Politics of historical writing and the politics of literature : Hayden White and Jacques Rancière read Erich Auerbach

Hayden White and Jacques Rancière used Erich Auerbach’s approach to the history of realistic European literature to construct their own theoretical discussions of historical and literary writing. White thus formulated the concepts of a figural relationship, modernist and figural realism, while Rancière critically commented on the undemocratic historiography of the Annales school and sought egalitarian writings in Western literature. White’s and Rancière’s readings of Auerbach will be used to compare their two theoretical approaches. The purpose of this analysis will be, first, to critically compare some of their contributions, and second, to incorporate Rancière’s claims into the English-language debate on the theory of history. I will try to answer the following question: how in their commentaries on the works of Auerbach White and Rancière defined the relationship between politics and historical and literary writing; how they articulate the politics of historical writing (White) and the politics of literature (Rancière).