Historical Fact as a Place of Memory: P. Nora and Research into the Local Pasty

Abstract

Noting the difficulties in the definition of the concept of historical fact and the problems associated with the historical fact in regional history, the author proposes to refer to the discursive apparatus of P. Nora. The author proceeds from the fact that the places of memory, about which the French historian wrote, can be seen as a theoretical lens, the use of which will allow to contrast the operational attitude to history comprehension and grasping of the past. The article noted the difficulties in translating the concept of 'places of memory', the influence of predecessors (E. Lavisse, F. Braudel, M. Foucault, W. Benjamin as well as M. Halbwachs and F. Yeats) and justified that the project of places of memory was aimed at revising the previously established concept of the nation. Relying mainly on the texts of P. Norа, the author reaches the following conclusions. 1. The discursiveness of memory sites allows to contrast them with the conventional state historical narrative and traditions of historiography. The historical fact in this interpretation escapes unambiguous interpretations, being not part of the mechanism of constructed state history, but acts as an actor of local history, the history of groups, communities. 2. Historical facts as places of memory can be thought of as a kind of "remains" of the past which, despite the plurality of interpretations, retain their significance. This avoids a highly constructivist interpretation of historical fact. 3. The changes characteristic of places of memory allow us to consider the historical fact in a dynamic way.