CCLA01: Strangers to Ourselves: the Critical Study of Narrative

Week 10 (1): Metahistory

Read the following texts:

Hayden White, "Introduction to Metahistory"

Accounts of Stamford Raffles' life from Boulger, Shiau, and CDIS in your course package

Preparatory Questions

One of White's central points is that writing which are in many respects factual--history, and indeed much scientific writing--is in fact still structured as narrative.

The extract that we have from Metahistory tends to gloss over the definition of the four different "modes of emplotment" at the bottom of page 343. Here is a thumbnail sketch of these kinds of narrative:

• Romance: a hero embarks on a quest, and, after a number of trials, reaches his/her goal
• Tragedy: a great person is brought down due to supernatural influence or a character flaw
• Comedy: lovers are thwarted and only after a period of trial do they get married
• Satire: readers are led to expect one of the other three plots, but are disappointed in their expectations.

In preparation for our class meeting, post an response to one of the four questions below on the IVLE bulletin board.

1. The extract by Boulger is taken from a Victorian biography of Raffles written by a British historian. What events are emphasised or left out in the conversion of chronicle to story? What structuring principles can you find in Boulger's narrative-- in terms of "explanation by emplotment" or "explanation by formal argument," or in terms of both?

2. The CDIS extract is taken from a previous generation of Singapore Primary School Social Studies Textbooks. What events are emphasised or left out in the conversion of chronicle to story? What structuring principles can you find in its narrative-- in terms of "explanation by emplotment" or "explanation by formal argument," or in terms of both?

3. The extract by Darren Shiau is from a modern Singaporean novel, Heartland, in which brief narratives of Singapore history and myth are intercut into a contemporary story about life and love across class divides in Singapore. What events do you think might be emphasised or left out in the conversion of chronicle to story?What structuring principles can you find in Shiau's narrative-- in terms of "explanation by emplotment" or "explanation by formal argument," or in terms of both?

4. Can you think of a story, using any aspects of explanation by emplotment or explanation by formal argument, which might be generated from events selected from the following chronicle?