issue110 historians are storytellers 习作求拍，谢谢！！

野马行空UID: 2836141

Issue110 "When we concern ourselves with the study of history, we become storytellers. Because we can never know the past directly but must construct it by interpreting evidence, exploring history is more of a creative enterprise than it is an objective pursuit. All historians are storytellers."

History is a novel written by the victor. Though we cannot know every detail of the past, we can still know receive some real information and useful experience about humanity from it.

Just as what the second Law of Thermodynamics explains, information will not be forever existed and keep its completion. This explains the difficulty in history study and differences between historians and journalists. Due to the fact that we have no complete recordings of the past, we have to use our thinking to make those fragments of history connected together. On the other hand, as what is mentioned above, "history is written by who enjoys the victory", historians have to put , whether consciously or unconsciously, not only his own personality and experience, but also some sought of the main politic trends into what he writes. The Japanese government's behavior of repress the new edition of historic textbook for middle school to conceal the brutal fact of the extreme cruel and ruthless behavior of its army in east Asia before and during the Second World War, especially the giant massacre in the city of Nanking where I take my exam today, is an ultimate example for the reality that politicians manipulating history.

But, it is not yet to draw the conclusion that historians are just storytellers. Even though we can only collect the fragments of reality, our so-called "stories" are still based on those realities. This is a big difference from common storytellers -- those guys have no necessities to take effects to uncover realities under the upper phenomenon. A good example reflects the difference is the conflicts between the history book Recordings of Three Kingdoms written by Chen Shou and the famous classical novel The Romance of Three Kingdoms written by Luo Guanzhong. They describe mainly on the history of the period "Three Kingdoms" in Chinese history while their different authors, the former one is a historian, the latter one is a novelist, or as mentioned above, storyteller, wrote the two great works into two different categories.

Knowing the diversity if historians and storytellers, another question comes up -- what makes the differences? Historians, if not controlled by politicians, or other profit company the most fundamental purpose of studying history is to, quoting from a famous movie "pursuit of reality". Furthermore, in order to let the public get aware of the reality, he sometimes uses his own thoughts to replace the unknown, which means, adding one’s own thinking is to help the others better understand the history.

Storytellers seldom do that. They write stories for the purpose that they want to tell us what they think, not only facts. Their thinking is only a tool for better describing the world in their mind, never considering whether it conflicts the reality. IN the example above, Chen Shou, the historian, wanted the latter generations knowing more about the war and peace, good and evil in that period, even under the threat of the government of his time. Luo Guanzhong’ work differs in what he would like to express from Chen’s book, advocating loyalty to emperor you serve is the main thought of his novel.

The comprehensions of history diverse in historians between each other – Edward Gibbon’s The History of The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire expresses his
deep sorrow for the collapse of flourish in the old days; Sima Qian’s Recording of History expresses hi anger at the cruel governor and sympathy for the heroes who failed at last; T.N.Dupuy’s history study of warfare
gives us both telescope and microscope to observe the development and construct of wars and weapons. On this level, history is more than clod facts, they are realities deeply concerned with humanity. Those great historians’ creative work makes history more accessible to our ordinary personal at present days with their great feelings and thoughts.

History, which is created by human, recorded by human and interpreted by human, is in
fact a recording and interpreting of humanity. The pursuit of reality and humanity is the factor dominates historians’ mind. Verities understandings of history could rend us a picture of humanity and reality that is more complete.

jakehkUID: 2665316

History is anovel written by the victor. (need some connection here) Though we cannot knowevery detail of the past, we can still know gain some real information anduseful experience about humanity from it.
(the thesis isnot clear enough)
Some say thathistory is a novel written by the victor. While I agree to the point thathistory is not all accurate reflection of the truth, I argue that we can stilllearn a lot about humanity from studying it.

Just as what the second Law of Thermodynamicsexplains, information will not forever exist and keep its completion. Thisexplains the (1) difficulty in history study and (2) differences betweenhistorians and journalists. (no back up here) Due to the fact that we have nocomplete recordings of the past, we have to use our thinking to connect thosefragments of history. On the other hand, as what is mentioned above,"history is written by who enjoys the victory (who doesn’t enjoy victory)",historians have to put , whether consciously or unconsciously, not only his ownpersonality and experience, but also some sought of the main politic trendsinto what he writes. (too long a sentence) The Japanese government's behaviorof repressing the new edition of historic textbook for middle school to concealthe brutal fact of the extreme cruel and ruthless behavior of its army in eastAsia before and during the Second World War, especially the giant massacre inthe city of Nanking where I take my exam today, is an ultimate example for thereality that politicians manipulats history.




History, which is created by human, recorded by humanand interpreted by human, is in
fact a reflection （repetition here）ofhumanity. The pursuit of reality and humanity is the primary factor that dominateshistorians’ mind. Verities understandings of history could rend us a picture ofhumanity and reality that is more complete.