Historicizing Fiction/fictionalizing History Representation in Select Novels of Umberto Eco and Orhan Pamuk

Historicizing Fiction/Fictionalizing History brings together two authors, Umberto Eco and Orhan Pamuk, not frequently studied in comparison. By focusing on their non/fictional works to present a unique examination of the methods and concepts of representation, this book provides a fresh perspective on representation studies in literature by using contemporary historical novels to examine fictional representations of reality. Written in an accessible style, and tapping into fields as varied as literary and critical theory, the historical novel, postmodernism, and historiography, Historicizing Fiction/Fictionalizing History considers the ways in which reality, as discourse, confronts a text-external reality, and how this confrontation affects the autonomy of the fictional space - topics that remain persistently problematic areas within literary studies. Eco's The Name of the Rose and Baudolino, and Pamuk's My Name is Red and Snow, with their topical concerns and methods of representation, promise a rewarding comparative study. This book provides an early critical framework for these four works, placing them within the rubric of the postmodernist historical novel, as creative works that also comment on the process of literary writing through their recreation of historical pasts. In this respect, Historicizing Fiction/Fictionalizing History promises to be an engaging read in literary criticism, historiography, and representation studies, as well as a handy companion for Eco and Pamuk enthusiasts.