The blessed return of old history

Abstract

Under the disguise of social science, history assimilated a wide variety of objects, concepts, theories and methods which deformed the classic definition of the subject and declassified the traditional themes, techniques, rules, vocabulary and language of the historian. It is doubtful whether it became more scientific as far as the exact sciences paradigm is concerned, but it certainly became less interesting and accessible to the cultured public in general. With the revival of the narrative in the last few years, we are witnessing the resurrection of history as a subject of the «humanities» and, at the same time, the rehabilitation of its own specific territory and its typical themes. That is, history is being reborn as a literary subject with its own written rules, subject to research procedures, rules of corroboration, criteria of impartiality and sacred canons of inference and whose vocation - only in modest appearance - is to express an informed opinion of the world.