History is only accessible through prior textualization

Evidence

That history-Althusser’s “absent cause,” La.can’s “Real”-is not a text, for it is fundamentally non-narrative and nonrepresentational; what can be added, however, is the proviso that history is inaccessible to us except in textual form, or in other words, that it can be approached only by way of prior (re)textualization. — Fredric Jameson, The Political Unconscious, 1786

Categorization

• XREF: Connects Althusser’s ‘absent cause’ and Lacan’s ‘Real’ as grounding concepts; also resonates with the reader’s other reading on representation and access to reality (e.g., ‘Representation metaphors suited to large assertions’). — connects to: Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form; Historical events become communicable only by being turned into stories.
• QUESTION: The proviso that history is approachable only via prior (re)textualization — how does this avoid collapsing into textual idealism given Jameson insists history is non-representational?

Broader Connections

• Historical events only reach audiences after being transformed into narrative form #corroborates (0.95)
• Historical events become communicable only by being turned into stories. #corroborates (0.90)