Historiographic metafiction is a literary term used to describe a category of postmodern novels that combine the self-reflexive devices of metafiction with a focus on historical events and figures. The term was introduced by Canadian literary theorist Linda Hutcheon in her 1988 work, A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction.
According to Hutcheon, historiographic metafiction is characterized by its paradoxical nature: it uses and abuses, installs and then subverts, the very conventions of historical realism. While traditional historical fiction often attempts to reconstruct the past as a transparent and coherent reality, historiographic metafiction highlights the narrative processes by which history is constructed. It asserts that both history and fiction are human discourses—linguistic constructs that provide order to the past, rather than direct reflections of it.
Key features of the genre include:
- Self-reflexivity: The narrative frequently draws attention to its own status as a written text and the presence of the author or narrator.
- Intertextuality: The works often incorporate or parody existing historical documents, literary texts, and cultural archives to question their authority.
- Blurring of Boundaries: Real historical personages are frequently depicted alongside fictional characters, often in situations that deviate from established historical records.
- Epistemological Questioning: The genre investigates how we "know" the past, suggesting that historical knowledge is always mediated through textual traces and subjective interpretation.
Prominent examples of historiographic metafiction include The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969) by John Fowles, Midnight’s Children (1981) by Salman Rushdie, Ragtime (1975) by E.L. Doctorow, The Name of the Rose (1980) by Umberto Eco, and Beloved (1987) by Toni Morrison. These works use postmodern techniques to engage with historical themes while simultaneously critiquing the possibility of an objective or totalizing historical truth.
