Hayden V. White
Hayden V. White was a prominent American historian known for his influential scholarship on historiography and the philosophy of history. Born on July 12, 1928, in Martin, Tennessee, he pursued his education at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan, culminating in a PhD. White began his academic career as an instructor at Wayne State before moving to the University of Rochester and later to UCLA, where he became notable for his legal battle against police practices that infringed on students' rights. His groundbreaking work, "Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe," published in 1973, explored the complexities of historical narrative and the subjective nature of history writing.
Despite facing criticism for his formalist approach and claims regarding objectivity in historical writing, White's contributions have sparked significant discourse in both historical and literary fields. He received numerous accolades throughout his career, including fellowships and an honorary degree from Wesleyan University. White's later works continued to engage with themes of narrative and theory, further solidifying his legacy as a thought-provoking figure in the study of history. He passed away on March 5, 2018, at the age of eighty-nine, leaving behind a lasting impact on the way history is perceived and studied.
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Hayden V. White
- Born: July 12, 1928
- Birthplace: Martin, Tennessee
- Died: March 5, 2018
- Place of death: Santa Cruz, California
Biography
American historian Hayden V. White was born in Martin, Tennessee, on July 12, 1928. He grew up in both Tennessee and Detroit, Michigan, where his father worked in the automobile industry. He received his undergraduate degree from Detroit's Wayne State University in 1951, and he later attended the University of Michigan, where he earned his master’s degree in 1952 and his PhD in 1956. Between 1955 and 1958, he was a history instructor at Wayne State University. He joined the staff of the University of Rochester as an assistant professor in 1958 and served as the chair of the history department between 1962 and 1964.
Four years later, White began teaching history at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), where he remained until 1973. In 1972 he drew attention for suing the chief of the Los Angeles Police Department over the police practice of enrolling undercover officers as students to monitor student activity and organization. White considered this a violation of the right to free speech, the right of free assembly, and the right to privacy, and the California Supreme Court ruled in his favor in 1975 in a landmark decision.
White was director of the Center for the Humanities and a professor at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Connecticut, from 1973 until 1978, when he was named the Presidential Professor of Historical Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In 2000, he became a professor emeritus at Stanford University. He eventually retired as professor emeritus at the UC Santa Cruz history of consciousness department. In addition, White received a fellowship from the Social Science Research Council in 1961 and another from Cornell University in 1970. A fellow of the American Philosophical Society and the American Academy of Arts and Science, he also was a Guggenheim fellow in 1981 and received an honorary degree from Wesleyan in 2014.
From 1966 through 1970, White was one of the editors of the two-volume work The Emergence of Liberal Humanism. White and Giorgio Tagliacozzo edited Giambattista Vico (1969), and this work was to influence his later writings on historical discourse. While working at Wesleyan University, White was named Kenan Professor and wrote his first major work, Metahistory: The Historical Imagination in Nineteenth-Century Europe (1973). The book originated from White’s interest in the reasons why history was written and studied. In particular, the book studied the methods of nineteenth century historians, and White theorized on the distinctions between historiography (or the writing of history), the philosophy of history, and fiction. White’s book became a seminal work, and many books since that time have either supported or condemned his ideas.
Much of the criticism of White’s work has centered on his methodology. Some criticism is based on White’s contention that history cannot be written objectively. Other critics cite White’s adherence to a rigid formalism that does not allow for the plurality of historical writing. These criticisms and others have served to limit White’s influence on the practice of writing history. Although his work has garnered much criticism from history writers, White has received a warmer reception from literary theorists who find his writing compelling. Despite the numerous critiques of his work, White earned the respect of many scholars in a variety of fields. He has been praised for raising thought-provoking questions that served to influence inquiries into history writing in the twentieth century.
Among White's later publications were the career-spanning collection The Fiction of Narrative: Essays on History, Literature and Theory 1957–2007 (2010) and The Practical Past (2014).
White married Margaret Brose in the early 1970s. The couple had two sons and a daughter. White died at the age of eighty-nine at his Santa Cruz home on March 5, 2018.
Bibliography
Elias, Amy J. "The Voices of Hayden White." Los Angeles Review of Books, 22 Apr. 2018, lareviewofbooks.org/article/the-voices-of-hayden-white/#!. Accessed 21 Nov. 2018.
Genzlinger, Neil. "Hayden White, Who Explored How History Is Made, Dies at 89." The New York Times, 9 March 2018,www.nytimes.com/2018/03/09/obituaries/hayden-white-who-explored-how-history-is-made-dies-at-89.html. Accessed 21 Nov. 2018.
Korhonen, Kuisma. Tropes for the Past: Hayden White and the History/Literature Debate. Rodopi, 2006.
Paul, Herman. Hayden White: The Historical Imagination. Polity, 2011.
Stovall, Tyler. "In Memoriam: Hayden V. White (1928–2018)." Perspectives on History, American Historical Association, 4 Sept. 2018,www.historians.org/publications-and-directories/perspectives-on-history/september-2018/hayden-v-white-(1928%E2%80%932018). Accessed 21 Nov. 2018.