EUGÈNE SY’S HISTORICAL NOVEL AS A FORM OF SOCIO-IDEOLOGICAL DISCOURSE: ARTISTIC RECONSTRUCTION OF THE PAST AND NTERPRETATION OF SOCIAL CONFLICTS

Abstract

The article examines Eugène Sy’s historical novel as a specific form of socio-ideological discourse in which the artistic reconstruction of the past is combined with the interpretation of contemporary social contradictions. The study focuses on the novels Jean Cavalier, or The Fanatics of the Cévennes and Latréaumont, where historical events function not merely as objects of narrative representation but also as instruments for analyzing power, religious fanaticism, social inequality, and moral responsibility. Particular attention is paid to the discursive nature of historical narration, which is manifested in the interaction of historical fact, artistic fiction, authorial evaluation, and ideologically significant meanings. From a comparative perspective, the article identifies the distinctive features of Sy’s historical fiction in relation to Walter Scott’s tradition of the historical novel and Honoré de Balzac’s socio-realist prose. It is argued that Sy’s historical novel occupies an intermediate position between the classical model of historical fiction and the socially critical novel of the nineteenth century. The study concludes that Sy’s turn to the past performs not only a reconstructive but also an analytical and interpretative function, which makes his historical novels a significant object of literary and humanities research