The Past and Present Society

The Revival of Narrative: Reflections on a New Old History

Author(s): Lawrence Stone
Source: Past & Present, No. 85 (Nov., 1979), pp. 3-24
Published by: Oxford University Press on behalf of The Past and Present Society
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Past and Present has long been conscious of the need to initiatediscus-
sion of general points of historical inquiry, theoryand method. We
have now decided to try to publish at fairly regular intervals short
pieces of such a nature, opening up new approaches and stimulating
debate. We are pleased to publish the first of these, by Professor
Lawrence Stone.

THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE:

REFLECTIONS ON A NEW OLD HISTORY*
I
HISTORIANS HAVE ALWAYS TOLD STORIES. FROM THUCYDIDES AND
TacitustoGibbonand Macaulaythecomposition ofnarrativein lively
and elegant prose was always accounted theirhighestambition.
Historywas regardedas a branchofrhetoric.For thelastfifty years,
however,thisstory-telling functionhas fallenintoill reputeamong
thosewhohave regardedthemselves as in thevanguardoftheprofes-
sion, the practitionersof the so-called"new history"of the post-
Second-World-War era.1 In France story-telling was dismissedas
"l'histoireevenementielle". Now, however,I detectevidenceof an
undercurrent which is suckingmany prominent"new historians"
back again intosomeformof narrative.
Beforeembarkingupon an examinationoftheevidenceforsuch a
shiftand upon some speculationsabout whatmay have caused it, a
numberof thingshad betterbe madeclear.The firstis whatis meant
hereby "narrative".2Narrativeis takento meantheorganizationof
materialin a chronologicallysequentialorderand thefocusingofthe
contentinto a singlecoherentstory,albeitwithsub-plots.The two
essentialways in which narrativehistorydiffersfromstructural
historyis thatits arrangement is descriptiveratherthan analytical
and that its centralfocusis on man notcircumstances. It therefore
* I am muchindebtedto
mywifeand mycolleagues,ProfessorsRobertDarnton,
Natalie Davis, Felix Gilbert,Charles Gillispie,TheodoreRabb, Carl Schorskeand
manyothersforvaluablecriticismof an earlydraftofthispaper.Mostofthesugges-
tionsI have accepted,but theblame forthe finalproductrestson me alone.
1These recent"new historians"shouldnotbe confusedwiththe American"new
historians"ofan earliergeneration,likeCharlesBeard and JamesHarveyRobinson.
2 For the
historyof narrative,see L. Gossman,"AugustinThierryand Liberal
Historiography", Historyand Theory,Beiheftxv (i979); H. White,Metahistory:
The HistoricalImaginationin theNineteenthCentury(Baltimore,1973). I am in-
debtedto ProfessorRandolphStarnfordirectingmyattentionto the latter.

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4 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

deals withthe particularand specificratherthanthecollectiveand

statistical.Narrativeis a modeof historicalwriting, but it is a mode
whichalso affectsand is affected bythecontentand themethod.
The kindofnarrativewhichI havein mindis notthatofthesimple
antiquarianreporteror annalist. It is narrativedirectedby some
"pregnantprinciple",and whichpossessesa themeand an argument.
Thucydides'sthemewas thePeloponnesianwarsand theirdisastrous
effects upon Greeksocietyand politics;Gibbon'sthedeclineand fall
of the Roman empire;Macaulay's the riseof a liberalparticipatory
constitution in thestressesof revolutionary politics.Biographerstell
the storyof a life,frombirthto death.No narrativehistorians,as I
have definedthem,avoid analysisaltogether, but thisis nottheskel-
etal framework aroundwhichtheirworkis constructed. Andfinally,
theyare deeplyconcernedwiththe rhetoricalaspectsof theirpre-
sentation.Whethersuccessfulor not in the attempt,theycertainly
aspireto stylistic elegance,witand aphorism.Theyare notcontentto
throwwordsdownon a page and letthemliethere,withtheviewthat,
sincehistoryis a science,it needsno artto helpit along.
The trendshereidentified shouldnotbe takento applyto thegreat
mass of historians.All thatis beingattempted is to pointto a notice-
able shiftof content,methodand styleamonga verytiny,but dis-
proportionately prominent, sectionof the historicalprofessionas a
whole.Historyhas alwayshad manymansions,and mustcontinueto
do so ifit is to flourishin thefuture.The triumph ofanyone genreor
schooleventually alwaysleadsto narrowsectarianism, narcissism and
self-adulation, contemptor tyranny towardsoutsiders, and otherdis-
agreeableand self-defeating We can all thinkofcases
characteristics.
wherethishas happened.In some countriesand institutions it has
been unhealthythatthe "new historians"have had thingsso much
theirownwayin thelastthirty years;and itwillbe equallyunhealthy
if thenew trend,iftrendit be, achievessimilardominationhereand
there.
It is also essentialto establishonce and forall thatthisessay is
tryingto chartobservedchangesin historicalfashion,not to make
value judgements aboutwhataregood,and whatarelessgood,modes
ofhistoricalwriting.Value judgements are hardto avoid in anyhist-
oriographicalstudy,but thisessayis nottryingto raise a banneror
starta revolution. No one is beingurgedto throwawayhiscalculator
and tella story.
II
Beforelookingat the recenttrends,one has firstto attemptto
explaintheabandonment bymanyhistorians, aboutfiftyyearsago,of
a two-thousand-year-old traditionof narrativeas theideal mode.In
thefirstplace,in spiteofimpassionedassertionstothecontrary, itwas

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 5
widelyrecognized, withsomejustice,thatanswering thewhatand the
howquestionsin a chronological fashion,evenifdirectedbya central
argument,does not in factgo veryfartowardsansweringthe why
questions.Moreoverhistorianswereat thattimestrongly underthe
influence ofbothMarxistideologyand socialsciencemethodology. As
a resulttheywereinterested in societiesnotindividuals, and werecon-
fidentthat a "scientific history"could be achievedwhichwould in
timeproducegeneralizedlaws to explainhistoricalchange.
Here we mustpause again to definewhat is meantby "scientific
history".The first"scientifichistory"was formulated byRankein the
nineteenthcenturyand was based on the study of new source
materials.It was assumedthat close textualcriticismof hitherto
undisclosedrecordsburied in state archiveswould once and for
all establishthe factsof politicalhistory.In the last thirtyyears
therehave been threeverydifferent kinds of "scientifichistory"
currentin the profession,all based not on new data, but on new
modelsor new methods:theyare the Marxisteconomicmodel,the
Frenchecological/demographic model,and theAmerican"cliometric"
methodology. Accordingto theold Marxistmodel,history movesin a
dialecticalprocessof thesisand antithesis, through a clash of classes
whichare themselves createdbychangesin controloverthemeansof
production.In the 1930S this idea resultedin a fairlysimplistic
economic/social determinism whichaffected manyyoungscholarsof
the time.It was a notionof "scientific history"whichwas strongly
defendedby Marxistsup to the late 1950S. It should,however,be
notedthat the currentgenerationof "neo-Marxists"seemsto have
abandoned most of the basic tenets of the traditionalMarxist
historiansof the 1930S.They are now as concernedwiththe state,
politics,religionand ideologyas theirnon-Marxist colleagues,and in
theprocessappearto havedroppedtheclaimtobe pursuing"scientific
history".
The secondmeaningof "scientific history"is thatused since I945
by theAnnales school of French historians,of whomEmmanuelLe
Roy Laduriemaystandas a spokesman,albeita ratherextremeone.
Accordingto him,thekeyvariablein history is shiftsin theecological
balancebetweenfoodsuppliesandpopulation,a balancenecessarily to
be determined by long-term quantitativestudiesof agriculturalpro-
ductivity, demographic changesand foodprices.This kindof "scien-
tifichistory"emergedfroma combination oflong-standing Frenchin-
terestin historicalgeographyand historicaldemography, coupled
with the methodologyof quantification.Le Roy Ladurie told us
bluntlythat "historythat is not quantifiablecannot claim to be
scientific".3
3 E. Le Roy Ladurie, The Territory of theHistorian,trans.B. and S. Reynolds
(Hassocks, 1979), p. 15, and pt. i, passim.

