Etyczne dylematy z przeszłością. Studium dwóch przypadków (Lektor Bernharda Schlinka i Wydanie poprawione Pétera Esterházy’ego)

The article is concerned with moral dilemmas connecting with literary and historical creation of the past. The goal is to reveal the differences between the practice of traditional historical study and telling the story. Both historiography and literature primary purpose is to understand the past. Historiography concentrates on rational motives of human activities, looks for causes and results. Historian is interested in the relationships between individual and community. Literature is less reductive, tries to discover the world of ideas and emotions of human being, explains his dreams and fears. The changes in contemporary historiography (narrative turn) offered a new vision of the past and established a new/old relationship between academic history and historical novel. Using two examples, well known books of German and Hungarian writers, dealing with Nazi and Communistic past, author try to examine what are the advantages and disadvantages of literary discourse on history.