Regimes of historicity : presentism and experiences of time

285 Pages·2015·3.049 MB·English, French

by  Brown, Saskia, Hartog, François

R E G I M E S

of
HISTORICITY
European Perspectives
European Perspectives
A Series in Social Thought and Cultural Criticism
Lawrence D. Kritzman, Editor
European Perspectives presents outstanding books by leading European thinkers.
With both classic and contemporary works, the series aims to shape the major intellectual
controversies of our day and to facilitate the tasks of historical understanding.
For a complete list of books in the series, see pages 261–262.
R E G I M E S

of
H I S T O R I C I T Y
P R E S E N T I S M A N D
E X P E R I E N C E S
O F T I M E

FRANÇOIS
HARTOG
TRANSLATED BY
SASKIA BROWN
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS——New York
COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY PRESS
PUBLISHERS SINCE 1893
NEW YORK CHICHESTER, WEST SUSSEX
Copyright © 2003 et 2011 Editions du Seuil pour Présentisme simple ou par défaut?
Collection La Librairie du XXIe siècle, sous las direction de Maurice Olender
English translation copyright © 2015 Columbia University Press
Cet ouvrage a bénéficié du soutien des Programmes d’aide à la publication de l’Institut français.
This work, published as part of a program of aid for publication,
received support from the Institut Français.
All rights reserved
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Hartog, François, author.
[Croire en l’Histoire. English]
Regimes of historicity : presentism and experiences of time / François Hartog;
translated by Saskia Brown.
pages cm. — (European perspectives: a series in social thought and cultural criticism)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-231-16376-7 (cloth: alkaline paper) — ISBN 978-0-231-53876-3 (e-book)
1. Historiography. 2. History—Philosophy. I. Brown, Saskia, translator. II. Title.
D16.8 H37813 2015
907.2—dc23
2014026337
Columbia University Press books are printed on permanent and durable acid-free paper.
Printed in the United States of America
c 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
JACKET IMAGE: ALESSANDRO RIZZI © GETTYIMAGES
BOOK AND JACKET DESIGN: CHANG JAE LEE
To Jipé Vernant,
by the light of Samzun

“ —in Time”
—MARCEL PROUST

C O N T E N T S
Presentism: Stopgap or New State? xiii
Introduction: Orders of Time and Regimes of Historicity 1
Gaps 3
From the Pacific to Berlin 7
Universal Histories 11
Regimes of Historicity 15
ORDERS OF TIME 1 21
1. Making History: Sahlins’s Islands 23
The Heroic Regime 28
From Myth to Event 32