Svět Literatury (Oct 2021)
O historické fikci a jejích žánrech
Abstract
From the Romance to the Novel and Back Again by Ladislav Nagy is dedicated to the topic of historical prose. The author analyses the theoretical debate about the relationship between fictional and historical writing, and he also examines the generic development of English historical fiction. In the passages dedicated to the narrative aspects of history, Nagy offers a persuasive criticism of Hayden White’s distinction between fictional and historical writing, and sees an alternative to it in Paul Ricœur’s theory of narrative. In the second line of argumentation Nagy presents a thesis that historical prose has developed from the romance genre, and through a short diversion to novel it returns to romance again. He analyses Scott’s novel Waverley, which famously defines itself against romance, as a romance, and he uses the same term for postmodern historical fiction. This thesis seems less plausible to me as Nagy’s definition of both novel and romance genres is problematic.
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