As a matter of fact, it is fiction

On the communicative scope of Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen’s historical novel Margrete I (2020)

Abstract

The historical novel is widely accepted as a hybrid genre in which the interaction between fact and fiction is highly present. This article investigates the potential margin of fiction as a communicative tool for factual discourse in the case of Margrete I (2020) written by Anne Lise Marstrand-Jørgensen. By means of fictionality and factuality as rhetorical devices, the article shows how the use of a local factual discourse can be classified into three different types distinguished by the degree of overt­ness. For each type, the factual discourse becomes less overt due to the factual historical elements becoming increasingly embedded in the global fictive discourse of the novel. From a rhetorical point of view, this means that the degree of factuality decreases as the degree of fictionality increases. Overall, the types illustrate Marstrand-Jørgensen’s complex way of incorporating historical facts as part of her fictionalised portrait of Margrete I. Regarding factuality as a rhetorical strategy, the article argues that it is less autonomous than is fictionality since factuality is obliged to the truth as well as the relevance of a sender’s communicative content.