Rhetoric Society Quarterly May 2014

Writing the Event: The Impossible Possibility for Historiography

Michelle Ballif Russian State Agrarian Correspondence University

Abstract

This essay argues that traditional historical methods elide the radical singularity of the event by subjecting the event to meaning by way of categorical norms that cannot—by definition—include the radical singularity of “what happened.” Such historiographical methods render every event significant only insofar as it becomes evidentiary to and subservient to a satisfying narrative with a proper beginning, middle, and end—all of which follow, chronologically, in a linear, logic of time. Relying on Jacques Derrida’s theorization of the event, specifically in “A Certain Impossible Possibility of Saying the Event,” this essay will address the impossible possibility of writing the event by way of a hospitable historiography—beyond the representational demand, appropriative impulse, and temporal mandate of traditional historical methods.

Journal
Rhetoric Society Quarterly
Published
2014-05-27
DOI
10.1080/02773945.2014.911561
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Topics
archival research
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Citation Context

Cited by in this index (6)

  1. Daniel et al. (2025)
    Complicating Marx’s Role in Rhetorical Studies
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  2. McDonald-Dressler (2025)
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  3. Solice et al. (2024)
    Hospitable Historiography and/of the First All-Woman Special Supreme Court in t…
    Rhetoric Society Quarterly
  4. Gerdes (2019)
    Trauma, Trigger Warnings, and the Rhetoric of Sensitivity
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  5. Frank (2017)
    Feminist HistoriographyAs If: Performativity and Representation in Feminist His…
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Show all 6 →
  1. Walker (2016)
    A Rhythmic Refrain: Britain’s Mass-Observation as Rhetorical Assemblage
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CrossRef global citation count: 10 View in citation network → Build reading path →

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