Author | Hayden White |
---|---|
Language | English |
Subject | Historiography |
Publisher | Johns Hopkins University |
Publication date | 1973 |
Publication place | United States |
Media type | |
ISBN | 0-8018-1761-7 |
OCLC | 2438028 |
Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-century Europe is a work of historiography by Hayden White first published in 1973. On the second page of his introduction, White stated:
My own analysis of the deep structure of the historical imagination of Nineteenth century Europe is intended to provide a new perspective on the current debate over the nature and function of historical knowledge.[1]
The theoretical framework is outlined in the first 50 pages of the book, which consider in detail eight major figures of 19th-century history and the philosophy of history. The larger context of historiography and writing in general is also considered. White's approach uses systematically a fourfold structural schema with two terms mediating between a pair of opposites.