ABSTRACT
The concept of the factitive makes history different to all other narrative forms. History is a narrative about the probable/possible actuality and reality of the past. It is important to acknowledge, then, that all histories are ‘contrived explanatory narratives’ about a preferred ‘past reality’. History and the process of historying are to ‘bring about’ and ‘invoke’ the past. Thus, for example, a historian may refer to King John as the direct object of their history. However, this reference remains a factitive complement to the history that the author creates. The past can only be established and understood through the historian’s ‘authorial fashioning’ of their preferred past narrative.
