The relationship between Literature and History has been the
subject of discussion ever since Aristotle. Every generation has
considered that relationship from the point of view of the
conceptions of Literature and of History in favour at the time.
Nowadays, even if the scientific methods of historiography tend to
separate it from fiction, the deep consciousness of time and History,
which is one of the characteristics of contemporary man, is
reflected in literary works and creates a new link between both
branches of knowledge. 20th Century novelists not only have
History as reference and as subject matter of their fiction, but they
frequently allegorize History too. An illustration of this can be
found in Mrs. Dalloway, by Virginia Woolf, and Darkness Visible,
by William Golding. A reading of these two novels as allegories of
History adds new meaning to them.
