Extension of historical fact in counterfactual literature and its didactic values

Abstract

One of the main goals of counterfactual histories is to read more fully the complex processes of history. With the help of counterfactual literature, a more complete picture of the past is built, and the knowledge of current history is completed through the understanding of possible alternatives. The space of alternative histories builds “new facts”, showing visions of their existence in the historical process. In other words, a historical fact, taken as a breaking point, represents a turning point in history, where a different scenario of history is realized through counterfactual literature. The historian is obliged to combine a series of facts into a causal sequence, united by the unity of internal necessity. The author of counterfactual history creates a new world, unreal, and at the same time true, logical, having a beginning in historical fact, while the end is embedded in fiction or speculation, with the conclusion: “this is how it could have really been”. Alternative histories understood in this way open up new possibilities for didactics. Historical narrative set within the framework of a novel becomes a more attractive form of communication for the younger generation. Showing alternative variants of history expands not only the space of imagination, but, above all, of abstract and logical thinking, with respect for history.