Como cliente Amazon Prime obtén 3 meses de Audible gratis
How to Write History
The oldest Western historiographical work, and the funniest
No se ha podido añadir a la cesta
Solo puedes tener 50 títulos en tu cesta para poder pagar.
Vuelve a intentarlo más tarde
Vuelve a intentarlo más tarde
Error al eliminar la lista de deseos.
Vuelve a intentarlo más tarde
Se ha producido un error al añadirlo a la biblioteca
Inténtalo de nuevo
Se ha producido un error al seguir el podcast
Inténtalo de nuevo
Error al dejar de seguir el podcast
Escúchalo ahora gratis con tu suscripción a Audible
Después de los 30 días, 9,99 €/mes. Cancela tu siguiente plan mensual cuando quieras.
Disfruta de forma ilimitada de este título y de una colección con 90.000 más.
Escucha cuando y donde quieras, incluso sin conexión.
Sin compromiso. Cancela tu siguiente plan mensual cuando quieras.
How to Write History
Narrado por:
Charles Featherstone
Compra ahora por 4,99 €
-
Narrado por:
-
Charles Featherstone
Πῶς δεῖ ἱστορίαν συγγράφειν was written in the mid‑160s AD, and is the the most complete surviving ancient treatise on historiographical method.
Prompted by the deluge of amateur accounts celebrating Rome’s recent Parthian War under Lucius Verus, Lucian rips into the mania for writing history that has overtaken his culture, and rips into the constant errors that amateur and professional historians make in hteir search for glory.
Among the worst offenders, Lucian singles out the physician Callimorphus, who swamps his narrative with a lengthy medical description of the plague, substituting technical display for historical proportion. An anonymous author is ridiculed for prefacing his work with the creation of the universe, only to dispatch the Parthian campaign itself in a few meagre lines, when a historian’s subject should dictate the structure and flow of the work. As Lucian says, “brevity is always desirable.” The historian’s is to work with the materials they’ve got, not to invent new ones or focus on the minor details.
Other writers get called out for transforming the Roman general into a Homeric hero, opting for epic poetry and flattery over raw facts. You’re doing it wrong when you write for praise, the favour of patrons, or the immediate gratification of a popular audience. Sacrificing truth to rhetoric, and utility to ornament, is the heart of being terrible at writing a meaningful history.
Lucian’s ideal historian is Thucydides, with his commitment to truth, impartiality, and understanding that his job is “to say what happened”. Xenophon also gets credit for clarity, selection, and simple pleasure. The true historian writes a “possession for all time”, keeping the narrative useful rather than entertaining.
Lucian’s insight shaped Western historical thinking for nearly two millennia, and rings as true today as when it was written.
adbl_web_anon_alc_button_suppression_t1
No hay reseñas aún