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6 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

The thirdmeaningof "scientific history"is primarilyAmerican,

and is based on theclaim,loudlyand clearlyexpressedby the "clio-
metricians",that only theirown veryspecial quantitativemethod-
ologyhas anyclaimto be scientific.4 Accordingto themthehistorical
community can be dividedintotwo.There are "the traditionalists",
who includeboth the old-stylenarrativehistoriansdealingmainly
withstate politicsand constitutional history,as well as the "new"
economicand demographichistoriansof theAnnalesand Past and
Presentschools- despitethe factthatthelatteruse quantification
and that for severaldecades the two groupswere bitterenemies,
especiallyin France.Quiteseparateare the"scientific historians",the
cliometricians, who are definedby a methodology ratherthanbyany
particularsubject-matter or interpretationofthenatureof historical
change. They are historians who build paradigmaticmodels,some-
timescounter-factual ones about worldswhichneverexistedin real
life,and who testthevalidityofthemodelsbythemostsophisticated
mathematicaland algebraical formulae applied to very large
quantitiesof electronicallyprocesseddata. Their special field is
economichistory, whichtheyhave virtually conqueredin theUnited
States,and theyhave made large inroadsintothe historyof recent
democraticpoliticsby applyingtheirmethodsto votingbehaviour,
both of the electorateand the elected.These greatenterprises are
necessarilythe resultof team-work, ratherlike the buildingof the
pyramids:squads of diligentassistantsassembledata, encode it,
programme it,and pass itthroughthemawofthecomputer, all under
theautocraticdirectionofa team-leader. The resultscannotbe tested
by any of the traditionalmethodssince the evidenceis buriedin
privatecomputer-tapes, not exposedin publishedfootnotes.In any
case the data are oftenexpressedin so mathematically reconditea
formthattheyare unintelligible to themajorityofthehistoricalpro-
fession.The onlyreassuranceto thebemusedlaityis thatthemembers
ofthispriestly orderdisagreefiercely andpubliclyaboutthevalidityof
each other'sfindings.
Thesethreetypesof"scientific history"overlaptosomedegree,but
they are sufficiently distinct,certainlyin the eyes of theirprac-
to justifythecreationofthistripartite
titioners, typology.
Other"scientific"explanationsof historicalchangehave risento
favourfora whileand thengoneoutoffashion.Frenchstructuralism
producedsome brillianttheorizing,but no single major work of
history- unless one considersMichel Foucault's writingsas pri-
marily works of history,rather than of moral philosophywith
examplesdrawnfromhistory.Parsonianfunctionalism, whichitself
4An unpublishedpaper by R. W. Fogel, "ScientificHistoryand Traditional
History"(1979), offersthemostpersuasivecase thatcan be musteredforregarding
thisas theone and onlytruly"scientific"history.But I remainunconvinced.

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 7
was precededby Malinowski'sScientificTheoryof Culture,5had a
longrun,despiteitsfailuretoofferan explanationofchangeovertime
and theobviousfactthatthefitbetweenthematerialand biological
needsofa societyand theinstitutionsand valuesbywhichit liveshas
always been less than perfect,and oftenverypoor indeed. Both
structuralismand functionalismhave providedvaluableinsights,but
neitherhas come even near to supplyinghistorianswith an all-
embracingscientificexplanationof historicalchange.
All the threemain groupsof "scientifichistorians",whichflouri-
shed respectivelyfrom the I930S until the I950s, the I950s to mid-
I970s, and in the 96os and early I970s, were supremelyconfident
that the majorproblemsof historicalexplanationweresoluble,and
thattheywould,giventime,succeedin solvingthem.Cast-ironsolu-
tionswould,theyassumed,eventuallybe providedforsuch hitherto
bafflingquestionsas the causes of "greatrevolutions"or the shifts
from feudalismto capitalism,and from traditionalto modern
societies.This headyoptimism, whichwas so apparentfromthe 930S
to the I96os, was buttressedamongthefirsttwogroupsof "scientific
historians"by thebeliefthatmaterialconditionssuch as changesin
therelationship betweenpopulationand foodsupply,changesin the
means of productionand class conflict,were the drivingforcesin
history.Many,but not all, regardedintellectual, cultural,religious,
psychological, legal, even political,developments as mereepiphen-
omena. Since economic and/ordemographicdeterminism largely
dictatedthe contentof the new genreof historicalresearch,the
analyticratherthan the narrativemodewas bestsuitedto organize
and presentthedata, and thedata themselves had as faras possibleto
be quantitativein nature.
The Frenchhistorians, whoin the I 95os and i 96os werein thelead
in thisbrave enterprise, developeda standardhierarchicalarrange-
ment: first,both in place and in orderof importance,came the
economicand demographic facts;thenthesocialstructure; and lastly,
intellectual,religious,cultural and political developments.These
threetierswerethoughtoflikethestoreysofa house:each restson the
foundationof the one below,but thoseabove can have littleor no
reciprocaleffect on thoseunderneath. In somehandsthenewmethod-
ologyand new questionsproducedresultswhichwerelittleshortof
sensational.The firstbooksof FernandBraudel,PierreGoubertand
EmmanuelLe Roy Ladurie will rank amongthe greatesthistorical
writings of anytimeand place.6Theyalonefullyjustify theadoption
fora generationof theanalyticaland structural approach.
5BronislawMalinowski,A ScientificTheoryofCulture,and OtherEssays (Chapel
Hill, N.C., 1944).
6 F. Braudel,La Mdditerraneeet le mondemediterraneen a l'epoque de PhilippeII
(Paris, 1949); P. Goubert,Beauvais et le Beauvaisis de i600 a 1730 (Paris, I960);
E. Le Roy Ladurie,Les paysans du Languedoc (Paris, 1966).

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8 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

The conclusion,however,was historicalrevisionism witha venge-

ance. Since onlythe firsttierreallymattered,and sincethe subject-
matterwas thematerialconditions ofthemasses,notthecultureofthe
elite, it became possible to talk about the historyof Continental
Europefromthefourteenth to theeighteenth centuriesas "l'histoire
immobile".Le Roy Laduriearguedthatnothing,absolutelynothing,
changed over those fivecenturies,since the societyremainedob-
stinatelyimprisonedin its traditionaland unaltered"eco-demogra-
phie".7In thisnew modelof historysuch movements as the Renais-
the the
sance, Reformation, Enlightenment and theriseofthemodern
statesimplydisappeared.Ignoredwerethemassivetransformations of
culture,art,architecture, literature,religion,education,science,law,
constitution, state-building,bureaucracy, militaryorganization, fiscal
arrangements, and so on, which took the
place among higher echelons
ofsocietyin thosefivecenturies.This curiousblindnesswas theresult
ofa firmbeliefthatthesematterswereall partsofthethirdtier,a mere
superficialsuperstructure. When,recently,some scholarsfromthis
school began to use their well-triedstatisticalmethodson such
problemsas literacy,thecontentsof librariesand theriseand fallof
Christianpiety,theydescribedtheiractivitiesas the applicationof
quantification to "le troisieme niveau".

