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EGODOCUMENTS IN THE HISTORY OF EMOTIONS Audrey Nallet Jean-Loup Lecoeur Johanna Scanlon Caoimhe Burke What is an egodocument? historian Jacques Presser in the mid-1950s autobiographies, memories, diaries, personal letters... “a text in which an author writes about his or her own acts, thoughts and feelings” an “I” (or occasionally a “he” as in Jules Cesar’s writings) continuously present literary aspects of the texts more present than in official records status in the hierarchy of historical sources question of the relevance of these sources, suspicion and distrust A controversial type of historical source “the most dangerous of all sources” (Romein) Traditional political historiography, emphasis on “great men” the more an author was close to the events, the more faithful his account was sources regarded as more reliable were egodocuments by the main protagonists But... 19th century some historians warned that memoirs were unreliable truth has been twisted by authors and/or editors. By the middle of the 20th century: regarded as extremely unreliable Then, only branch of History in which egodocuments retained some status: History of ideas 19thc. German historian Wilhelm Dilthey and successors, history is “especially a matter of the ongoing development of the individual” could be traced in egodocuments Canon of texts consisting of authors from St Augustine as early medieval precursor, through Rousseau, to writers like Sartre However, In recent years approach more and more criticised for: Teleological nature Lack of reflexion on the term “individuality”itself Implicit eurocentrism 1997 Michael Masuch: autobiographical writing as “a cultural practice in which the text is a public exhibition of the writer’s identity, the “self-identity” However, concept has to be thought of as “flexible, open to multiple interpretations, and historically determined” (Dekker) (social-constructionist logic) The reconsideration of egodocuments as a source Thanks to: A new form of historiography, the History of mentalities 1970, anthropologist and historian Alan Mcfarlane studies diary of an English 17th-century minister cautious reconstruction of his political, economic, social and mental worlds And to Revival of narrative historiography in the mid1980s Narrative History (organized chronologically focus on a single coherent story descriptive rather than analytical concerned with people rather than abstract circumstances deals with the particular and specific rather than the collective and statistical) How to study egodocuments ? Problem : one egodocument could possibly not be representative This can be countered by the simultaneous study of many texts, comparisons Even with broad sample, other dangers of interpretation: 1980s Linda Pollock, 500 English and American diaries from 16th to 19th c. Drew conclusions from the fact that writers of the diaries remained silent on certain matters. Parents beating children, nowadays Western norms. Egodocuments are not standard archival sources “should not be only regarded as a source from which facts can be extracted, but the function of such texts within their social context should also be taken into account” (Dekker) Can be more or less “private”, letters can be read aloud as a form of sociability, diaries can be intended to be read by parents and used as an educational tool.. New perspective In the 1980s, new perspective on the Question of the representativeness of a single egodocument Branch of the History of mentalities : Micro-storia, Carlo Ginzburg and other Italian historians. Study of an individual text is in itself valuable Using ego documents in the study of History of Emotions Terminology: what is an emotion? Many words and ideas only have fuzzy equivalents in the past, be careful about anachronism Presence/absence of reference to certain emotions “Historians interested in the characteristics of particular emotional communities need to consider which emotions were most fundamental to their styles of expression and sense of self”. (Rosenwein) Counting words, establish the frequencies of specific terms: possible preoccupations, values, and norms. Grammar. Does the emotion act or is acted upon? Is it associated with any adjectives or other parts of speechincluding cries or terms for body parts and gestures? (Rosenwein) Why do these people write, writing motives? A problematic source nonetheless In 1949 Presser commissioned to write the history of the Dutch Jews during the occupation Used egodocuments, and interviews. Faced recurrent problems of egodocuments and “oral history”: some people’s memories were so painful that they did not want or can recall anything some other people deliberately falsified their past Egodocuments and emotives Ego documents as privileged locus for emotives: self-exploratory and self-altering effects. Reddy (p166) writes that the love letters exchanged between Jeanne-Marie Phlipon and her future husband Jean-Marie Roland in 1777 are “packed with