Postmodern Historiographical Experiments (3): Dialogues Between the Novel and History

Abstract

Based on Hayden White’s work, this article suggests that history and the novel share a number of features that make both disciplines branches of literature. Beyond the referential intention of both discourses, the article attempts to stress the linguistic, literary and narrative component of the two activities, highlighting the relevance of the term “historical literature”, next to “novelistic literature.” To illustrate this approach, it examines two postmodern historiographical experiments that exemplify the dialogue between the two disciplines: literary novelistic techniques and historiographical literary techniques. The two historiographical postmodern experiments studied here are Mirror in the Shrine, by Robert Rosenstone, and Stories of Scottsboro, by James Goodman.