Undoubtedly, historical narration cannot completely remove the individual consciousness of the narrative subject. Pursuing the historical narrative of "one-sided", "telling the truth" and "self-destructive future" can only be a beautiful idea in theory. In the debate about the balance between historical facts and personal consciousness, objectivity and subjectivity in historical narration, those who emphasize the scientific nature of historiography value historical facts and objectivity more, while those who emphasize the artistic nature of historiography value personal consciousness and subjectivity more. For example, Hu Shi pays more attention to the subjective initiative of the historical narrative subject. He once said that history has two aspects. On the one hand, it is scientific and pays attention to the collection and collation of historical materials; On the one hand, it is artistic, focusing on the narrative and explanation of historical facts. A comprehensive and intermittent narrative shows the author's views and wisdom. Only by doing this can history be interesting and wonderful. From a practical point of view, historical narration is indeed one of the symbols of historiography artistry, and it is also the attractive and infectious charm of historical works. Those historical narratives with human fireworks make history full of flesh and blood. This is why in recent years, various popular historical readers, lacking annotations and quotations, have been welcomed by readers because they are good at narrating and telling stories. In this sense, if we overemphasize the scientific nature of historiography and neglect its artistry, and if we are not good at narrative and storytelling, the social function of historiography will be greatly reduced.
Of course, truth is the soul of history. Emphasizing the significance of historical narrative does not mean infinite tolerance for historical narrative, and emphasizing the inevitability of subjective elements in historical narrative does not mean giving up the pursuit of objectivity of historical narrative. To make the historical narrative of flesh and blood close to "historical truth", the following aspects are worthy of attention.
One is to allow the existence of multiple narratives. It is an indisputable fact that the different preferences of historical narrative subjects bring about the diversity of historical narrative. Therefore, the narrative close to "historical truth" cannot be absolute and unique. The historical narrative picture composed of various voices, angles and perspectives is more conducive to the overall study of history, and then it is constantly close to the "historical truth" in the pluralistic cognition of "reserving differences". In other words, we can rely on the coexistence of differences, the competition of different interpretations, and the complementarity of various viewpoints in the pluralistic historical narrative, so that the historical narrative is rich and close to the real face.
The second is to pay attention to the scientific selection of historical materials. Historical narrative is not literary fiction, and historical materials are the premise of historical narrative. In the case of an inexhaustible supply of historical materials, any historical narrative needs to choose historical materials, and whether the selection of historical materials is scientific or not is a crucial "front stop" for historical narrative to approach "historical truth". If the subject of historical narrative is influenced by historical views, values and even academic background, he will be put on the shackles of being unable to be objective and true when choosing historical materials, and the historical narrative will lose its basic premise if it approaches "historical truth". In this regard, historical researchers need to strengthen their academic accomplishment, improve their academic accomplishment, and enhance the scientific and rational choice of historical materials, so as to keep approaching "historical truth".
The third is to distinguish the levels of narrative. Historical narrative is hierarchical, including pure event narrative and narrative interwoven with event narrative and causal analysis. It can be said that historical narrative includes three elements: "matter, meaning and text". In order to make the historical narrative closer to the "historical truth", it is necessary to pay attention to the combination and emphasis of "things, ideas and texts" in the whole historical narrative and pursue meticulous pertinence.