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Michel de Certeau and the Limits of Historical Representation

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Weymans, Wim [UCL]

• The polymath Michel de Certeau is traditionally seen as one of a group of French post-structuralist thinkers who reject constructs in the social sciences in favor of the diversity of the everyday or the past. However, in this paper I will show that, as a historian, Certeau did not discard these constructs, but rather valued them as a means of doing justice to the “strangeness” of the past. The position that Certeau adopts can be seen most clearly from his theoretical debate with Paul Veyne, which is the starting point of this article. I then show how Certeau's first major historical work, The Possession at Loudun, exemplifies his theoretical position. An analysis of this work demonstrates how the historian's active reconstruction of interactions between exorcists, medical doctors, state officers, and possessed nuns helps us to perceive the complexity of the past in a way that can be seen as a microhistory avant la lettre. I will suggest that during his writing of the history of Loudun, Certeau implicitly raises more theoretical and epistemological problems, and in so doing he “practices” a theory of history. The most elusive aspect of the story at Loudun turns out to be the drama around the priest Grandier. This article demonstrates how Certeau pays tribute to Grandier by using “scientific” methods, thus showing the “limits of representation” through disciplinary means. Finally, the article explores the implications of Certeau's theory and practice of the writing of history for understanding historiography at large. The historian not only appears as a tramp who looks for remains that are forever lost to us, but is also a “scientist” who uses both models and concepts in order to put them to the test.

Document type Article de périodique (Journal article)
Publication date 2004
Language Anglais
Journal information "History and Theory" - Vol. 43, no. 2, p. 161-178 (2004)
Peer reviewed yes
Publisher Wiley
issn 0018-2656
e-issn 1468-2303
Publication status Publié
Affiliation UCL - SSH/INCA - Institut des civilisations, arts et lettres
Keywords certeau ; representation ; trauma ; historiography ; veyne ; possession ; gender ; history
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  1. 1. This text is a translation by Ruth Keeling of a German version that was published inHistorische Anthropologie11:1 (2003), 1-20, and is published here with the permission ofHistorische Anthropologie.An earlier version of this text also appeared in Dutch (inFeit & Fictie5:1 [2000], 67-85). This article was written during my time as research assistant for the Fund for Academic Research-Flanders (Belgium) at Leuven University (K. U. Leuven) Thanks are owed to Jo Tollebeek and Koenraad Geldof for their supervision of the research that was the basis for this article. I am also very grateful to Jeremy Ahearne, Peter Burke, Nick Dew, Luce Giard, Ruth Keeling, and Alison Martin as well as the editors ofHistory & Theoryfor their suggestions and corrections of this version of the article.
  2. Luce Giard, Michel de Certeau (1987)
  3. Luce Giard, Le voyage mystique: Michel de Certeau (1988)
  4. Luce Giard, Histoire, mystique et politique: Michel de Certeau (1991)
  5. Maigret Eric, Les trois héritages de michel de certeau un projet éclaté d'analyse de la modernité, 10.3406/ahess.2000.279861
  6. Francois Dosse, Michel de Certeau: Le marcheur blesse (2002)
  7. The Practice of Everyday Life (1984)
  8. Heterologies: Discourses on the Other (1986)
  9. The Writing of History (1988)
  10. The Mystic Fable. 1: The Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries (1992)
  11. The Capture of Speech and Other Political Writings (1997)
  12. Culture in the Plural (1998)
  13. The Possession at Loudun (2000)
  14. 4a. Representations, 33 (1991 ).
  15. 4b. Diacritics, 22 : 2 (1992 ).
  16. 4c. Social Semiotics, 6 : 1 (1996 ).
  17. 4d. New Blackfriars, 77 (1996 ).
  18. 4e. Paragraph, 22 : 2 (1999 ).
  19. 4f. The South Atlantic Quarterly, 100 : 2 (2001 ).
