Threads and Traces

Carlo Ginzburg's brilliant and timely new essay collection takes a characteristically bold stand against naive positivism and allegedly sophisticated neo-skepticism while looking deeply into questions raised by decades of post-structuralism: What constitutes historical truth? How do we draw a boundary between truth and fiction? What is the relationship between history and memory? How do we grapple with the historical conventions that inform, in different ways, all written documents? In his answers, Ginzburg peels away layers of subsequent readings and interpretations that envelope every text to make a larger argument about history and fiction. Whether discussing fragmentary evidence from medieval Europe, an inquisitorial trial against an alleged witch, seventeenth-century antiquarianism, or the landmark work of a twentieth-century historian, the essays cohere around specific historiographical issues, such as the relationship between narrative voice and the factual obligations of writing history. Interwoven with compelling autobiographical references, Threads and Traces bears moving witness to Ginzburg's life as a European Jew, the abiding strength of his scholarship, and his deep engagement with the historian's craft.