Hayden White's Theory of Historical Writing
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Abstract
The purpose of this research article is to study Hayden White’s theory of historical writing through synthesizing his works from 1960’s until 2010’s. The result of this study shows that essences of Hayden White’s theory of historical writing can be summarized into 3 points. Firstly, the historical writing is a kind of literary works. Secondly, methodology of historical study is not information analysis aiming to construct hypothesis as physical science study. It is, however, figurative thinking that allows historians to interpret facts from the past to become meaningful narrative. Lastly, literary devices are important tools of historical writing. Historians, hence, should not try to reduce literary elements in their writings, but try to learn literary techniques from writers in order to improve their ability to interpret facts and represent the past.
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