History fictionalized and history dramatized in Vidal’s empire and Flanagan’s the end of the hunt

الملخص EN

AbstractThis research seeks to shed light on the premises of the contemporary historical novel in general and the American in specific.

It distinguishes two types of contemporary historical novel: The first one is “fictional history”, where true historical events and persons are fictionalized.

In addition, the historical documents are violated, and the historical persons are humiliated, or used unconventionally as subjects of satire and humour.

This approach is represented here by Gore Vidal’s Empire.

The second one is “historical fiction,” in which history is recreated, yet the historical novelist doesn’t deviate from recorded or factual events.

Thomas Flanagan’s The End of the Hunt is being discussed as an example of this kind of historical fiction.