Historian Caught Between the Blurred Distinctions of Reality between History and Biography
The Wars by Timothy Findley investigates the underlying assumptions in regards to the writing of history, before the rise of the postmodernism questioning of the past. Commentators have analysed the problematic realist presumptions of history in the literary work, however Findley unsettles claims of authenticity by the biographical incorporation of the protagonist’s, Robert Ross’s, story. In 1915, Robert Ross, a teenager, decides to enlist after the death of his hydrocephalic sister Rowena because he feels guilty for neglecting his duty to look after her. In camp, Robert meets Eugene Taffler, a senior soldier who has been wounded at the front. On the voyage to Europe, he…show more content… “The Discourse of History.” The Rustle of Language. Trans. Richard Howard. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1989. 127-40.
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