A Metafictional Reflection on Historiography: the Inclusiveness of Truth in Graeme Macrae Burnet’s His Bloody Project
Аннотация
This article analyses Graeme Macrae Burnet’s novel His Bloody Project (2015) as a metafictional exemplification of the problem of truth in historical accounts. Spuriously
claiming that his novel contains authentic material related to a nineteenth-century crime, Burnet recounts the case in the form of a collection of miscellaneous texts. The novel may be read in the light of the stance upheld in postmodern historiography that there is no ultimate truth to be reached at the end of a historical enquiry. This analysis of His Bloody Project aims to demonstrate that the obscure, multifaceted truth about the murder case is constituted by all the diverse − even if incongruous and contradictory − perspectives presented in the book.
Ключевые слова:
Graeme Macrae Burnet, historiographic metafiction, crime fiction, postmodern historiography, multiperspectivityБиблиографические ссылки
Ankersmit Frank. 2010. Truth in History and Literature. “Narrative” Vol. 18(1): 29-50.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Boldt Andreas. 2014. Ranke: Objectivity and History. “Rethinking History” Vol. 18(4): 457-474.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Brocklehurst Steven. 2017. His Bloody Project: Author Returns to the Scene of the Crime. BBC Scotland news website. 17 September. In: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-41253753 [Accessed 5 X 2021]. Google Scholar
Browne Ray B. and Lawrence A. Kreiser, Jr. 2000. Introduction. In: The Detective as Historian: History and Art in Historical Crime Fiction. Eds. Kreiser, Jr. L.A., Browne R.B., Bowling G. Ohio: Bowling Green State University Popular Press: 1-10. Google Scholar
Burnet Graeme Macrae. 2015. His Bloody Project. Glasgow: Saraband. Google Scholar
Chalupský Petr. 2019. The (In)authenticity of Invented History in Graeme Macrae Burnet’s “His Bloody Project”. In: New Perspectives in English and American Studies. Vol. 1: Literature. Eds. Choiński M., Cierpisz M. Kraków: Jagiellonian University Press: 63-81. Google Scholar
Foley Barbara C. 1986. Telling the Truth: The Theory and Practice of Documentary Fiction. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Forshaw Barry. 2016. “His Bloody Project” by Graeme Macrae Burnet Review − Crime and Astonishment. “Financial Times” 16 September. In: https://www.ft.com/content/597eb882-7a7b-11e6-ae24-f193b105145e [Accessed 5 X 2021]. Google Scholar
Genette Gérard. 1997. Palimpsests: Literature in the Second Degree. Transl. Newman Ch.,Doubinsky C. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Google Scholar
Hartner Marcus. 2014. Multiperspectivity. In: the living handbook of narratology. In: http://www.lhn.uni-hamburg.de/node/37.html [Accessed 6 IX 2021].
Crossref
Google Scholar
Himmelfarb Gertrude. 1997. Telling It as You Like It: Postmodernist History and the Flight from Fact. In: The Postmodern History Reader. Ed. Jenkins K. London – New York: Routledge: 158-174. Google Scholar
Horsley Lee. 2005. Twentieth-Century Crime Fiction. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Hutcheon Linda. 1991. A Poetics of Postmodernism: History, Theory, Fiction. New York: Routledge. Google Scholar
Jaeger Stephan. 2015. Unreliable Narration in Historical Studies. In: Unreliable Narration and Trustworthiness: Intermedial and Interdisciplinary Perspectives. Ed. Nünning V. Berlin – Boston: De Gruyter: 371-393.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Jenkins Keith. 1995. On ‘What Is History?’: From Carr and Elton to Rorty and White. London – New York: Routledge. Google Scholar
Jenkins Keith. 2003. Refiguring History: New Thoughts on an Old Discipline. London – New York: Routledge. Google Scholar
Johnston Andrew James and Kai Wiegandt. 2017. Introduction. In: The Return of the Historical Novel? Thinking about Fiction and History after Historiographic Metafiction. Eds. Johnston A.J., Wiegandt K. Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter: 9-18. Google Scholar
Jordan Justine. 2016. “His Bloody Project” by Graeme Macrae Burnet – Murder in the Highlands. “The Guardian” 12 August. In: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/aug/12/his-bloody-project-by-graeme-macrae-burnet-review [Accessed 6 IX 2021]. Google Scholar
Kerridge Jake. 2016. Man Booker Prize Shortlist 2016: “His Bloody Project” by Graeme Macrae Burnet Is a Tricksy, Ingenious Puzzle. “The Telegraph” 25 October. In: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/books/what-to-read/booker-prize-shortlist-2016-his-bloody-project-by-graeme-macrae/ [Accessed 6 IX 2021]. Google Scholar
Kohlke Marie-Luise. 2008/09. Editor’s Note. “Neo-Victorian Studies” Vol. 2(1): i-vii. In: http://www.neovictorianstudies.com/ [Accessed 6 VI 2021]. Google Scholar
Myers Ben. 2016. “His Bloody Project” Challenges our Snobbery about Genre Fiction”. “New Statesman” 19 October. In: https://www.newstatesman.com/culture/books/2016/10/his-bloody-project-challenges-our-snobbery-about-genre-fiction [Accessed 6 IX 2019]. Google Scholar
Nünning Ansgar. 2001. On the Perspective Structure of Narrative Texts: Steps towards a Constructivist Narratology. In: New Perspectives on Narrative Perspective. Eds. van Peer W., Chatman S. Albany: State University of New York: 207-223. Google Scholar
Phelan James. 2017. Reliable, Unreliable, and Deficient Narration: A Rhetorical Account. “Narrative Culture” Vol. 4(1): 89-103.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Plain Gill. 2007. Concepts of Corruption: Crime Fiction and the Scottish ‘State.’ In: The Edinburgh Companion to Contemporary Scottish Literature. Ed. Schoene-Harwood B. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press: 132-140.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Robinson Alan. 2011. Narrating the Past: Historiography, Memory and the Contemporary Novel. Houndsmills – New York: Palgrave Macmillan. Google Scholar
Southgate Beverley. 2014. History Meets Fiction. London – New York: Routledge.
Crossref
Google Scholar
Thomson, James Bruce. In: Dictionary of National Biography. In: https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Thomson,_James_Bruce_(DNB00) [Accessed 20 VIII 2019]. Google Scholar
White Hayden. 1985. Tropics of Discourse. Essays in Cultural Criticism. Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press. Google Scholar
White Hayden. 1999. Postmodernism and Textual Anxieties. In: The Postmodern Challenge: Perspectives East and West. Eds. Stråth B., Witoszek N. Amsterdam – Atlanta, GA: Rodopi: 27-45. Google Scholar