  20. Jeremy Ahearne, Michel de Certeau: Interpretation and its Other (1995)
  21. Graham Ward, The Certeau Reader (2000)
  22. Koenraad Geldof, Sluipwegen van het denken: Over Michel de Certeau (1996)
  23. Daniel Bogner, Gebrochene Gegenwart: Mystik und Politik bet Michel de Certeau (2002)
  24. Giard, Voyage, 191
  25. Michel Certeau, L'invention du quotidien: I Arts de faire (1990)
  26. Koenraad Geldof, Critical Self-Fashioning: Stephen Greenblatt and the New Historicism, 198 (1999)
  27. Michel Certeau, La possession de Loudun (1970)
  28. Michel Certeau, Une politique de la langue: La Revolution francaise et les patois: l'enquete de Gregoire (1975)
  29. Michel Certeau, La fable mystique 1. XVI-XVII siecle (1982)
  30. Paul Veyne, Comment on ecrit l'histoire: Essai d'epistemologie (1971)
  31. Michel Certeau, Annales E.S.C., 27, 1317 (1972)
  32. 11c. Certeau calls Veyne's work a "transitional epistemology" that also contains, alongside the dominant, "outdated" theory, which Certeau critiques, the beginnings of a "contemporary"-that is, "Certeauesque"-historical theory. In the following, I leave aside the "contemporary" elements in Veyne's work and limit myself to the general tenor of his argument. Certeau's work on historical theory in the 1980s, which is not considered in this article either, is also strongly reminiscent of Veyne. On this topic, see in particular Certeau's essay, "L'histoire, science et fiction," inCerteau Michel , Histoire et psychanalyse entre science et fiction (Paris: Gallimard, 2002 ), 51 -84 .
  33. 11d. On the polysemic nature of Certeau's work, seeGeldof , "Dialectic ,"206 -212 .
  34. 12a. Certeau Michel , L'ecriture de l'histoire (Paris: Gallimard, 1975 ), 7 -130 , 7 -130 (on Veyne).
  35. Roger Chartier, On the Edge of the Cliff: History, Languages and Practices, 39 (1997)
  36. Herve Martin, Histoire, 109
  37. Wandel Torbjorn, Michel de Certeau's Place in History, 10.1080/136425200363014
  38. Marian Fussel, Storia della Storiografia, 39, 17 (2001)
  39. 13. Of course, this was not a completely new thesis. Dilthey (or Windelband) earlier had wanted to delimit historiography in a similar way from the natural sciences.
  40. 14. Certeau, "Epistemologie," 1319.
  41. 15. Compare, for example, Veyne,Comment, 10, 43, 45-51, 54-58, 114, 280-282 and 286 with Certeau, "Epistemologie," 1321-1322.
  42. 16. Compare, for example, Veyne,Comment, 119 and 296 with Certeau, "Epistemologie," 1324.
  43. 17a.La possession de Loudunwas recently translated into English asThe Possession at Loudun(Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000). Among the French language articles onLa possession de Loudun, the following are worthy of mention: Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie, "Le diable archiviste," inLadurie Emmanuel , Le territoire de l'historien (Paris: Gallimard, 1970 ), 404 -407 .
  44. Boutry Philippe, De l'histoire des mentalités à l'histoire des croyances : La possession de Loudun (1970), 10.3917/deba.049.0085
  45. Dominique Julia, Voyage, 103
  46. Pieters Jurgen, New Historicism: Postmodern Historiography Between Narrativism and Heterology, 10.1111/0018-2656.00111
  47. 18. Certeau not only deals withLa possession de Loudunin the book of the same name. He had already published earlier texts on the subject. Compare, for example, Jean-Joseph Surin,Correspondance, ed. Michel de Certeau (Paris: Desclee de Brouwer, 1966). He also wrote an essay about Loudun entitled "Le langage altere: La parole de la possedee," in Certeau,Ecriture, 249-273. Foucault was also later to use the events in Loudun in his lectures. Michel Foucault, "Cours du 26 fevrier 1975," in Michel Foucault,Les anormaux: Cours au College de France (1974-1975)([Paris]: Gallimard-Seuil, 1999), 187-215.
