Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)
Studies - Judit Ágnes Kádár: Histories, Truths, Fictions. Interdisciplinary Relations of Historiography and Philosophy in the Context of Recent Western Canadian Fiction
(Metahistory [1973], Tropics of Discourse [1978] and Content of the Form [1987]) are closely related to Ricouer's ideas. He explores the poetic construction nature of history writing and explains phenomena like encodation and emplotment, i.e., the conscious selection and arrangement of historical traces, extending Ricourer's notion of the utmost priority of language in historical discourse. Carl F. Becker, another Progressive historian following Beard's relativism, tried to define the motivating factors and aim of history writing, a central issue in the novels associated with historiographic metafiction. He made a distinction between the so-called actual and ideal history, the first marking is absolute and unchanged, the second dwells in "the memory of things said and done" (Becker 22). Since the object and method of remembering are determined by the historian's idea of himself, of what he is doing in the world and of what he hopes to do (Becker 29), history writing is subject to presentism. "History is ... that pattern of remembered events, whether true or false, that enlarges and enriches the collective spacious present of Mr Everyman" (34). Becker pointed out the creative and individually determined nature of the historian's job and the "unstable pattern of remembered things" (35) that also gains relevance in current concepts of literature —examined later on. In the 1970s the movement called New Social History gave a radically new definition of history and diverted the interest towards the experience of man in the street, consequently, towards new sources of data like private narratives, new methods like census research, new questions of power and authority, altogether: away from the conceptual monoliths other historians preferred to work with previously. An interesting parallel exists between the search for new, marginal resources in historiography and the similar tendency in historical fiction (especially historiographic metafiction) of turning to marginal issues and resources —a priority in nowadays Canadian culture, too. A collection of articles published under the title The Vital Past: Writings on the Uses of History (1985) included manifestos in defense of history. Lester D. Stephens claims "history is one vital dimension of our reality, however, and it can aid us to appreciate our humanity, ... [can] provide us with a sense of being, ... [and can enable us] to 25
