Narrative in Historical Knowledge

On the Prospects of Using Narratology

Abstract

The article discusses the possibility of applying narratology to historical knowledge. I suppose that such an approach will help to give a critical assessment to the use of various narrative structures and to identify the potential of narratology for the development of historical knowledge. I believe that for this aim historical narrative should be extended to the interpretation of any historical objects. It is also necessary to discuss the solution of old problems such as the relationship between history and literature and the relationship between narrative and “historical reality”. I believe that their source is related to the epistemology of empiricism and leads to the use of a specific narrative format. Approaches to using narratology are discussed using the theory of communicative levels and the typology of narrators as an example. I believe the most typical historical narrative is the use of an implicit narrator. The role of the narrator is concretized as a discussion of the possibility of using an unreliable narration. The article shows the ways of its identification in historical narrative. I argue that the productive use of narratology requires the use of an explicit narrator figure and its interpretation as a necessary condition for creating a historical narrative.