Mythologization of History in English literature by the end of the Twentieth Century (John Fowles, A. Burgess)

Abstract

At the turn of the century the history issue becomes perhaps the most important one. Mythologization is one of the new approaches that emerged during this literature period. In English literature, the most common forms of mythologization are the use of images and the story components of the known myths and the cryptohistory. The cryptohistory allows the authors to suggest the versions of historical event reasons and implement the postmodern principle of plurality within the historical narrative. Such stories are more common in popular literature; The authors of serious novels use this form to create its own concept of historical development. The fabulousness, the unreliability of depicted reality is traditionally accentuated by these types of works. This article discusses one of the most popular history mythologization forms as an example of the British novels during the late twentieth century: "Maggot" by John Fowles and "Any Old Iron" by Anthony Burgess". Despite the fact that both writers refer to different historical epochs (the 18th century of the novel "Maggot" and the First World War of the novel "Any Old Iron") the works use similar techniques and approaches to history.