tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post2643920473711866631..comments2024-03-28T03:10:23.679-07:00Comments on Polemarch: Settled DustThe Polemarchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-30203908521732113852018-11-28T22:13:53.710-08:002018-11-28T22:13:53.710-08:00Hmmm, thoughtful post. Thanks, enjoyed that.Hmmm, thoughtful post. Thanks, enjoyed that.Prufrockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17659918463589870423noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-16267918347172167932018-11-26T00:53:55.727-08:002018-11-26T00:53:55.727-08:00There certainly is a great deal in how history is ...There certainly is a great deal in how history is interpreted, and several PhD's worth, I suppose. <br /><br />I guess we could use the word 'myth', in its technical sense. Some of the bits of the First World War would qualify - Mons and the BEF, for example, as well as the lions and donkeys thing.<br /><br />History is interpreted by every generation, even every few years. There is a great deal more out there now about Britain and Europe than there was say, 5 years ago. <br /><br />But history is important because we use it today. We can all to easily distort it for our own purposes. Sadly, we often do, even the relatively recent past (c.f. I suppose Mr trump and some of the issues raised in North America, but lots of other leaders to it too, perhaps a little more subtly).<br /><br />I've just read a piece about GR Elton and his I think 7 sorts of historical distortion. One is amateur sentimentalism, which seems to broadly fit the Remembrance stuff.The Polemarchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10958736917525649927noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5185876513552272723.post-87593213216143325922018-11-24T03:15:34.127-08:002018-11-24T03:15:34.127-08:00I think what you've touched upon here, and wit...I think what you've touched upon here, and with 'accepted' historiography as a basis, is the thin line between accepted history and folklore. I think we're beginning to see what Guy Beiner refers to as 'the folkloric representation of events' and 'folk commemorative practices' in relation to our perception and, almost, required commemoration of the First World War.<br /><br />I'd recommend Beiner's book 'Year of the French'. Now, the topic is the 1798 French incursion in Ireland, but the concept and protocols of his work are the main emphasis - where folklore and accepted history meet. Adopting the same approach to WWI would easily make a PhD.<br /><br />We've seen a great deal more folklore in relation to WWI that I think we would ever realise. I can remember union representatives in industry using the phrase 'lions led by donkeys' in relation to management practices, which can only help reinforce a glass ceiling/elitism used in order to copper-fasten political opinions. There is considerable meat here in terms of a research topic.<br />Duc de Gobinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10668407600014604176noreply@blogger.com