III
The firstcause of thecurrentrevivalof narrativeis a widespread
disillusionment with the economicdeterminist model of historical
explanationand thisthree-tiered hierarchicalarrangement towhichit
gave rise.The splitbetweensocial historyon the one hand and in-
tellectualhistoryon the otherhas had the mostunfortunate conse-
quences.Bothhave becomeisolated,inward-looking, and narrow.In
Americaintellectualhistory, whichhad oncebeentheflagshipof the
fell
profession, upon hard times and fora whilelost confidencein
itself;8socialhistoryhas flourished as neverbefore,butitspridein its
isolatedachievements was buttheharbinger ofan eventualdeclinein
vitality,when faithin purely economic and socialexplanationsbegan
toebb.The historicalrecordhas nowobligedmanyofus to admitthat
thereis an extraordinarily complextwo-wayflowof interactions
betweenfactsof population,food supply,climate,bullion supply,
prices,on theone hand,and values,ideas and customson theother.
Alongwithsocial relationships of statusor class, theyforma single
webofmeaning.
7 E. Le Roy Ladurie, "L'histoireimmobile",in his Le territoire
de l'historien,2
vols. (Paris, 1973-8),ii; the articlewas writtenin 1973.
8 R. Darnton,"Intellectualand CulturalHistory",inM. Kammen(ed.), Historyin
Our Time (forthcoming Ithaca, N.Y., 1980).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 9

Manyhistorians nowbelievethatthecultureofthegroup,and even

thewillof theindividual,are potentially at leastas important causal
agentsof change as the impersonalforcesof materialoutputand
demographicgrowth.There is no theoreticalreasonwhythe latter
shouldalwaysdictatetheformer, ratherthanvice versa,and indeed
evidenceis pilingup ofexamplesto thecontrary.9 Contraception, for
is
example, clearly as much a product of a stateof mind as it is of
economiccircumstances. The proofofthiscontention can be foundin
thewidediffusion of thispracticethroughout France,longbeforein-
dustrialization, without much populationpressureexcepton small
farms,and nearlya century beforeanyotherwestern country. We also
now knowthatthe nuclearfamilyantedatedindustrialsociety,and
that conceptsof privacy,love and individualism similarlyemerged
amongsomeof themosttraditionalsectorsof a traditionalsocietyin
late seventeenth- and earlyeighteenth-century England,ratherthan
as a resultof latermodernizing economicand social processes.The
Puritanethicwas a by-product of an unworldly religiousmovement
whichtook rootin the Anglo-Saxonsocietiesof England and New
Englandcenturiesbeforeroutinework-patterns werenecessaryor the
firstfactorywas built.On theotherhand thereis an inversecorrela-
tion,at any ratein nineteenth-century France,betweenliteracyand
urbanizationand industrialization. Levelsofliteracyturnout to be a
poorguideto "modern"attitudesofmindor "modern"occupations.10
Thus the linkagesbetweencultureand societyare clearlyverycom-
plex indeed,and seem to varyfromtimeto timeand fromplace to
place.
It is hardnotto suspectthatthedeclineofideologicalcommitment
amongwesternintellectualshas also playedits part. If one looks at
threeof themostpassionateand hard-fought historicalbattlesof the
I950S and I96os - about the rise or decline of the gentryin
seventeenth-century England,about the riseor fallof working-class
real incomein the early stagesof industrialization, and about the
causes, nature and consequences of American slavery- all wereat
bottomdebates firedby currentideologicalconcerns.It seemed
desperately important at thetimeto knowwhether or nottheMarxist
was
interpretation right, and therefore these historicalquestions
matteredand were exciting.The mutingof ideologicalcontroversy
caused by the intellectualdeclineof Marxismand the adoptionof
mixedeconomiesin thewesthas coincidedwitha declinein thethrust
ofhistoricalresearchto askthebigwhyquestions,and itis plausibleto
suggestthatthereis somerelationship betweenthetwotrends.
9 M. Zuckerman,"Dreams thatMen Dare to Dream: The Role ofIdeas in Western
Modernization",Social Science Hist., ii (I 978).
10F. Furet and J. Ozouf, Lire et ecrire(Paris, I977). See also K. Lockridge,
Literacyin ColonialNew England (New York, I974).

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I0 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

Economicand demographic determinism has notonlybeenunder-

minedbya recognition ofideas,cultureand evenindividualwillas in-
dependentvariables.It has also beensappedbya revivedrecognition
thatpoliticaland military power,theuse ofbruteforce,has veryfre-
quentlydictatedthe structureof the society,the distributionof
wealth,theagrariansystem,and eventhecultureoftheelite.Classic
examplesare theNormanconquestofEnglandin o66, and probably
also thedivergent economicand socialpathstakenbyeasternEurope,
north-western Europe and Englandin thesixteenth and seventeenth
centuries.1Futurehistorianswill undoubtedly severelycriticizethe
"new historians"of the 195os and i96os fortheirfailureto takesuf-
ficientaccount of power: of political organizationand decision-
makingand thevagariesofmilitary battleand siege,destruction and
conquest.Civilizationshave risenand fallendue to fluctuations in
political authorityand shiftsin the fortunesof war, and it is
extraordinary that thesemattersshouldhave been neglectedforso
long by those who regardedthemselvesas in the forefront of the
historicalprofession.In practicethebulkoftheprofession continued
to concernitselfwithpoliticalhistory, justas it had alwaysdone,but
this is not wherethe cuttingedge of the professionwas generally
thoughtto be. A belatedrecognition of theimportanceof power,of
personalpoliticaldecisionsby individuals,of the chancesof battle,
haveforcedhistorians backto thenarrativemode,whether theylikeit
or not. To use Machiavelli'sterms,neithervirtunorfortunacan be
dealtwithexceptbya narrative, or evenan anecdote,sincethefirstis
an individualattributeand theseconda happyor unhappyaccident.
The thirddevelopment whichhas dealta seriousblowto structural
and analyticalhistory is themixedrecordtodatein theuseofwhathas
been its mostcharacteristic methodology - namelyquantification.
has
Quantification undoubtedly matured and has now established
itselfas an essentialmethodology in manyareasofhistoricalinquiry,
especiallydemographichistory,the historyof social structureand
social mobility,economichistory,and thehistoryof votingpatterns
and votingbehaviourin democraticpoliticalsystems.Its use has
greatlyimprovedthe general quality of historicaldiscourse,by
demandingthe citationof precisenumbersinsteadof the previous
loose use of words.Historianscan no longerget away withsaying
"more","less", "growing","declining",all ofwhichlogicallyimply
numericalcomparisons, withouteverstatingexplicitly thestatistical
basis fortheirassertions.It has also made argumentexclusivelyby
exampleseemsomewhatdisreputable. Criticsnowdemandsupporting
statisticalevidenceto show that the examplesare typical,and not
offbyRobertBrenner,"AgrarianClass Structure
11I referto thedebatetriggered
and Economic Developmentin Pre-IndustrialEurope", Past and Present,no. 70
(Feb. 1976), pp. 30-75.

