What does it mean to write history?
There are times that leave us no choice but to realize we are living a
historical moment. Be it in our personal life or in the society we belong to.
Events and tiny details about people seem all of the sudden highly meaningful.
How to proceed to capture the
essence of this moment and understand it fully? This is way harder than it
appears to be. Leo Tolstoy main concern was not exactly to write history. He
aimed above all at conveying an idea quite original for the time – conventional
ways of writing history overestimate the importance of great personages. Erin
Greer echoes lucidly Tolstoy’s theories, taking in account their limits and
contradictions, and give them a concrete contemporary application through a
brief description of the events occurring in Egypt. Her text turns out to be a
convincing illustration of how richer, full of energy – in a word, full of
meaning – history becomes when it talks about those who really shape it.
I felt really enthusiastic reading
the beginning of Tolstoy’s epilogues. It represented a sort of tempting
invitation to give up on all of these preconceived ideas we often have about
history. Yet I ended up with an impression of deep confusion and of strong disagreement
with its conclusion – which consists basically in saying human impression of
freedom is a mere illusion, exceptional once analyzed from a long-term
perspective.
My disagreement was also reinforced
by the author’s obsession with the idea of working on History like in natural
sciences with the goal of isolating laws. It is undeniable correlations can be
found through history – for example, bad economic conditions tend to lead to a
deteriorated social climate and political tensions. Nevertheless, it could be
misleading or even dangerous to base systematically our study of human society
through ages on a rigid framework. It is interesting to observe that – even
though this is not its purpose – Greer’s work brings other arguments in support
of this mitigated final impression on War and peace through the critiques of
other thinkers or writers.
All in all, these readings ask more
questions than they offer answers. To my view – and that may be considered a
paradox, knowing Erin Greer’s attitude toward those sources –
a better way to write with the
purpose of contributing to the knowledge of history may be to take advantage of
the occasion offered by the internet and social medias to collect historical
material on a scale much closer to everyday people.
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