Publication Details

Abstract

During the last 30 years Hayden White raised in his work many problems concerning writing history which became the subject of discussions among historians, philosophers of history and literature theorists. On the basis of metaphorical expressions used in historical narratives and following his analysis of the great classics of the historiography of the 19th century he tried to show the tropological nature of historical discourses. This theory resulted in relativism and the assessment of historical narratives according to the metaphorical criteria of truth. This relativism was rejected by the historians who believe that the proper use of tropes is the only rhetorical means for the description of historical events. At the beginning of the 1990ś Hayden White suggested writing about tragic events in the "middle voice", which could be scee as a retreat from his early positions.