The writing of history and the biographical essays in Hannah Arendt

Abstract

The aim of this paper is to reflect on the biographical essays written by Hannah Arendt. Its focus is to understand the reason why the author chose the biographical genre, instead of working only with the argumentative text, as it is usual in the philosophical practice. We will work with two of her leading texts on the subject, Rahel Varnhagen: the life of a Jewess, and Men in dark times.The hypothesis that guides the work is that biographical writing in Arendt means the elaboration of a theory of history that is incompatible with the modern conception of History, while arguing about a new connection between action and narration.