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE II

exceptionsto therule.These procedureshave undoubtedly improved

the logical powerand persuasiveness of historicalargument.Nor is
thereany disagreement thatwheneverit is appropriate, fruitfuland
possiblefromthesurvivingrecords,thehistorianshouldcount.
There is, however,a difference in kindbetweenthe artisanquan-
tificationdone by a singleresearchertottingup figureson a hand-
calculatorand producingsimpletablesand percentages, and thework
of the cliometricians. The latterspecializein the assemblingof vast
quantitiesofdata byteamsofassistants, theuse oftheelectronic com-
to
puter process it all, and the applicationof highlysophisticated
mathematicalproceduresto the resultsobtained.Doubts have been
cast on all stagesofthisprocedure.Manyquestionwhetherhistorical
data are eversufficiently reliabletowarrantsuchprocedures;whether
teamsofassistantscan be trustedto applyuniform codingprocedures
to largequantitiesofoftenwidelydiverseand evenambiguousdocu-
ments;whethermuchcrucialdetailis notlostin thecodingprocedure;
ifit is everpossibleto be confident thatall codingand programming
errorshave been eliminated;and whetherthe sophistication of the
mathematical and algebraicformulaearenotultimately self-defeating
sincetheybafflemosthistorians.Finally,manyare disturbedby the
virtualimpossibility of checkingup on the reliabilityof the final
results,since theymustdependnot on publishedfootnotesbut on
privatelyownedcomputer-tapes, in turnthe resultof thousandsof
privatelyownedcode-sheets, in turnabstractedfromtheraw data.
These questionsare real and will not go away. We all know of
doctoraldissertations or printedpapersor monographswhichhave
used themostsophisticated techniqueseitherto provetheobviousor
to claimto provetheimplausible, usingformulaeand languagewhich
renderthe methodology unverifiable to the ordinaryhistorian.The
resultssometimes combinethevicesofunreadability andtriviality.We
all knowofthedoctoraldissertations whichlanguishunfinished since
theresearcherhas beenunableto keepunderintellectual controlthe
sheervolumeofprint-out spewedoutbythecomputer, or has spentso
mucheffort preparing thedata forthemachinethathistime,patience
and moneyhaverunout.One clearconclusionis surelythat,whenever
possible,samplingbyhandis preferable and quickerthan,and justas
reliableas, runningthe whole universethrougha machine.We all
knowofprojectsin whicha logicalflawin theargument or a failureto
use plaincommonsensehas vitiatedor castin doubtmanyofthecon-
clusions.We all knowofotherprojectsin whichthefailureto record
one piece of information at thecodingstagehas led to theloss of an
important result.We all knowofotherswherethesourcesofinforma-
tionare themselves so unreliablethatwe can be surethatlittlecon-
fidencecan be placed in the conclusionsbased on theirquantitative
manipulation.Parish registersare a classic example,upon whicha

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12 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

giganticamountofeffort is currently
beingspentin manycountries,
onlysomeofwhichis likelyto produceworthwhile results.
Despite its unquestionableachievements it cannotbe deniedthat
quantification has not fulfilled
the highhopesof twentyyearsago.
Mostofthegreatproblemsofhistory remainas insolubleas ever,ifnot
moreso. Consensuson thecausesoftheEnglish,Frenchor American
revolutionsare as faraway as ever,despitetheenormouseffort put
intoelucidatingtheirsocial and economicorigins.Thirtyyearsofin-
tensiveresearchon demographic historyhas leftus moreratherthan
lessbewildered. We do notknowwhythepopulationceasedto growin
most areas of Europe between 1640 and 1740; we do not know why it
began to growagain in i740; or evenwhetherthecause was rising
fertility or decliningmortality. has toldus a lot about
Quantification
thewhatquestionsofhistorical but
demography, relatively littleso far
about thewhy.The majorquestionsaboutAmericanslaveryremain
as elusiveas ever,despitetheapplicationto themof one of themost
massiveand sophisticated studiesevermounted.The publicationofits
findings,far fromsolvingmost problems,merelyraised the tem-
peratureofthedebate.12It had thebeneficial effect offocusingatten-
tionon important issuessuch as thediet,hygiene,healthand family
structureof AmericanNegroesunder slavery,but it also diverted
attentionfromthe equally or even more importantpsychological
effects ofslaveryupon bothmastersand slaves,simplybecausethese
matterscould not be measuredby a computer.Urban historiesare
clutteredwith statistics,but mobilitytrendsstill remainobscure.
Todayno oneis quitesurewhether Englishsocietywasmoreopenand
mobilethantheFrenchin theseventeenth and eighteenthcenturies,
or even whetherthe gentryor aristocracywas risingor fallingin
England beforethe Civil War. We are no betteroffnow in these
respectsthan wereJamesHarringtonin the seventeenth centuryor
Tocquevillein thenineteenth.
It is justthoseprojectsthathavebeenthemostlavishlyfunded,the
mostambitiousin theassemblyofvastquantitiesofdata byarmiesof
paid researchers, processedbytheverylatestin
themostscientifically
computertechnology, the mostmathematically sophisticatedin pre-
sentation,whichhave so farturnedout to be themostdisappointing.
Today, twodecadesand millionsofdollars,poundsand francslater,
thereare onlyrathermodestresultsto showfortheexpenditure ofso
muchtime,effort and money.Thereare hugepilesofgreenishprint-
out gatheringdust in scholars'offices;thereare many turgidand
excruciatingly dull tomesfullof tablesof figures,abstrusealgebraic
equationsand percentages givento twodecimalplaces.Thereare also
12R. W. Fogel and S. Engerman,Time on the Cross(Boston,Mass., 1974); P. A.
David etal., ReckoningwithSlavery(New York,1976); H. Gutman,Slaveryand the
NumbersGame (Urbana, Ill., 1975).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 3
many valuable new findingsand a few major contributions to the
relativelysmallcorpusofhistoricalworksofpermanent value. But in
generalthesophistication ofthemethodology has tendedtoexceedthe
ofthedata,whiletheusefulness
reliability oftheresultsseems- up to
a point- to be in inversecorrelation to themathematical complexity
of themethodology and thegrandiosescale ofdata-collection.
On any cost-benefit analysisthe rewardsof large-scalecomputer-
ized historyhave so faronlyoccasionallyjustifiedthe inputof time
andmoneyand thishas ledhistorians tocastaroundforothermethods
ofinvestigating thepast,whichwillshedmorelightwithless trouble.
In I968 Le RoyLadurieprophesiedthatbythe I98os "the historian
willbe a programmer or he willbe nothing".13 The prophecyhas not
beenfulfilled,leastof all bytheprophethimself.
Historiansare therefore forcedback upon theprincipleofindeter-
minacy,a recognition thatthevariablesare so numerousthatat best
onlymiddle-range generalizationsare possiblein history,as Robert
Mertonlong ago suggested.The macro-economic model is a pipe-
dream, and "scientifichistory"a myth.Monocausal explanations
simplydo notwork.The use offeed-back modelsofexplanationbuilt
aroundWeberian"electiveaffinities" seemstoprovidebettertoolsfor
revealingsomethingof the elusivetruthabout historicalcausation,
especiallyif we abandon any claim thatthismethodology is in any
sensescientific.
Disillusionment witheconomicor demographic monocausaldeter-
minismand withquantification has led historiansto startaskinga
quite new set of questions,manyof whichwerepreviouslyblocked
fromviewby the preoccupationwitha specificmethodology, struc-
tural,collectiveand statistical.More and moreof the "new histor-
ians" are now tryingto discoverwhat was goingon insidepeople's
heads in the past,and whatit was like to livein thepast,questions
whichinevitably lead back to theuse ofnarrative.
A significantsub-group ofthegreatFrenchschoolofhistorians, led
byLucienFebvre,has alwaysregardedintellectual, psychological and
culturalchangesas independent variablesofcentralimportance. But
fora longtimetheywerein a minority, leftbehindin a remoteback-
wateras theflood-tide of "scientifichistory",economicand social in
content,structural in organizationand quantitativein methodology,
sweptpast them.Now, however,the topicstheywereinterestedin
have quite suddenlybecomefashionable.The questionsasked,how-
ever,arenotquitethesameas theyusedtobe,sincetheyarenowoften
drawnfromanthropology. In practice,ifnotin theory,anthropology
has tendedto be one ofthemostahistoricalofdisciplines in itslackof
interestin changeovertime.Nonethelessithas taughtus howa whole
social systemand set of values can be brilliantly illuminatedby the
13 Le
Roy Ladurie,Le territoire
de l'historien,i, p. 14 (mytranslation).

