A reading of

Abstract

Intellectual interest in "the event" as a matter for enquiry has been rekindled since the 1980s. In France, this can be understood through the increased attention paid to the event by media institutions, beginning with the event of 1968. At this time of a media revolution, it serves readers well to review the seminal work of Francois Dosse, in his Le retour de l’envenement (2010), a book that provides a detailed historical account of how the concept of "the event" has changed throughout historical discourse and in the humanities and social sciences throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Through this book, readers will come to know something of the concept of the event. No discussion of this book would be complete without a mention of the author’s distinct vision, which allows him to go beyond a simple, unitary form of the event and instead place it within a wider context of twentieth century historiography in which it was written. Why do people speak of a rebirth or a reincarnation of the event? Are we witnessing today a simple and straightforward return of the event as a matter of academic enquiry, or are we instead looking at the event through a novel view and a different approach? Dosse poses these questions and attempts to provide comprehensive answers to them by presenting "the event" as a rebirth, and as a return to differences in opinion. These are pressing questions that impinge on the work of historians, not only because we are witnessing the return of the historical event as a focus for academic enquiry, but also because we are essentially redefining the meaning of the "event".