Combining literary theory and historiography, Monika Otter explores
the relationship between history and fiction in the Latin
literature of twelfth-century England. The beginnings of fiction
have commonly been associated with vernacular romance, but Otter
demonstrates that writers of Latin historical narratives also
employed the self-referential techniques characteristic of fiction.
Beginning with
inventiones, a genre dealing with the
discovery of saints' relics, Otter reveals how exploring the
fundamental problems of writing history and the nature of truth
itself leads monastic or clerical Latin writers to a budding
awareness of fictionality. According to Otter, accounts of
conquests, treasure hunts, descents into underground worlds, and
efforts (usually unsuccessful) to retrieve subterranean objects
serve as self-referential metaphors for the problems of accessing
and retrieving the past; they are thus designed to shake the
reader's faith in historical representation and highlight the
textuality of the historical account. Otter traces this
self-conscious use of fictional elements within historical
narrative through the works of William of Malmesbury, Geoffrey of
Monmouth, Gerald of Wales, Walter Map, and William of Newburgh.
Originally published in 1996.
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