elegant, pointed emotives whose effects on those who wrote or spoke them is an issue historians must consider”. A product of Literacy “ Literacy is the ability to use available symbol systems that are fundamental to learning and teaching – for the purposes of comprehending and composing—for the purposes of making and communicating meaning and knowledge” (Patricia Stock) Ability to read and write “Goody (1977) explains that writing transforms speech by abstracting its components. Words in written texts are more "thing-like" (Ong, 1982, p. 97). Their meaning can be looked up in other written texts and do not require direct ratification through interpersonal situations. Written texts enable backward-scanning of thought to make corrections and resolve inconsistencies.” Self-analysis or criticism. PLAN OF THE PRESENTATION Saint Augustine, Confessions Written in Latin between AD 397 and AD 398 Jean-Loup Samuel Pepys’ Diary England, 17th c. Johanna Scanlon Anne Franck’s Diary Netherlands, 1940’s Caoimhe Burke Augustine of Hippo (354-430) Confessions (written in 397/398) Introduction Plan of the presentation: replaced in history of philosophy /theory of man and emotions/ emotional world count / general emotional atmosphere / good Christian schoolbook. Context: Christian mother and merchant father in Thagate and Carthage. Manichean at first. Taught to be a rethor. Ends his life as a priest in Africa (current Algeria) Book: avowal of sins and praising of God. Tells his life, and adds philosophy and theology. Augustine replaced in the history of philosophy Neoplatonician influence (world of ideas / paradise) scorn of material world. An ancestral Psychologist Many others subjects (immanent God, time, praising God)… A Theory of man and emotions Man can’t be thought without God (who created all but sin) Man is free and sinful. “there are four basic emotions of the mind: desire, joy, fear, sadness.” p134. What about love? Ego document: world count To consider cautiously (latin translation, not exhaustive, and there can be allusions and synonyms) Fear x 81 Joy x 123 Sad + sorrow x 65 Desire x 137 Love x344 !!!! General emotional atmosphere Parallelism man’s misery/God’s greatness Diabolization of sexuality and material world “I came to Carthage, where a caldron of unholy loves was seething and bubbling all around me. I was not in love as yet, but I was in love with love” p31 Opposition rationality/ passion Performative constitution of God God’s figure The confessions: a good Christian schoolbook Feelings/moral/sins (God knows everything) Model of attitude and feelings God’s constitution through languages To sketch the Christian navigation (old-fashion ideal type): cautious and fearful advance between the sins reef, with confession to bail sin out, and God’s love as a distant and uncertain lighthouse… Acknowlegements - Thanks to the guy who invented ctrl+f A reading of Samuel Pepys' diaries by Johanna Scanlon Introduction • Born 23rd February 1633 • English Civil War • 1650 - Attended Cambridge University • 1655 - Married Elizabeth St. Michel • 1660 - First Diary Entry • The Victorian diary • Why write a diary? • Idea of the Individual • Who was the intended audience? • Private or public? • Legacy? Writing style Accessible vocabulary Matter-of-fact tone Written in chronological order Subject Everyday London life Professional life Married life Affairs Historic events eg. The Great Plague in London Multi-lingual Code Wrote about his affairs using a mixture of Spanish, Italian and French "... and did tocar mi cosa con su mano [ touch my thing with her hand] through my chemise but yet so as to hazer me hazer la grande cosa " [make me make the great thing (orgasm)] ". But now comes our trouble, I did begin to fear that 'su marido' [her husband] might go to my house to enquire pour elle [ask about her], and there, trouvant my muger [find my wife] at home, would not only think himself, but give my femme[wife] occasion to think strange things. Examining Pepys code Why write in this multi-lingual code? To disguise his exact meaning? To better express his emotions? As a way of shaping his emotional experience? Selfshaping plays a large role in diary writing Did Pepys view this as a more personal way to re-live these experiences through writing and re-reading? The diary as an 'emotional refuge' The theory of the 'emotional refuge' as applicable to diary keeping Pepys' diary as his own 'emotional refuge' Did writing his journal offer him relief? Pepys affairs written in code could have acted as a confessional The Great Plague 1665 Pepys' experience of The Plague in London Diary entry: September 30th 1665 It was dark before I could get home, and so land at Church-yard stairs, where, to my great trouble, I met a dead corpse of the plague, in the narrow ally just bringing down a little pair of stairs — but I thank God I was not much disturbed at it. However, I shall beware of being late abroad again. The Great Plague 1665 Pepy expresses his happiness Diary Entry: September 30th 1665: " I do end this month with the greatest content, and may say that these last three months, for joy, health, and profit, have been much the greatest that ever I received in all my life in any twelve months almost in my life, having nothing upon me but the consideration of the sicklinesse of the season during this great plague to mortify mee. For all which the Lord God be praised!" 