In this interview with the journal "Esprit", Roger Chartier speaks about various "disputed questions" in the field of history: these include the crisis of historical knowledgre through the redefinition of the statute of the social subject, and the narrative character of historical discourse; the results of hist research on the modern transformation of the relations between the public and the private concerning the uses of reading; the revolution in the movements of historical casualty and, finally, concerning the utility of the new definition of "representation".