informing in an entertaining way.

This essay seeks to understand the ways in which Narrative history can remain an important aspect of gathering source material, analyzing details, and merging story with fact in a way that does not distort, but inhances the factuality of the narrative.

Maintaining a Factual Story Concept

Looking at ways Narrative has been used to explain the past and even present situations, we see how the form has progressed in the ways of providing true detail and not a proposed view from a single source perspective. Balance evolution is part of the history of history and can be seen throughout the practice of Narrative. However, it is a slippery slope that must be walked delicately.

A sense of balance develops within the work of a good narrative. A linguistic pyramid of source, hypothesis, and story must be equally discerned. Therefore, it is even more critical that the work of the historian using narrative, or creating a story, is doing so with the most up to date creditable sources and a willingness to change that story when new evidence is found.

The Responsible Historian

Many times, the Narrative becomes the motion picture. Often, these stories do harm to history by not paying attention to detail. Furthermore, they let slide that which should be removed and then to that add things that were never there. This is to the never-ending frustration of historians and unending confusion to the audience who uses story as their only informative vehicle of history. Therefore, an academic oath, silent as it may be, should be taken by the author to use as much fact as possible.

Historians often look to the media of the past for source details. Today’s Metahistorical pursuits have a responsibility to present the facts in a way that will provide clarity to the audience while remaining factual and balanced. Thereby, we hope, providing clarity to continue for the historians in years to come. One place suitable for a narrative approach to historical studies is the newspaper. Historians often depend on the reporters of the past to provide detail and source material. Yet this same source is ripe for narrative distortion.

Stories of events, and people change the collective memory of societies to become History

The idea of story telling brought the newspaper industry an opportunity a hundred years ago that still works for them today, the ability to go in depth into a story. This is the same ability meta historians have today, with even more ability to advance the story. We can edit and add new information far more easily than a paper could. Yet, the unique ability to bring narrative and character to an event to connect the audience with history remains the same. The responsibility is there too. We have more ability to remain balanced now than times before. Within the balance of perspectives, a more representational and factual look at history could evolve.

In an industry that relies on source material, facts, and data to build a reputation, information is bland in the hands of the reader and servers no purpose as no connection can be made. Storytelling in reporting allows for a better understanding of past events in a way that on meaningful for the audience of today. Should that connection be made in an accurate and meaning way, true leaning of ourselves and the past could be achieved.

As newspapers once adapted to changing times and brought onboard the storytelling aspects of narrative history into their product, so might the meta historian benefit from the connective possibilities of story and audience. Newspapers went from giving straight forward details, to expanding upon this information in emotional ways that tied audience and event in, “analytical, interpretive, subjective, or contextual reporting.

Narrative journalism added flavor and texture to these changes. In essence, it bridged the gap between explanatory and interpretive writing through storytelling” (Schmidt, p105)

In Support of Narrativity

Historian Alun Munslow believes the need we feel as humans for a story construct to represent historical events stems from our mental process of discerning information. Narrativity creates a modern understanding of past events.

The public often seeks a story for clarity, “history and fiction, as well as writing and reception, are imaginatively organized.” (Munslow, p6) Writers organize source material into a plausible set of circumstances that unfold in a logical way for modern understanding. In an ironic set of circumstances, the effort to create a narrative can often led to misbalanced or even wrong portals of what really happened. It is a concern to be aware of, but not a red flag to avoid all story tellers of history. Careful work by the historian can result in accurate story spaces that inform, entertain, and bring an overall, more academic, public view of historical events. Emotional connection form in these instances. History stories can create a more compassionate society by such connections of understanding.

A sense of balance develops within the work of a good narrative. The linguistic pyramid of source, hypothesis, and story must be equally discerned. Arthur Marwick takes this challenge in, The Nature of History. He outlines the job of a story telling historian and outlines the necessity of fact, “The problem of form in historical writing is also peculiarly acute because not only must the historian represent the complexity of past experience, but [he] must also represent it in the movement of time.” (Marwick, p152)

This statement is ironic in the face of history and culture with its use of strictly masculine terms for describing the historian given the essence of the statemen. It gives us a good example of how even the study of history can advance, just as the story does. The narrative historian must adapt to change and put forth a story that envelopes the past within an understanding of changing, for the better, in societies. New lessons are always available within history for evolving societies. Marwick highlights the need for evolving nature of narrative, even if unwittingly in reflection of the way we learn and live with history today. A historical story needs to bring the past into the present with meaning for today’s culture, or it is only a story of some past event with no emotional connection to today’s meta-audience.

Conclusion

It is likely an impossible endeavor, although at times valiantly fought, the attempt at being neutral to a degree of leaving oneself at the edge of the historical event being told, However, the truth of the matter in this instance is the near impossibility of the academic bring their own life’s understanding to a subject. Therefore, it flows into their work.

Most historians construct a theoretical, yet to them possible, set of events. All of which tend to focus on a character of the past and an attempt to answer the “why” of any action by that character. Source material is gathered, but it is the historian’s job to construct the meaning. Munslow says, “historical story spaces are as much the ethical, emotional and intellectual products of themselves, their agendas and their theories as they are reflections of and on, “what happened.” (Munslow, p18)

When thinking about a story space for the telling of history, the triangle of knowledge needed to make any construct of history a valid story is not just theorized rubbish. Rather, it is supporting evedence of the plot.

Bibliography

  • Marwick. Arthur. The Nature of History. Second Edition, The MacMillan Press, 1991.

  • Munslow, Alun. Narrative and History. Palgrave MacMillan, 2007.

  • Schmidt, Thomas R. The Rewritting of the Newspaper: The Story Telling Movement in American Print Journalism, 2019.

  • Seixas, Peter. Theorizing Historical Consciousness.

  • Tucker, Aviezer. Our Knowledge of the Past, Cambridge Press 2004

  • White, Hayden. The Fiction of Narrative, John Hopkins University Press 2010