Forelesning 1 Hva er historie?
Om historien som fag og historien som forestillingsverden
Om fakta og fortolkning
Om hvordan historien konstrueres
Om hva kilder betyr
Om historiefagets funksjon i samfunnet
Albrecht Altdorfer, 1529
G.F. Handel ( )
G.F. Handel: Alexander’s Feast (1736) "Revenge, revenge!" Timotheus cries, "See the Furies arise! See the snakes that they rear, How they hiss in their hair, And the sparkles that flash from their eyes!" (John Dryden)
Alexander was famous for moving on, he didn’t get stuck, and he also pursued every fucking buddy who broke the treaty, he especially pursued them. He never would have let Osama Bin Laden get away. He would have tracked him into Pakistan. Fuck the border (...) But aside from that, Bush in the end, who knows. He might be seen as an Alexander, maybe it will turn for him (…) Who are we to assume we’re right and he’s wrong? (Oliver Stone, 2004)
The facts speak only when the historian calls on them; it is he who decides to which facts to give the floor, and in what order of context. (E.H. Carr, 1961)
Ignorance is the first requisite of the historian, ignorance which simplifies and clarifies, which selects and omits. (E.H. Carr, 1961)
Historieskriving består i å sette fakta inn i en annen og tapt meningsverden, annerledes enn vår egen: historien.
Historien skapes når vi utforsker fortiden og skriver om den.
Hver epoke er umiddelbar for Gud. Leopold von Ranke (1795 – 1886)
Historie er erkjennelse av forskjeller.