Comprehension and Structuring of Historical Memory in Fiction of the Second Half of the 20th Century

The study of historical memory in literature is a modern and relevant type of research. Especially interesting are the manifestations of historical memory in speculative fiction, which gained great popularity in the twentieth century, after the end of the Second World War and the change of many cultural paradigms. This paper focuses on identifying historical memory (A. Assmann's concept) within selected texts of speculative fiction. Both fantasy and science fiction texts are explored. Speculative fiction is considered as a phenomenon of postmodern culture, therefore the emphasis is on references and allusions contained within the texts. It is assumed that the historical memory of speculative fiction includes not only references to ancient myths and religions (as most researchers claim), but also to new myths that emerged in the 19th and 20th centuries. Keywords: speculative fiction, historical memory, postmodernism, fantasy, science fiction