Historico - Fictional Association / Disassociation In Khushwant Singh’s Delhi

Abstract

Whether or not one subscribes to the Aristotelian concept of all art as being basically mimetic, one has much less reason to disagree with the old Greek philosopher when dealing with the genre of fiction. A dramatic work is a mimesis of an action involving characters doing things or undergoing experiences as a result of the acts of other characters as well as of their own. What is applicable to drama may also be applied, mutatis mutandis, to fiction which differs from drama only in the medium and manner of imitation, not in the object.

Historical fiction is today recognized as a specific sub-genre of fiction/ literature. The action of a historical novel or study is fixed within specific spatiotemporal dimensions. For example, see the historical novels of Sir Walter Scott, an excellent practitioner of the sub-genre, so highly praised by Georg Lukacs in The Historical Novel.