ABSTRACT
This chapter opens with an investigation of the change from the so-called mechanical objectivity to trained judgement as a change from the idealistic take on objectivity—which assumes that the production of historical knowledge should be independent of emotions—to the perspective from which emotions are an unalienable but still an unwanted part in the process of making sense of the past. This delineation of the dynamics of objectivity and emotions in historical understanding at its general level and from the diachronic perspective, and Suzanne Keen’s theory of narrative empathy, serve as the basis on which a narrative theory of objectivity is proposed. Also drawing on Keen’s idea, the second part of the chapter includes a discussion of a set of narrative structures and techniques that can be found in Hilary Mantel’s A Place of Greater Safety with respect to how they might encourage empathy and trained judgements. In the concluding section of this chapter, some of the implications the presented musings encourage are expanded on.
