Roger Chartier and the Fate of Cultural History

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, Roger Chartier has helped set the terms within which European historians in several fields have worked. In part, this influence has reflected the range of his interests and the remarkable learning that he has devoted to them. His numerous books (different accounting systems produce different estimates of his extraordinary productivity) include substantial studies of early modern French politics, the French Revolution, and early modern society.' But his most important contributions have come in the field of cultural history, where he has taught historians to look closely at the processes by which ordinary people use the cultural artifacts produced for them. In a series of case studies, he has shown the richness of this interaction between users and producers of culture, the surprising freedoms that individuals enjoy when they encounter books, pictures, and ideas. Chartier's new collection of essays, On the Edge of the Cliff explores some of the broad assumptions that have underlain the author's practice as a historian.2 It offers overviews and critical evaluations of some of the field's most influential theorists: Hayden White, Michel de Certeau, Michel Foucault, Louis Marin, Philippe Aries, Norbert Elias, and others. Each essay includes a striking range of specific insights and explications, but Chartier also returns repeatedly to a series of large