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 I4 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

searchlightmethodof recordingin elaboratedetail a singleevent,

providedthat it is verycarefullyset in its total contextand very
carefullyanalysedforits culturalmeaning.The archetypal modelof
this "thick description"is CliffordGeertz's classic account of a
Balinesecock-fight.14We historianscannot,alas, actuallybe present,
withnotebooks, tape-recordersandcameras,at theeventswe describe,
but now and again we can finda cloudofwitnessesto tellus whatit
was liketo be there.The firstcause fortherevivalofnarrativeamong
someof the "new historians"has therefore been thereplacementof
sociologyand economicsbyanthropology as themostinfluential
ofthe
social sciences.
One ofthemoststriking recentchangesinthecontentofhistory has
beena quitesuddengrowthofinterest infeelings,emotions, behaviour
patterns,values,and statesof mind.In thisrespectthe influenceof
anthropologists likeEvans-Pritchard, CliffordGeertz,MaryDouglas
and VictorTurner has been verygreatindeed. Althoughpsycho-
historyis so far largelya disasterarea - a desertstrewnwiththe
wreckageof elaborate,chromium-plated vehicleswhichbrokedown
soon afterdeparture- psychology itselfhas also had its effecton a
generationnowturningitsattentionto sexualdesire,familyrelations
and emotionalbondingas theyaffectthe individual,and to ideas,
beliefsand customsas theyaffectthegroup.
This change in the natureof the questionsbeing asked is also
probablyrelatedto the contemporary scenein the I970S. This has
been a decade in whichmorepersonalizedideals and interestshave
takenpriority overpublicissues,as a resultofwidespreaddisillusion-
mentwiththeprospectsof changeby politicalaction.It is therefore
plausibleto connectthesuddenupsurgein interest in thesemattersin
thepast withsimilarpreoccupations in thepresent.
This newinterestin mentalstructures has been stimulatedby the
collapseof traditionalintellectualhistorytreatedas a kindofpaper-
chase of ideas back throughthe ages (whichusuallyends up with
eitherAristotle or Plato). "Great books" werestudiedin a historical
vacuum,withlittleor no attempt tosettheauthorsthemselves ortheir
linguisticvocabularyin theirtruehistoricalsetting.The historyof
politicalthoughtin the west is now being rewritten, primarilyby
J.G. A. Pocock,QuentinSkinnerand BernardBailyn,by painfully
reconstructing theprecisecontextand meaningofwordsand ideas in
thepast,and showinghow theyhave changedtheirshapeand colour
in thecourseof time,likechameleons,so as to adapt to newcircum-
stancesand newneeds.
The traditionalhistory ofideasis concurrently beingdirectedintoa
studyof thechangingaudienceand meansofcommunication. There
14C. Geertz,"Deep Play: Notes on the Balinese Cock-Fight",in his The Inter-
pretationof Cultures(New York, 1973).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE I5
has sprungup a new and flourishing disciplineof the historyof the
printing-press,the book and literacy,and of theireffectsupon the
diffusion ofideas and thetransformation ofvalues.
One further reasonwhya numberof "new historians"are turning
back to narrativeseemsto be a desireto maketheirfindings accessible
once moreto an intelligent but not expertreadingpublic,whichis
eagerto learnwhattheseinnovativenewquestions,methodsand data
have revealed,but cannot stomach indigestiblestatisticaltables,
dryanalyticalargument,and jargon-ridden prose.Increasinglythe
structural, analytical,quantitativehistorianshave foundthemselves
talkingto each otherand no one else.Theirfindings have appearedin
professional journals,or in monographsso expensiveand withsuch
smallprintruns(undera thousand)thattheyhave been in practice
almostentirelyboughtby libraries.And yetthe successof popular
historicalperiodicalslike HistoryToday and L'histoireprovesthat
thereis a largeaudiencereadyto listen,and the"new historians"are
nowanxiousto speakto thataudience,ratherthanleavingit tobe fed
on thepabulumofpopularbiographiesand textbooks. The questions
being asked by the "new historians"are, afterall, those whichpre-
occupyus all today:thenatureof power,authority and charismatic
leadership;the relationof politicalinstitutions to underlying social
patternsand value systems;attitudesto youth,old age, disease and
death;sex,marriageand concubinage;birth,contraception and abor-
tion;work,leisureand conspicuousconsumption; therelationship of
religion,science and magic as explanatorymodels of reality;the
strength and directionoftheemotionsoflove,fear,lustand hate;the
impactofliteracyand educationuponpeople'slivesand waysoflook-
ing at theworld;therelativeimportanceattachedto different social
groupings, suchas the kin,
family, community, nation, class and race;
the strengthand meaningof ritual,symboland customas ways of
bindinga community together;moraland philosophicalapproaches
to crime and punishment;patternsof deferenceand outburstsof
egalitarianism; structuralconflictsbetweenstatusgroupsor classes;
themeans,possibilities and limitationsof social mobility;thenature
and significance ofpopularprotestand millenarian hopes;theshifting
ecologicalbalancebetweenman and nature;thecauses and effects of
disease.All theseare burningissuesat themomentand are concerned
withthemassesratherthantheelite.Theyaremore"relevant"toour
own livesthanthedoingsofdead kings,presidents and generals.
IV
As a resultof theseconvergent trendsa significant
numberof the
best-known exponentsof the "new history"are nowturningback to
the once despisednarrativemode. And yethistorians- and even
publishers- stillseema littleembarrassedwhentheydo so. In 1979

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 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

