Skáldleg sagnfræði.

What criterion fulfils the function of differentiating historical fiction from historiography understood as the academic mode of writing history? In the light of twentieth century historical relativism, whether conceived in the classical manner of Carl Becker or the rhetorical of Hayden White, the distinction between fiction and history seems to grow faint. The notion of 'historical facts' still seems to offer a clear criterion, despite the problematics attached to that notion. What relativism seems to have achieved is analyzing the problematics, and, apart from offering various solutions, creating a debate on what constitutes an historical narrative, thereby heightening historians' awareness of the difficulties inherent in their task, and, perhaps, opening up new venues for historical writing.