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Latin Literatures of Medieval and Early Modern Times in Europe and Beyond: A millennium heritage
Edited by Francesco Stella
[Comparative History of Literatures in European Languages XXXIV] 2024
► pp. 665–683

Chapter 32
Between history and fiction

| Universität Wien

This piece explores some of the devices used by Medieval historiographers to assure their audience of the veracity of the contents of their narratives. It outlines central Medieval concepts of truth, lies, and fiction, the marvelous and the wondrous, and the standards for historicity and for credibility. The article highlights the pains the authors took to ensure that the readers placed their belief in what was told to them. This leads to a final question. Could the same strategies that were employed to establish a contract of veridiction be employed to establish a much more limited form of narrative truth, the suspension of disbelief? As is shown, these strategies are found in some truly incredible texts.

Keywords: fiction, history, modes of reading, authenticating devices
Article outline
  • Introduction
  • The rhetorical triad and the level of content
  • Medieval realism
  • Authenticating devices
  • Signs of fictionality (?)
  • Conclusion
  • Further reading
  • Notes
  • References
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