the Publishers' Weekly - an organ of the trade - promoted the

meritsof a new book, a storyof the trialof Louis XVI, withthese
peculiar words: "Jordan's choice of narrative rather than scholarly
treatment[my italics] ... is a model of clarity and synthesis".15The
criticobviouslylikedthebook,butthoughtthatnarrativeis bydefini-
tionnotscholarly. Whena distinguishedmemberoftheschoolof"new
history"writesa narrative,his friendstend to apologize for him,
saying:"Of course,he onlydiditforthemoney".Despitetheserather
shamefacedapologies, the trends in historiography, in content,
methodand mode,are evidentwhereverone looks.
Afterlanguishingunread for fortyyears NorbertElias's path-
breakingbook about manners,The CivilizingProcess,has suddenly
been translatedinto English and French.16Theodore Zeldin has
written a brillianttwo-volumehistoryofmodernFrance,in a standard
textbookseries,which ignoresalmost everyaspect of traditional
history,and concentrates on littleotherthanemotionsand statesof
mind.17PhilippeArieshas studiedresponsesover a huge time-span
to the universaltrauma of death.18The historyof witchcraft has
suddenlybecome a growthindustryin everycountry,as has the
historyof the family,includingthat of childhood,youth,old age,
womenand sexuality(the last two beingtopicsin seriousdangerof
suffering fromintellectualoverkill).An excellentexampleof thetra-
jectorywhich historicalstudieshave tendedto take over the last
twentyyearsis providedbytheresearchinterests ofJeanDelumeau.
He beganin 1957 witha studyofa society(Rome);followed, in 1962,
by thatof an economicproduct(alum); in 1971,of a religion(Cath-
olicism); in 1976, of a collectivebehaviour (les pays de Cocagne); and
in 1979,of an emotion(fear).19
finally,
The Frenchhave a wordto describethenewtopic- mentalite-
but unfortunately it is neithervery well-definednor very easily
thecircumstantial
translatableintoEnglish.In anycase story-telling,
narrationin greatdetailof one or more"happenings"based on the
testimonyof eyewitnessesand participants,is clearlyone way to
recapturesomething of the outwardmanifestationsof the mentalite
15D. P. Jordan,The King's Trial: Louis XVI v. theFrenchRevolution(Berkeley,
1979); reviewedin Publishers'Weekly,13 Aug. 1979.
16 N. Elias, Uber den Prozess der Zivilisation(Basel, 1939), trans. Edmund
Jephcottas The CivilizingProcess,2 vols. (Oxfordand New York, 1978).
17 T. Zeldin,France,
1848-1945,2 vols. (OxfordHistoryof ModernEurope ser.,
Oxford,1973-7), trans. as Histoiredes passionsfrancaises(Paris, I978). See also
R. Mandrou,Introductiond la France moderne,I00oo-640 (Paris, 1961).
18p. Aries,L'hommedevantla mort(Paris, 1977).
19J.Delumeau, Vieeconomiqueetsocialede Rome dans la secondemoitiedu XVIe
siecle, 2 vols. (Paris, 1957-9); L'alun de Rome, XVe-XIXesiecle (Paris, 1962); Le
catholicismeentreLutheret Voltaire(Paris, I971); La mortdes pays de Cocagne:
comportements collectifsde la Renaissancea l'dge classique(Paris, 1976); L'histoire
de la peur (Paris, 1979).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 17
of the past. Analysiscertainlyremainsthe essentialpart of the
enterprise,which is based on an anthropological interpretationof
culturethat claims to be both systematicand scientific.But this
cannotconcealtheroleofthestudyofmentalite in therevivalofnon-
analyticalmodesofwritinghistory, ofwhichstory-telling is one.
Of coursenarrativeis nottheonlymannerofwriting thehistoryof
mentalitewhich has been made possible by disillusionment with
structural analysis.Take, forexample,thatmostbrilliantreconstruc-
tion of a vanishedmind-set,PeterBrown'sevocationof the world
of late antiquity.20
It ignorestheusual clearanalyticalcategories
population,economics,socialstructure, politicalsystem, culture,and
so on. Instead Brown builds up a portraitof an age ratherin the
mannerof a post-Impressionist artist,daubingin roughblotchesof
colourhereand therewhich,ifone standsfarenoughback,createa
stunningvisionof reality,but which,if examinedup close,dissolve
into a meaninglessblur. The deliberatevagueness,the pictorialap-
proach, the intimatejuxtapositionof history,literature,religion
and art,theconcernforwhatwas goingon insidepeople'sheads,are
all characteristic
of a freshway of lookingat history.The methodis
notnarrativebutrathera pointilliste wayofwriting Butittoo
history.
has beenstimulated bythenewinterest in mentalite andmadepossible
by the declineof the analyticaland structuralapproachwhichhas
beenso dominantforthelast thirtyyears.
There has even been a revivalof the narrationof a singleevent.
GeorgesDuby has daredto do whata fewyearsago wouldhave been
unthinkable. He has devoteda booktotheaccountofa singlebattle
Bouvines-and throughit has illuminatedthemaincharacteristics
of earlythirteenth-century Frenchfeudalsociety.21 Carlo Ginzburg
has givenus a minuteaccountof the cosmologyof an obscureand
humbleearly sixteenth-century northItalian miller,and by it has
soughtto demonstrate theintellectualand psychological disturbance
at thepopularlevelcaused bytheseepagedownwardofReformation
ideas.22EmmanuelLe Roy Ladurie has painteda unique and un-
forgettablepictureof life and death, work and sex, religionand
custom in an early fourteenth-century village in the Pyrenees.23
Montaillouis significant in tworespects:first, becauseit has become
one of the greatesthistoricalbest-sellersof the twentieth centuryin
France; and secondly,becauseit does nottella straightforward story
-there is no story- butramblesaroundinsidepeople'sheads.It is
20 P. Brown,The Worldof Late AntiquityfromMarcus Aureliusto Muhammad
(London, 1971).
21 G. Duby, Le dimanchede Bouvines,27juillet 1214 (Paris, I973).
22 C. Ginzburg,Ilformaggioe i vermi(Turin, 1976).
23 E. Le
Roy Ladurie,Montaillou,villageoccitande 1294 a 7324 (Paris, 1976),
trans.B. Bray as Montaillou:Catharsand Catholicsin a FrenchVillage,1294-1324
(London, 1978).

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 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

no accidentthatthisis preciselyone ofthewaysin whichthemodern

novel differsfromthose of earliertimes.More recently,Le Roy
Laduriehas toldthestoryofa singlebloodyepisodein a smalltownin
southernFrancein 580,usingittorevealthecross-currents ofhatred
that were tearingapart the social fabricof the town.24Carlo M.
Cipolla, who has hithertobeen one of the hardestof hard-nosed
economicand demographicstructuralists, has just publisheda book
which is more concernedwith an evocativereconstruction of per-
sonal reactionsto the terriblecrisisof a pandemicthanwithestab-
lishingstatisticsof morbidity and mortality.For the firsttime,he
tells a story.25Eric Hobsbawm has describedthe nasty,brutish
and shortlivesofrebelsand banditsaroundtheworld,so as to define
the natureand objectivesof his "primitiverebels"and "social ban-
dits".26EdwardThompsonhas toldthestoryofthestrugglein early
eighteenth-century Englandbetweenthepoachersand theauthorities
in Windsorforest, in orderto supporthisargument abouttheclashof
plebeiansand patriciansat thattime.27RobertDarnton'slatestbook
tellshow thegreatFrenchEncyclopediecameto be published,and in
so doinghas cast a floodof new lighton theprocessof diffusion of
Enlightenment thoughtin theeighteenth century,includingthenuts
and bolts of book productionand the problemsof cateringto a
national-and international marketforideas.28NatalieDavis has
presenteda narrativeoffourcharivarisor ritualpublicshameproce-
duresin seventeenth-century Lyon and Geneva,in orderto illustrate
community effortsto enforcepublic standardsof honourand pro-
priety.29
The new interestin mentalitehas itselfstimulateda returnto old
ways of writinghistory.Keith Thomas's accountof the conflictof
magicandreligionis constructed arounda "pregnantprinciple"along
whichare strunga mass of storiesand examples.30 My own recent
book on changesin the emotionallifeof the Englishfamilyis very
similarin intentand method,ifnotin achievement.31
All the historiansmentionedso farare maturescholarswho have
long been associatedwiththe "new history",askingnew questions,
24 E. Le Roy Ladurie,Le carnavalde Romans (Paris, 1979).
25 C. M. Cipolla, Faith, Reason and thePlague in Seventeenth-Century Tuscany
(Ithaca, N.Y., 1979).
26E. J. Hobsbawm, PrimitiveRebels (Manchester,1959); E. J. Hobsbawm,
Bandits (London, 1969); E. J. Hobsbawm and G. Rude, Captain Swing (London,
1969).
27 E. P.
Thompson,Whigsand Hunters(London, I975).
28 R. Darnton,The Businessof theEnlightenment (Cambridge,Mass., 1979).
29 N. Z.
Davis, "Charivari,honneuret communautea Lyonet a Geneveau XVIIe
in
siecle", J. Le Goff and J.-C. Schmitt (eds.), Le charivari
(forthcoming).
30 K. V. Thomas,
Religionand theDecline ofMagic (London, 197 ).
31L. Stone, The Family, Sex and Marriage in England, I500-I800 (London,
I977).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE I9

trying out newmethods,and searchingfornewsources.Nowtheyare

turningback to thetellingof stories.Thereare,however,fivediffer-
ences betweentheirstoriesand those of the traditionalnarrative
historians.First,theyare almostwithoutexceptionconcernedwith
the livesand feelingsand behaviourof thepoor and obscurerather
thanthegreatandpowerful. Secondly,analysisremainsas essentialto
theirmethodology as description,so thattheirbookstendto switch,a
littleawkwardly, fromone modeto theother.Thirdly,theyare open-
ing up new sources,oftenrecordsof criminalcourtswhich used
Romanlaw procedures, sincethesecontainwrittentranscripts ofthe
fulltestimony ofwitnesses underinterrogation andexamination.(The
otherfashionable use ofcriminalrecords,tochartthequantitative rise
and fall of varioustypesof deviance,seemsto me to be an almost
whollyfutileendeavour,sincewhatis beingcountedis notthenumber
of perpetratedcrimes,but criminalswho have been arrestedand
prosecuted, whichis an entirelydifferentmatter.Thereis no reasonto
supposethattheone bearsanyconstantrelationship overtimeto the
other.)Fourthly,theyoftentelltheirstoriesin a different way from
that of Homer,or Dickens,or Balzac. Under the influenceof the
modernnovel and of Freudianideas, theygingerly explorethe sub-
consciousratherthan stickingto theplain facts.And underthe in-
fluenceoftheanthropologists, theytryto use behaviourtorevealsym-
bolic meaning.Fifthly,theytell the storyof a person,a trialor a
dramaticepisode,notforitsownsake,butinordertothrowlightupon
theinternalworkingsof a past cultureand society.

