WRITING BEYOND TIME: THE DURABILITY OF HISTORICAL TEXTS
Jaume Aurell i Cardona
ABSTRACT When we think in terms of the durability historical texts, some works instantly come to mind: Herodotus's, Thucydides's, and Polybius's war narratives, Plutarch's comparative biographies, Eusebius's ecclesiastical history, Augustine's City God , Jean Froissart's chronicles, Francesco Guicciardini's history Florence, Edward Gibbon's Decline Fall Roman Empire Jules Michelet's History France Leopold von Ranke's Reformation Jacob Burckhardt's The Civilization Renaissance Italy Johan Huizinga's Waning Middle Ages Fernand Braudel's Mediterranean Thompson's Making English Working Class among others. Historians perceive them as durable part a canon historiography. Surrounded are by exaltation innovation over tradition, assuming challenging concept “writing practice” proposed editor this issue, In article I examine conditions that might be considered necessary for writing achieve durability, propose what creation reception enabled longevity, justify why these other texts have potential discuss practical lessons obtain from inquiry. begin making distinctions three related concepts classic, canon, try establish specific focusing on effect contemporaneity connections between past.
History and Theory