Objectivity Vs Relativity

Classical objectivist historians ideally would wish to rise above the stream of time and view the one historical truth from a semi-omniscient position. It follows then that these objectivist historians would not appreciate the reaction against objectivity, spearheaded by Becker and Beard who believed that historians have a social as well as scholarly obligation (Novick 255). .
             The reaction against the objectivist school of history was that of the relativist view of history and historiography. In the relativist position, the historian does not at all remain detached, but instead has a close connection to the facts of history. History has a purpose and a use; it exists for man, not man for history. The use of history in the relativist school is to "provide an account of the past [that is] appropriate to society's current needs." (Novick 255) This is almost precisely the opposite of the objectivist school. In reaction to these claims the Objectivists went on to challenge that history needs to have no use while it is being written. The idea is that history, much like science is useful in its own objective right and that history can be written and researched for its own sake. Understanding how dissimilar the objectivist and relativist schools of history are, it would be hard to imagine how Davis's The Return of Martin Guerre is both objectivist and relativist.
             In Davis's preface to The Return of Martin Guerre, she makes clear her purpose for researching the case and in writing the book. Davis says that the book "grew out of a historian's adventure with a different way of telling about the past." (Davis viii) This adventure was Davis's experience with filmmaking. She states that the story of Martin Guerre had been told and retold many times and that when she first read Coras's account of the incident she had decided that the story must be made into a film. This film sparked an interest in her to continue her research on the subject of Martin Guerre, because she wanted to "dig deeper into the case," and "make historical sense of it.