Formal content: Narrative discourse and historical representation

Author: (USA) White Dong Lirhe
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-11-01
Features: Formal Content is a collection of essays consisting of 8 articles, representing the author's research on narrative theory and the representation of history from 1979 to 1986. White argues that narrative is not merely a usable or unusable discourse form for historical representation; it necessarily contains ideology. Narrative not only conveys meaning but also creates meaning. In short, narrative is not just form, but also content, and both form and content are equally important—we cannot make a clear distinction between them. Therefore, White titled this collection Formal Content. The author actively engages with post-structuralism in the book, making it an important work that reflects the author's postmodern historical thought.