ABSTRACT
The first part of the book deals with the many faces of microhistory. For example, one of the main features of microhistory is the “normal exception”. This is based on the essential premise that microhistorians place their emphasis on small units and how people conducted their lives within them. By reducing the scale of observation, microhistorians argue that they are more likely to reveal the complicated function of individual relationships within each and every social setting, and they stress its difference from larger norms. Microhistorians tend to focus on outliers, rather than looking for the average individual as found by the application of quantitative research methods. Instead, they scrutinize those individuals who did not follow the paths of their average fellow-countryman, thus making them their focal point. In microhistory, the term “normal exception” is used to penetrate the importance of this perspective, meaning that none of us show our full hand of cards. Seeing what is usually kept hidden from the outside world, we realize that our focus has only been on the “normal exception”; those who in one segment of the society are considered obscure, strange and even dangerous. They might, in other circles, be the center of attention and fully accepted in their daily affairs. This methodology is applied to the life story of Magnús Hj. Magnússon.
