We are divided of course between liking to feel the past strange and liking to feel it familiar.
About this quote
- What does it mean?
- People feel torn between seeing the past as foreign or as familiar.
- In plain terms
- We are unsure if the past feels strange or known.
- What can you take from it?
- Acknowledge the dual nature of historical perception.
Where it applies
Putting it to work
Questions to consider
- Does the past feel distant to you?
- What makes history relatable?
Another view
Not everyone experiences the past as strange or familiar equally.
More from Henry James
The historian, essentially, wants more documents than he can really use; the dramatist only wants more liberties than he can really take.
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Permalink to quote #70 To criticize is to appreciate, to appropriate, to take intellectual possession, to establish in fine a relation with the criticized thing and to make it one's …
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