7/27/2019 Possibilities of the Past - A Comment

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/possibilities-of-the-past-a-comment 1/3

the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the editors of The Journal ofInterdisciplinary History

[The Possibilities of the past]: A CommentAuthor(s): Carlo GinzburgReviewed work(s):Source: The Journal of Interdisciplinary History, Vol. 12, No. 2, The New History: The 1980sand beyond (II) (Autumn, 1981), pp. 277-278Published by: The MIT Press

Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/203029 .Accessed: 16/01/2013 05:32

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at .http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp

.JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of 

content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms

of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

.

The MIT Press and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the editors of The Journal of 

 Interdisciplinary History are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to The Journalof Interdisciplinary History.

http://www.jstor.org

This content downloaded on Wed, 16 Jan 2013 05:32:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions

7/27/2019 Possibilities of the Past - A Comment

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/possibilities-of-the-past-a-comment 2/3

7/27/2019 Possibilities of the Past - A Comment

http://slidepdf.com/reader/full/possibilities-of-the-past-a-comment 3/3

278 CARLO GINZBURG

but different models of narrative have been selected by historiansin different times. It would be naive to take for granted a model

(borrowed by nineteenth-century novels) in which a God-histo-rian knows everything, including the hidden motivations of his

characters-individuals, groups, or social classes. An anthropo-logical look at the ways in which anthropologists and historianscommunicate their findings would be useful to both disciplines.1

The growing number of detailed studies on circumscribedhistorical phenomena has often been lamented as a fragmentationof the historical discipline. It seems to me, however, that this is

a price to be paid for elaborating more powerful analytical tools.Case studies obviously imply generalizations:but it is difficult to

predict whether the general frame of reference for this kind of

analysis will be provided by history, anthropology, or both.

I Lawrence Stone, "The Revival of Narrative: Reflections on a New Old History," Past

& Present, 85 (I979), 3-24.

This content downloaded on Wed, 16 Jan 2013 05:32:04 AMAll use subject to JSTOR Terms and Conditions