International Round Table “Truth and Fiction in Stories about the Past”

Narratives about the past have been the focus of humanitarian discussion for decades: historians ––“realists” and “constructivists”–– debate; philosophers reflect on definitions of historical truth; discoursologists analyze the structure of statements about the past and their role in social communication; literary critics ponder the nature of realism and fictionality; sociologists and political scientists study the social functions of historical narratives; students of cultural studies discuss models of the imaginary past and their transformation in the context of modern life.

This interdisciplinary discussion ranges over a number of issues, including:

• What is happening today with traditionally diverse forms and functions of historical writing? How do those involved in the production, dissemination, and assimilation of notions of the past interact? How in the current situation are socio-cultural values transmitted and/or transformed?
• What, if anything, distinguishes faithfulness to historical truth from truthfulness? Wherein lie the boundaries between the heuristics of fiction, mythmaking, the distortion of history, and manipulation? How useful and how risky is the play of imagination for historical material? In which genres is that play realized?
• How do historical narratives function beyond the bounds of academic history? In popular literature and in the media? How do they traverse cultural boundaries?
• Who is the recipient of alternative––including counter-factual––versions of the past, and what underlies growing interest in them?

Our discussion will help to establish current levels of reflection on these issues, to consider possibilities for interdisciplinary collaboration and cross-cultural comparison.

This is a Zoom event. In order to participate in the round table, you need to register on TimePad here. All of the registered participants will receive the link to the Zoom conference on the day of the event one hour before it starts.

Principal Discussants:

Martin Jay––Sidney Hellman Ehrman Professor of History Emeritus, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Catherine Gallagher––Emerita Eggers Professor of English Literature, University of California, Berkeley, USA

Historians, philologists, and students of cultural studies participating in the discussion include:

Riccardo Nicolosi (LMU Munich), Sergey Zenkin (RSUH/HSE), Irina Morozova (RSUH), Victoria Zhuravleva (RSUH), Diane Nemec-Ignashev (Carleton College/MSU), Andrey Oleynikov (MSSES/RANEPA), Olga Panova (MSU), Anna Egorova (RANEPA), Daria Khlevnyuk (HSE), Oksana Gavrishina (RSUH), Yuri Rogulev (MSU), teachers, graduates and undergraduates from MSU, RSUH, HSE, RANEPA

The discussion will be conducted in English