63. Jules Michelet

One hundred years ago, on August 21, 1798, the great historian Jules Michelet was born in Paris. His greatness is so undisputed today that the highest republican authorities - the President of the Republic, the ministers, the members of the Chamber, the members of the Paris City Council, the University and others - recently decided to celebrate the centenary of his birth. Today's historians will undoubtedly find much to criticize about Michelet. After all, he was not at all suited to that temperless "standing above things", that coldness of approach that is currently called "historical objectivity". He characterized himself by saying of his relationship with his contemporaries: "I loved more than they did". Dry historical representation was not Michelet's thing. In every sentence he wrote, one senses whether the author's sympathy or antipathy accompanied the stroke of the pen. Imagination plays no less a part in his historiography than reason. He brings the figures and events of the past to life before the reader's eyes with dramatic vividness.