Sentence:  One might , indeed , argue that the history of ideas , in so far as it includes the literatures , must center on characterizations of human nature and that the great periods of literary achievement may be distinguished from one another by reference to the images of human nature that they succeed in <WSD>fashioning</WSD> . 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  make out of components (often in an improvising manner)