On the Margins of Genre(s): Eva Stachniak’s Bestselling Novels as Archival Fantasies

This article examines Eva Stachniak’s fictional(ized) biographies as examples of “archival fantasies,” a name used by the author herself to define the genre. It determines the strategies she employs to position her texts on the margins of classical biographical novels. Stachniak’s interest in narrating (partially fictional) lives is a unique way to expand the genres of biography, biofiction, and historical novel and explores more universal themes, such as power, roots, migrant identities, passion, and art, among others.