CLASSICS IN GLOBAL HISTORIOGRAPHY: SOME IDEAS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Classics of historiography are not all the same. As with classics in literature, or in any other human expression, their status depends on both the historical and cultural context within which they were produced and the historical and cultural context within which they have been appointed as such. When we think of classics, the concept of canon arises. However, even in this case, it is important to consider not only the context in which the book belonging to the canon was written, but also the different historical contexts in which the same book was recognised as a classic: the history of the fortune and misfortune of these works is relevant to understanding it. Like the classics, each canon is not necessarily an enemy of intercultural dialogue because it may be used as a tool to express a clear cultural identity to interact with other cultural identities. Classics and canons are representatives of local cultural identities that cannot and should not be erased by global classics and a global canon. To improve our understanding of other cultures, we need to preserve both our own and other identities, represented by their different canons, with their slow-changing nature. In the future, global classics may arise as expressions of global intellectual dialogue, but the other classics will keep their value as manifestations of specific cultural identities.