TROPES AS A DEVICE FOR EXPLORING THE PAST
TROPES AS A DEVICE FOR EXPLORING THE PAST
Author(s): Milan ŘepaSubject(s): History
Published by: Slovenská Akadémia Vied - Kabinet výskumu sociálnej a biologickej komunikácie
Keywords: Tropes; metaphor; metonymy; personification; historiography texts; Czech historiography; interpretation
Summary/Abstract: This paper examines the application of the three basic tropes (metaphor, metonymy and personification) in the work of historians. It reflects on the various functions tropes can fulfil in historiographic texts. The paper is based on some theoretical studies of the subject; however, it draws primarily from an analysis of Czech historiographic works of the 19th and the first half of the 20th centuries (Palacký, Goll, Novotný, Pekař, Šusta and Urbánek). Tropes do not fulfil a purely aesthetic function in historiographic texts. They facilitate the process of acquiring knowledge of the past and help to convey it. Metaphor is a synthesizing and metonymy an analytical element. Tropes can also operate as strategies for interpreting a particular period or phenomenon.
Journal: Human Affairs
- Issue Year: 2006
- Issue No: 1
- Page Range: 26-36
- Page Count: 10
- Language: English
