Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 2001. [Vol. 7.] Eger Journal of American Studies.(Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 27)

Studies - Judit Ágnes Kádár: Histories, Truths, Fictions. Interdisciplinary Relations of Historiography and Philosophy in the Context of Recent Western Canadian Fiction

JUDIT ÁGNES KÁDÁR HISTORIES, TRUTHS, FICTIONS INTERDISCIPLINARY RELATIONS OF HISTORIOGRAPHY AND PHILOSOPHY IN THE CONTEXT OF RECENT WESTERN CANADIAN FICTION The problem of epistemological relativism is a major challenge for contemporary literature as well as for historiography and philosophy. In the following I am going to highlight this issue through investigating the relationship of historiography and historiographical metafiction. An examination of the ideas of some outstanding historians and the examples taken from recent Canadian literature might bring us closer to the understanding of their similar philosophical concerns. The literary texts that the investigations are based on are some novels by Rudy Wiebe, George Bowering, Robert Kroetsch and Jack Hodgins. A correlated aim is to provide a theoretical background to our readings; as well as it may illuminate the drives of some major characters, mostly historians, archaeologists, explorers, conquerors and settlers, who attempt to create myths of their own through univocal presentation / recording. As for history, a basic problem historiographers have to face is the limitations of the scientific method and the debate over the role and aim of their investigation: whether the narration and/or explanation of past events within the fragmentary framework of any description should serve purely scientific purposes or should be regarded as just other fictions, different versions of various past experiences. The latter might mean the end of grand narratives, unifying myths, any totalitarian views in the relationship of man and human environment related to concepts about the past, too. As for literature, a similar