Luther Blissett and Wu Ming: The end of history?

Abstract

This article discusses the historical novels Q ( Blissett, 2000 ) and 54 ( Wu, 2002 ) by group authors Luther Blissett and Wu Ming. At first glance Q demonstrates the ideological and narrative achievements of the 19th-century historical novel following theories of Lukács and White, yet in playing with the theme of (multiple) identity its authors point toward what will become postmodern parody of those achievements in 54. Whereas the overabundance of meaning caused by the multiple identity of narrators (and authors) introduces a problematic conception of historicity leading from Q to 54, it will be the lack of meaning altogether in the latter which ultimately illustrates the end of historicity (as suggested by Jameson and Vattimo). I focus on the figures of the narrator and the Hitchcockian McGuffin, who function as narrative devices forwarding the plot and who, I argue, ultimately serve in illustrating the trajectory of the Italian historical novel from its inception to today.