Subgenres of the alternative history novel: poetics and genealogy

Following the English-speaking “ultraright-wing” literary scholars, Ukrainian researchers defend the superposition of the genre. For example, S. Filonenko in her “Mass Literature in Ukraine: discourse / gender / genre” monograph, follows K. Gelder's theory and adopts it in her analysis of the theoretical base of the Ukrainian mass prose, focusing on the genealogical aspect of fiction. As S. Filonenko claims, it is a genre that contains complex discourse of the work and puts questions that make it clear “the answers will be dependent on the genre identification of a particular work” [Filonenko, 2011, p. 146]. Therefore, the genre is not just a frame of the work, but also an inescapable fate for the writer, as the literary critic points out, “the author always exists in a relationship with a certain genre” [Filonenko, 2011, p. 146].

At the same time, “ultraleft-wing genre researchers” promote the actual role of the genre in literary studies. It comes from understanding of the functional genre in linguistics. C. Miller's theory focuses on the nature of genre as a social action as inherited in works by Ukrainian linguists from Kharkiv. “The genre is a rhetorical tool that plays the role of an intermediary between specific intentions and social necessity. It connects the personal with the social, the individual with the repetitive” [Korneiko, 2014, p. 40]. A creative genre acquires the same interpretation among literary critics who are engaged in literature of the post-postmodern era. These are P. Kharchuk, S. Kyryliuk, etc. The predominant influence of the social factor on formation and reinterpretation of modern novel genres is often perceived by post-postmodern literary critics as dominant, in particular in the Ukrainian literature. “From now on, the Ukrainian literature exists in a free society, where everyone can write and read what they like. Where mass genres are being developed [...] while the national context is modified as the context of mass literature. At the same time, Ukrainian writers remain active authors (such as neo-positivists, neomodernists). They strive to create 'sophisticated' literature. Among active writers, there are (postmodernists) who, appealing to mass genres, try to imply serious meaning in them” [Kharchuk, 2008, p. 233].

So, we are talking about the fact that it is quite difficult to distinguish between mass and “sophisticated” literature, especially when using the concept of a bestseller. Novels that fall under the fictional text scheme have mainly stylistic, rather than genre identification markers. The definition of fiction proves it. “In modern literary studies, fiction refers to a light, lively, entertaining, easy to understand story about an event or scientific problem, a well-known person, mainly designed for a naive recipient; it is considered a type of mass literature that uses narrative forms aimed for easy reading” [Kovaliv, 2007, vol. 1, p. 121).

We see that nowadays genealogical studies in Ukraine face the problem of lack of clear differentiation of the social vector of a literary work, especially when we speak about the modern novel. Introduction of the term “literary production” (that is semantically similar to the notion of “printed production”) into literary criticism attributes the discourse of literary studies to the past of the 20th century. When the so-called sophisticated literature was created based on the principle of “collection books”, and “«a graphic printed product”, in terms of poetics and stylistics it was approximately equal to “tabloid periodicals” intended only for one-time entertainment reading.

That is why we qualify AH as a meta-genre, and the political utopia, cryptohistory, allohistory, uchronia, metahistory, political fantasy novels - as AH subgenres.

The political utopia or political fiction novel introduces the genre matrix of historical and social prose and the style of the ironic novel. To combine quite diverse components, the authors use the utopia or dystopia method and scheme. The key elements of such works of social history are related to country building processes. They are usually about political becoming of existing countries and contain actual historical figures, but also a changed element (V. Kozhelyanko “Terorium”, B. Lavrenev “The Collapse of the ITL Republic”).

Cryptohistory is a subgenre of alternative history. In its genealogical formula, the actual story exists only theoretically, while the alternative history that forms the plot after the bifurcation point is based on unproven historical sources. It allows more freedom for the author's imagination, where they may involve two or more bifurcation points. As previously mentioned, the second point of bifurcation would be based on an unreal story that is presented as a true one. Genre markers and plot schemes are identical to alternative history. Though the goal of reconstructing history disappears and is replaced by other goals: restoration of national and mental mindset elements (V. Kozhelyanko's “Ethiopian Sich”), humanization of the society (Kir Bulychov “A Reserve for Academics”), psychologization and/or logical construction of the historical course (H. Garrison's trilogy “West of Eden”, “Winter in Eden”, “Return to Eden”), and so on.

A metahistorical work is an alternative history with several alternatives implemented in a single text. The best example is the "Metahistory" by H. White, “The Ukrainian What-If-ology” by D. Shurkhalo.

Alternative fiction (historical fantasy) is formed by layering of the alternative history genre on a fantasy genre piece. A bright example is "Thor meets Captain America” by D. Brin. Some adventure works can be included here where they meet the formula N genre + AH element. The background of action in the works in formed by certain historical events (if they are clearly described by the author, or they are given a specific indication), and the nature of characters, cause-and-effect relations of the characters' actions are intrinsic to a certain actual historical period. We could mention the novel "The Third Field” by V. Kozhelyanko in this context.

So, having analyzed functioning of alternative history subgenres within the meta-genre (for the European literature) and the place of AH as a fantasy subgenre (for the American prose), we see an extensive network of markers of poetics and genealogical features of this intermediate, global phenomenon of fiction. Over time, from the 20th through the 21st century, AH has acquired in different national literatures its own unique genealogical matrices, plot schemes, palettes of artistic means, and historical periods that fall under the scope of the writers' attention. Therefore, the most productive and interesting in comparative terms is an attempt to not distinguish specific features of the Ukrainian AH against the background of foreign writings, but to collect a complete map of artistic alternatives, where our Ukrainian alternative historical prose is marked in blue and yellow, the colors of the Ukrainian flag.

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