| LC control no. | gf2014026220 |
|---|---|
| Thesaurus/term list | lcgft |
| Genre/Form term | Alternative histories (Fiction) |
| Variant(s) | Allohistories (Fiction) Alt-history fiction Alternate histories (Fiction) Alternate history fiction Alternative history fiction Alternative realities (Fiction) Histories, Alternative (Fiction) Uchronias (Fiction) Uchronies (Fiction) What if fiction What ifs (Fiction) |
| See also | Fiction |
| Scope note | Fiction in which the plot or setting assumes an alternative outcome of an historical event. For nonfiction that presents alternative outcomes of historical events and subsequent changes in history see Counterfactual histories. |
| Subject example tracing | Note under Counterfactual histories |
| Found in | LCSH, Oct. 22, 2014 (Alternative histories (Fiction), UF Alternate histories (Fiction). BT Fiction) GSAFD, 2000 (Use for works featuring key changes in historical facts.) Goodreads.com, Oct. 29, 2012 (Alternative history genre: for fiction works which speculate on what could have happened if a significant historical event had gone differently.) Alternative history : what is althistory?, via Althistory wiki, Aug. 5, 2014 (Alternate History (sometimes abbreviated AH) is the most frequently used term for the fictional genre which often presupposes a change of a minor historical event that produces an incredible series of changes in the world, diverging it from Our Timeline (OTL) and creating a new, alternate and parallel world. Other terms used include alternative history, allohistory and uchronie.) Wikipedia, Aug. 5, 2014: Alternate history (Alternate history or alternative reality is a genre of fiction consisting of stories that are set in worlds in which one or more historical events unfolds differently from how it did in this reality. It can be variously seen as a sub-genre of literary fiction, science fiction, and historical fiction; different alternate history works may use tropes from any or all of these genres. It is sometimes abbreviated AH. Another occasionally used term for the genre is "allohistory" (literally "other history")) Uchronia (Uchronia refers to a hypothetical or fictional time-period of our world, in contrast to altogether fictional lands or worlds. A concept similar to alternate history but different in the manner that uchronic times are not easily defined (mainly placed in some distant or unspecified point before current times), sometimes reminiscent of a constructed world. Some, however, do use uchronia to refer to an alternate history) TV tropes website, Sept. 2, 2016: Alternate History (A type of Speculative Fiction (sometimes called "Uchronia" or "Anachronism") set in a world where one or more historical events unfolded differently than they did in the real world. Often set some time after the event (called a "point of divergence", or PoD, by fans of the genre), such stories typically describe a Present Day world vastly changed by the difference, or follow another major historical event in light of the change. Sometimes linked with a Time Travel story--the point of divergence is often caused by travelers from "our" timeline (OTL in Alt-history parlance) seeking to effect a desired change. ... The setting of an alternate history is often described as a What If?; The genre has become increasingly popular since the late 20th century, perhaps because it was a tumultuous century rich in "what if" opportunities; Philip K. Dick's The Man in the High Castle, a Germans-Win-WWII story, is a seminal work in the genre) What If? (A Super Trope to Alternate Universe and Elseworld, "What If?" stories do to fictional Continuity what Alternate History does to Real Life history. The purpose of a what-if is to consider what effects might be caused if some event or invention had come about.) Moore, P.N. What if Hitler won the war?, 1998 (Subtitle on cover: Where would we be today : a novel) Blumetti, R. The lion is humbled : what if Germany defeated Britain in 1940?, 2004 (a novel) The fantastic other, 1998: p. 214 (Allohistorical fiction deals with the question of what might have been. It explores alternative histories in which the Reformation did not take place, or Hitler died as a young man, or the Axis Powers won World War II) International postmodernism, ©1997: p. 204 (uchronian fiction; alternative histories) Wesseling, E. Writing history as a prophet, 1991: p. 102 (uchronian fiction) Monsters in the mirror, ©2010: p. 85 (uchronic fiction) Scotland as science fiction, ©2012: p. 161 (alt-history fiction relates imagined worlds wherein a point of divergence acts as a fulcrum for a host of potential alternate responses or results. That is, alt-history fiction relies on readers' shared, experiential history (usually global) in the telling of an alternative to that history) Roese, N.J. If only, 2005: p. 162-164 (Alternate history; what-if fiction; alternate history novels and short stories; what-if scenarios) Google, Nov. 7, 2016: (hit counts: Alternative histories: 132,000; Allohistorical fiction: 320; Alt-history fiction: 5,480; Alternate history fiction: 12,800; Alternative history fiction: 6,420; Uchronian fiction: 365; Uchronic fiction: 141; what-if fiction: 6,470; What ifs AND fiction: 295,000) |
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