  48. Kellner Hans, Narrativity in History: Post-Structuralism and Since, 10.2307/2505042
  49. Ankersmit Frank R., History and Theory, 175 (1998)
  50. 21. Certeau,Loudun, 21-35. On the metaphor of the theater, see 149, as well as Certeau,Ecriture, 251.
  51. 22. Certeau,Loudun, 71-77.
  52. 23.Ibid., 69-71, 167-168 and Certeau,Ecriture, 9 and 215.
  53. 24. In relation to the concept of "microhistory," I follow mainly the views expressed in the interesting article by Jacques Revel, "L'histoire au ras du sol," in Giovanni Levi,Le pouvoir au village: Histoire d'un exorciste dans le Piemont au XVIIe siecle(Paris: Gallimard, 1989), i-xxxiii.
  54. 25. Certeau,Loudun, 7-8, 10 and 18.
  55. 26.Ibid., 99-111, 113-114, 130, and 221 and Certeau,Ecriture, 251.
  56. 27. Cf. Revel, "L'histoire," xxi and xxxii.
  57. 28. Certeau,Loudun, 109, 111, 185, 204, and 275. On Laubardemont cf. Certeau,Loudun, 103-104 and 280-283.
  58. 29. Certeau,Loudun, 118-125.
  59. 30. For his analysis of Grandier's mother, cf.ibid., 126 and 232; on the behavior of the nuns, seeibid., 147-149.
  60. 31.Ibid., 157.
  61. 32.Ibid., 147-149.
  62. 33.Ibid., 16, 105-106, 172-173, and 324.
  63. 34.Ibid., 129.
  64. 35. Certeau,Ecriture, 250-251 and Certeau,Loudun, 130-133.
  65. 36. Certeau,Loudun, 134-135.
  66. 37.Ibid., 81-82, 148-149, 152, and 154-156.
  67. 38.Ibid., 135-140 and 149 and Certeau,Ecriture, 251-252, 258-262, and 267-271.
  68. 39. 39.Ibid., 253.
  69. 40.Ibid., 258-259, 262-267, and 271-273.
  70. 41. Certeau,Loudun, 225-248, cf. also 189 and 191-192.
  71. 42.Ibid., 15 and 251-276.
  72. Rigney Ann, The Untenanted Places of the Past: Thomas Carlyle and the Varieties of Historical Ignorance, 10.2307/2505453
  73. 44. Certeau,Loudun, 275-276, 280-285, 295, and 318-319.
  74. 45. Certeau,Histoire et psychanalyse, 188-193 and 217-218; Certeau,Ecriture, 12 and 96. On the construction of objects, seeibid., 82-84.
  75. 46. Certeau,Ecriture, 51-53, 56, 88-93, 95-100, 124, and 127-128.
  76. 47.Ibid., 56, 86, 90-91, and 96.
  77. 48.Ibid., 99, 115-118, and 128.
  78. 49.Ibid., 51 and 126.
  79. 50. Veyne,Comment, 115 and 138-172.
  80. 51. Certeau,Ecriture, 51-52, 115-119, 124, and 126-129; Certeau, "Epistemologie," 1321; Veyne,Comment, 144.
  81. 52. Certeau,Ecriture, 99 and 117-118.
  82. 53. See Wandel, "Place," 64-71.
  83. 54. Certeau,Ecriture, 65-79.
  84. 55.Ibid., 82-84, 86-87, 90, 96-97, and 114.
Bibliographic reference Weymans, Wim. Michel de Certeau and the Limits of Historical Representation. In: History and Theory, Vol. 43, no. 2, p. 161-178 (2004)
Permanent URL http://hdl.handle.net/2078.1/221652