'Emotional Communities' The theory of the 'emotional community' as applicable to Pepys Diaries 'Emotional communities' during the Great Plague Class as an emotional community Pepys was as a member of the upper class - not in contact with the plague as the lower classes were - his lifestyle afforded him distance and relative safety from infection Emotionally experienced the plague differently - does not empathise with the victims suffering Class as an 'emotional communities Conclusion The ego-document as a subjective but valuable source The document's subjectivity - negative and positive - subjectivity highlights emotions The diarys relevance for the study of the history of emotions The Manipulation of Anne Frank’s Diary ‘In spite of everything, I still believe that people are truly good at heart’ – Anne Frank, 1944 Extracts from the Diary of Anne Frank Published version of Anne Frank’s Diary Can the Diary of Anne Frank be considered as a reliable ego-document? Max Page argues NO. Diary has been through various manipulations since it’s original discovery Adapted to suit the audience • German translators omitted references of hatred for the Germans • Otto Frank removed Anne’s references to sexual yearnings and hatred for her mother Therefore, can we read the Diary of Anne Frank as an ego-document, or as a reliable historical source? The Life and Death of a Document: Lessons from the Strange Career of The Diary of Anne Frank Anne Frank’s Diary, even though it’s edited by various bodies of copyright owners, was also edited by Anne Frank herself. Initially, Anne wrote the diary strictly for herself. In 1944, Gerrit Bolkstein, a Dutch government official in exile, announced from a London radio station that after the war, he hoped to collect eyewitness accounts of Dutch citizens oppressed by the German occupation. He specifically mentioned letters and diaries, which are considered ego-documents. Upon hearing this announcement, Anne edited her own diary for the purpose of public consumption. Therefore, between Anne and Otto Frank’s editions to the diary, how much of it is the original manuscript? In relation to the history of emotions … The diary can be understood as an attempt by Anne to retain some form of herself in the midst of warfare and Jewish persecution She still talks about day-to-day occurrences – • Argues with her mother • Hates her roommate, Mr. Pfeffer • Expresses jealousy of Margot These examples allow one to see that Anne wished to remain herself through her diary, while living in the Annexe. Bringing in Audrey’s arguments … Nineteenth century historians warned that memoirs were unreliable sources of history. This is evident in Anne Frank’s Diary, due to the editions made by Otto, and indeed, Anne Frank, which edited the original affairs as they happened in the original diary. Teleology Teleology showed a lack of reflection of the term individuality. This can be argued against in the case of Anne Frank’s Diary, as she had a no-holds-back attitude to the way in which she reported her day-to-day life, particularly with regards to arguments with her mother and the van Pels family. Autobiography is self-identifying Autobiography is flexible, and open to multiple interpretations - This is an example of social-constructivist logic. This argument is extremely relevant in the case of Anne Franks’ Diary, because the various editions made to the original change the way the diary is perceived by different readers. One ego-document is not representative of the historical period as a whole. Anne Frank’s Diary is not representative of the views of all Jewish people at the time, or of the period of World War II The Diary is only Anne’s own views, which shows why ego-documents cannot be representative of historical periods by themselves, but need historical fact to back them up. CONCLUSION - - - Augustine of Hippo: listed 4 primary emotions (Fear, Joy, Desire, Sadness). Absence of love whereas present in the text (very valuable emotion) Emotions and moral aspects intertwined, dangerous ones lead to sin Link emotion/presence of God The book teaches you how to feel about God - - Samuel Pepys: Diary as a way of self-shaping, selffashioning Diary as an emotional refuge, confessional Not really affected by Great Plague, classsystem as an emotional community Different from what one of us would probably have felt - Anne Frank: Importance of the question of privacy of these documents Can be altered, modified before being presented to the public To conclude, egodocuments really useful to study emotions, full of emotions. Even though controversial sources, sided, to be considered cautiously.