V
If I am rightin mydiagnosis,the movementto narrativeby the
"new historians"markstheend of an era: theend of theattemptto
produce a coherentscientificexplanationof change in the past.
Economicand demographicdeterminism has collapsedin thefaceof
theevidence,butno full-blown deterministic modelbased on politics,
psychology or culturehas emergedto takeitsplace.Structuralism and
functionalism havenotturnedoutmuchbetter.Quantitativemethod-
ologyhas proveda fairlyweakreedwhichcan onlyanswera limited
set of problems.Forced into a choice betweena priori statistical
modelsofhumanbehaviour,andunderstanding basedon observation,
experience, judgement and intuition,someofthe"newhistorians"are
nowtendingto driftback towardsthelattermodeofinterpreting the
past.
Althoughtherevivalbythe"newhistorians"ofthenarrativemode
is a veryrecentphenomenon, it is merelya thintricklein comparison
withtheconstant,largeand equallydistinguished outputofdescrip-
tive political narrativeby more traditionalhistorians.A recent
examplewhichhas metwithconsiderablescholarlyacclaimis Simon

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20 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

Schama's book about Dutch politicsin the eighteenthcentury.32

Workssuchas thishavefordecadesbeentreatedwithindifference or
barely concealed disdainbythe new social This
historians. attitudedid
nothaveverymuchjustification, butin recentyearsit has stimulated
someof the traditionalhistoriansto adapt theirdescriptive modeto
ask new questions.Some of themare no longerso preoccupiedwith
issuesof powerand therefore withkingsand primeministers, wars
and diplomacy, butare,likethe"newhistorians", turningtheiratten-
tion to the privatelives of quite obscurepeople. The cause of this
trend,if trendit be, is not clear but theinspirationseemsto be the
desireto tell a good story,and in so doingto reveal the quirksof
personalityand the inwardnessof thingsin a different time and
culture.Some traditionalhistorianshave been doing thisforsome
time.In 1958 G. R. Eltonpublisheda bookconsisting ofstoriesofriot
and mayhemin sixteenth-century England,takenfromthe records
of Star Chamber.33In 1946 Hugh Trevor-Roperbrilliantlyrecon-
structedthe last days of Hitler.34Justrecentlyhe has investigated
the extraordinary careerof a relativelyobscureEnglishmanuscript-
collector,con-manand secretpornographer, wholivedinChina inthe
earlyyearsofthiscentury.3The purposeofwritingthisentertaining
yarnseemsto have been sheerpleasurein story-telling forits own
sake,in thepursuitand captureofa bizarrehistoricalspecimen.The
techniqueis almostidenticalto thatusedyearsago byA. J.A. Symons
in hisclassicThe QuestforCorvo,36whilethemotivation appearsvery
similarto thatwhichinspiresRichardCobb to recordin gruesome
detailthe squalid livesand deathsofcriminals, prostitutesand other
socialmisfits in theunderworld ofrevolutionary France.37
Quitedifferent in content,methodand objectiveare thewritings of
the new Britishschoolof youngantiquarianempiricists. They write
detailedpoliticalnarrativeswhichimplicitly denythatthereis any
deep-seated meaningto history excepttheaccidentalwhimsoffortune
and personality. Led byConradRusselland JohnKenyon,and urged
on by Geoffrey Elton,theyare now busytryingto removeanysense
of ideologyor idealismfromthe two English revolutionsof the
seventeenth century.38 No doubt theyor otherslike themwill soon
32 S. Schama, Patriotsand Liberators:Revolutionin theNetherlands,1780-1813
(London, 1977).
33 G. R. Elton,Star ChamberStories(London, 1958).
34H. R. Trevor-Roper, The Last Days of Hitler(London, I947).
35 H. R. Trevor-Roper, A Hidden Life: The Enigma of Sir Edmund Backhouse
(London, 1976); U.S. edn., The HermitofPeking(New York, 1977).
36A. J.A. Symons,The Questfor Corvo (London, I934).
37R. Cobb, The Police and thePeople (Oxford,I970); R. Cobb, Death in Paris
(Oxford,1978).
38 C. Russell,Parliamentsand English Politics, 1621-29 (Oxford, I979); J. P.
Kenyon,Stuart England (London, I978); see also the articlesby JohnK. Gruen-
felder,Paul Christianson,ClaytonRoberts,Mark Kishlanskyand JamesE. Farnell,
inJ. Mod. Hist., xlixno. 4 (1977).

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 21

turn their attentionelsewhere.Althoughtheir premissis never

explicitlystated,theirapproachis pureneo-Namierism, justat a time
whenNamierismis dyingas a way of lookingat eighteenth-century
English politics.One wonderswhethertheir attitudeto political
historymaynotsubconsciously stemfroma senseof disillusionment
with the capacity of the contemporary parliamentarysystemto
grapplewiththeinexorableeconomicandpowerdeclineofBritain.Be
thatas it may,theyare veryeruditeand intelligent chroniclers ofthe
pettyevent,of "l'histoireevenementielle", and thusformone of the
manystreamswhichfeedtherevivalof narrative.
The fundamental reasonfortheshiftamongthe"new historians"
fromthe analyticalto the descriptivemode is a major change in
attitudeabout whatis thecentralsubject-matter of history.And this
in turndependson priorphilosophicalassumptions abouttheroleof
humanfreewillin itsinteraction withtheforcesof nature.The con-
trastingpoles of thoughtare bestrevealedbyquotations,one on one
sideand twoon theother.In 1973EmmanuelLe RoyLadurieentitled
a sectionof a volumeof his essays"HistorywithoutPeople".39By
contrasthalf a centuryago Lucien Febvreannounced."My quarry
is man", and a quarterof a centuryago Hugh Trevor-Roper, in his
inaugural lecture, urgedupon historians "the study not of circum-
stances but of man in circumstances".40 Today Febvre's ideal of
historyis catchingon in manycircles,at thesametimeas analytical
structural studiesof impersonalforcescontinueto pourout fromthe
presses.Historiansare therefore now dividingintofourgroups:the
old narrativehistorians,primarilypoliticalhistoriansand biogra-
phers;the cliometricians who continueto act likestatisticaljunkies;
the hard-nosedsocial historiansstill busy analysingimpersonal
structures; and thehistoriansofmentalite, nowchasingideals,values,
mind-sets, and patternsof intimatepersonalbehaviour- themore
intimatethebetter.
The adoptionby the historiansof mentaliteof minutedescriptive
narrativeor individual biographyis not, however,without its
problems.The troubleis the old one, that argumentby selective
exampleis philosophicallyunpersuasive,a rhetoricaldevice not a
scientificproof.The basic historiographical trap in which we are
ensnaredhas recentlybeen well set out by Carlo Ginzburg:"The
quantitativeand anti-anthropocentric approach of the sciencesof
naturefromGalileo onwardshas placed humansciencesin an un-
pleasantdilemma:theymusteitheradopta weakscientific standardso
as to be able to attainsignificant
results,or adopta strongscientific

39Le Roy Ladurie, The Territory

of theHistorian,p. 285.
40 H.R. Trevor-Roper,History,Professionaland Lay (Univ.ofOxford,Inaugural
Lecture,Oxford,1957), p. 2 I.

