Dead Certainties

7/30/2019 Dead Certainties

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Hannah Reynolds

Dr. Esh

History of the American Culture

February 9tth

2013

Perceptions of History

Dead Certainties by Simon Schama is a historical novella, a murder mystery and a story

that romanticizes the history behind our culture. Simon Schama, a British historian and art

historian, takes on the task of describing just how historical events lead to a romanticized history.

Schama argues that people have embellished history to fit a mold that they themselves have

created. History is all about "the teasing gap separating a lived event and its subsequent

narration. (Shama pg. 320)

The story begins in 1759, with the British Empire fighting the French Forces near the

lands of Quebec. In this battle, on the Plains of Abraham, General James Wolfe falls to his death.

However the British are victorious thus starting the fall of the British Empire and the

glorification of America. They were there to celebrate America itself; the raw vigour of the

New World, a place of buckskin and forest virtues that might supply the necessary power and

resources to regenerate a. decadent and enervated Europe. (Schama pg. 32)In the Many

Deaths of General Wolfe Wolfes death account brings forth three different interpretations and

points of view that help layout Schamas argument. The first account is of a young fictional

English solider who recalls fighting along side General Wolfe and finding his fallen body. The

next is a narrative by the artist Benjamin West. In the painting Death of General Wolfe (1770)

West portrays Wolfe as a hero who died a glorified and patriotic death. West produced the


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grandiloquent lie the public craved: a death at the very centre of the action (Schama pg. 30).

West painted Wolfes death in away that pleased the king and made the people appreciate him as

an artist. When British children of future generations grew up drilled in the pieties of imperial

history, it was Wests scene they imagined. Through West, Wolfe gained heroism that some say

was underserved. The final account is by the historian Francis Parkman. Parkman was horrified

by the conditions of the unsettle territory and ran back to New England. There he gave a detailed

account of Wolfes death from the forests of New England.Parkmans book Montcalm and

Wolfe leads to the realization that Parkman could identify more closely with Wolfe.

The Death of a Harvard Man is Schamas second narrative in Dead Certainties. This

part of the book is the recap of Francis Parkmans uncle George Parkman murder in 1849. The

two stories take place ninety years part, and the only connection between General Wolfe and

George Parkman is Francis Parkman. John Webster, a Harvard professor of chemistry, was the

brought to trail and later convicted for the murder of George Parkman. As the story advances the

reader discovers Webster owes an insignificant amount of money to his colleague George

Parkman. He is unable to pay it back and with it tension arises within their relationship. After the

arrest and imprisonment of Webster, Schama starts to give detailed explanations of the events of

Websters eleven-day trail. Schama reconstructs the different perceptions on the account of

Parkmans death. Ephraim, a Harvard janitor is one whose narrative plays an important role. As

the story unfolds it appears as if Webster has indeed killed Parkman yet Schama finishes the

book in a way that leaves some questioning. Schama does this so one question and debate about

the actual historical certainty in novella. Schama takes into consideration just how a historical

perspective is created. Whether a person tests the validity of the context brings them that much

closer to the truth.


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In Dead Certainties ones sees a pattern of imagination and fictionalization that comes out

as the story progresses. This book is a work of imagination that chronicles historical events

(Schama pg. 327). What Schama lacks in evidence he makes up in imagination. With the account

of the English solider Schama uses his imagination to fill in the holes and connects fiction to the

truth. Historical novellas need to promote the truth of history instead of molding history to the

culture of the people. When the context of history is distorted lines are blurred and myth

becomes reality or in this case history. In Washington Irvings biography on Christopher

Columbus, Irving sanctions the idea that Columbus and the church believed that earth to be flat.

This however was an allegory. In Dantes Divine Comedy the church gives the impression that

it is educated enough to understand the earth was indeed not flat. Due to Irvings biography the

truth of Columbus journey was overshadowed and with it a false sense of history arose. Schama

is an expert on the history of Britain not American history. He is an outsider trying to captivate

the importance of viewpoints and how one really construes history. The fact that Schama is an

outsider adds to his thesis yet he lacks a true understanding Bostonian history.

History is all about "the teasing gap separating a lived event and its subsequent

narration. (Shama pg. 320) Schama style of writing leads one to understand just how history is

romanticized and by what method it is changed to fit into culture. Ira Berlins theory history is

how we see the past could be taken into consideration. Schamas historical novella plays out

where perception is the key point. As history is deduced historians need examine the different

viewpoints of history and be able to decipher the truth from fiction.

Documents

Dead Certainties