"THE FRENCH LIEUTENANT''S WOMAN" BY JOHN FOWLES AS THE FIRST ENGLISH HISTORIOGRAPHIC NOVEL
The article analyses characteristic features of historiographic metaficton on the example of «The French Lieutenant’s Woman» by John Fowles. This novel is frequently regarded as the first representative of this genre. Among its main peculiarities are the following: abandoned intent to search for historical truth and practicability of historical process, destruction of dichotomy of literature and history; understanding the later as a text which cannot be brought to an end; metanarration, ironic speaker and broad intertextuality. A comparative analysis of historiographic metaficton and traditional historical novel is proposed, considering the given novel and a novel by Iris Murdoch, The Red and the Green. The author comes to the conclusion that the new genre combines peculiarities of both classical historical and postmodern novels.