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22 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

standardto attainresultsofno greatimportance".41 Disappointment

withthesecondapproachis causinga driftbacktothefirst. As a result
whatis now takingplace is an expansionoftheselectiveexample-
now oftena detailedunique example- intoone of thefashionable
modesofhistorical writing.In one sensethisis onlya logicalextension
of theenormoussuccessoflocal historystudies,whichhave takenas
theirsubjectnota wholesocietybutonlya segment- a province,a
town,evena village.Total historyonlyseemspossibleifone takesa
microcosm,and the resultshave oftendone moreto illuminateand
explainthepastthanall theearlierorconcurrent studiesbasedon the
archivesof the centralgovernment. In anothersense,however,the
new trendis theantithesisof local historystudies,sinceit abandons
thetotalhistoryof a society,howeversmall,as an impossibility, and
settlesforthestoryof a singlecell.
The second problemwhich arises fromthe use of the detailed
exampleto illustratementaliteis howto distinguish thenormalfrom
the eccentric.Since man is now our quarry,the narrationof a very
detailedstoryof a singleincidentor personality can makebothgood
readingand good sense.But thiswillbe so onlyifthestoriesdo not
merelytell a strikingbut fundamentally irrelevanttale of some
dramaticepisodeofriotor rape,or thelifeofsomeeccentricrogueor
villainor mystic,but are selectedforthelighttheycan throwupon
certainaspectsofa pastculture.This meansthattheymustbe typical,
and yetthe wide use of recordsof litigationmakesthisquestionof
typicalityverydifficult to resolve.Peoplehauledintocourtare almost
by definitionatypical, theworldthatis so nakedlyexposedin the
but
testimony ofwitnessesneednotbe so. Safetytherefore liesin examin-
ingthedocumentsnotso muchfortheirevidenceabouttheeccentric
behaviourof the accused as forthe lighttheyshed on the lifeand
opinionsof thosewho happenedto get involvedin the incidentin
question.
The thirdproblemconcernsinterpretation, and is even harderto
resolve.Providedthehistorianremainsawareofthehazardsinvolved,
is perhapsas good a way as any to obtainan intimate
story-telling
glimpseofmanin thepast,to tryto getinsidehishead.The troubleis
thatifhe succeedsin gettingthere,thenarratorwillneedall theskill
and experienceand knowledgeacquiredin thepracticeof analytical
historyofsociety,economyand culture,ifhe is to providea plausible
explanationofsomeoftheverystrangethingshe is liableto find.He
may also need a littleamateurpsychologyto help him along,but
amateurpsychology is extremely trickymaterialtohandlesuccessfully
-and somewouldarguethatit is impossible.
Anotherobviousdangeris thattherevivalofnarrativemaylead to
41 C.
Ginzburg,"Roots ofa ScientificParadigm",Theoryand Society,vii (1979),
p. 276.

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 THE REVIVAL OF NARRATIVE 23

a returnto pureantiquarianism, to story-telling foritsownsake.Yet

anotheris that it will focusattentionupon the sensationaland so
obscurethe dullnessand drabnessof the livesof the vast majority.
BothTrevor-Roper and RichardCobb are enormousfunto read,but
theyare wideopento criticism on bothcounts.Manypractitioners of
the new mode, includingCobb, Hobsbawm,Thompson,Le Roy
Ladurie and Trevor-Roper(and myself)are clearlyfascinatedby
storiesofviolenceand sex,whichappealto thevoyeuristic instincts in
us all. On theotherhanditcan be arguedthatsexand violencearein-
tegralpartsofall humanexperience, and thatitis therefore as reason-
able and defensible toexploretheirimpacton individualsin thepastas
it is to expectto see such materialin contemporary filmsand televi-
sion.
The trendto narrativeraisesunsolvedproblemsabouthowwe are
to trainourgraduatestudentsinthefuture- assumingthatthereare
any to train.In the ancientartsof rhetoric? In textualcriticism? In
semiotics? In symbolicanthropology? In psychology? Or in thetechni-
ques ofanalysisofsocialand economicstructures whichwe havebeen
practisingfor a generation?It therefore remainsan open question
whetherthis unexpectedresurrection of the narrativemode by so
manyleadingpractitioners ofthe"new history"willturnout to be a
good or a bad thingforthefutureoftheprofession.
In 1972 Le Roy Ladurie wroteconfidently: "Present-dayhistori-
ography,withitspreference forthequantifiable, thestatistical and the
structural, has beenobligedto suppressin orderto survive.In thelast
decades it has virtuallycondemnedto deaththenarrativehistoryof
eventsand theindividualbiography".42 It is fartooearlytopronounce
a funeralorationoverthe decayingcorpseof analytical,structural,
quantitativehistory, whichcontinuesto flourish, and evento growif
thetrendin Americandoctoraldissertations is anyguide.43Neverthe-
lessin this,thethirddecade,narrativehistoryand individualbiogra-
phyare showingevidentsignsof risingagain fromthedead. Neither
lookquitethesameas theyused to do beforetheirallegeddemise,but
theyare easilyidentifiable as variantsofthesamegenus.
It is clear thata singlewordlike "narrative",especiallyone with
sucha complicatedhistorybehindit,is inadequateto describewhatis
in facta broadclusterofchangesin thenatureofhistoricaldiscourse.
There are signsof changewithregardto thecentralissuein history,
fromthecircumstances surrounding man,tomanincircumstances; in
the problemsstudied,fromthe economicand demographicto the
culturaland emotional;in theprimesourcesofinfluence, fromsocio-
logy,economicsand demographyto anthropology and psychology;
in the subject-matter, fromthe group to the individual;in the
42 Le Roy Ladurie, The
of theHistorian,p. I I I.
Territory
43Darnton,"Intellectualand CulturalHistory",Appendix.

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24 PAST AND PRESENT NUMBER 85

explanatory modelsofhistorical change,fromthestratified andmono-

causal to the interconnected and multicausal;in the methodology,
fromgroupquantification to individualexample;in theorganization,
fromtheanalyticalto thedescriptive; and in theconceptualizationof
the historian'sfunction,fromthe scientific to the literary.These
many-faceted changes in content,objective,method,and styleof
historicalwriting,whichare all happeningat once,haveclearelective
withone another:theyall fitneatlytogether.
affinities No singleword
is adequateto sumthemall up, and so,forthetimebeing,"narrative"
willhave to serveas a shorthandcode-wordforall thatis goingon.
PrincetonUniversity LawrenceStone

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1980

on
LAW AND HUMAN RELATIONS
The 1980AnnualConference ofthePast and PresentSociety
willbe heldon WEDNESDAY, 2 JULY 1980 in theroomsof
theGeologicalSociety,BurlingtonHouse, LondonWi.
Anyoneinterestedin receivingfurtherinformationor in
in theConference
participating is invitedto writeto:
The Editor, Past and Present,
CorpusChristiCollege,
OxfordOX I 4JF.
Further details and RegistrationForms will be available in the
next issue.

ANNUAL CONFERENCE 1981

on
THE REVOLT OF 1381
Further details will be available in subsequent issues.

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