English Literature A-Level
Alternative history
What Alternative history means in English Literature A-Level, as defined for OCR.
Definition of Alternative history
Check what you remember
Read the wording for your board, then hide it and explain Alternative history in your own words. Rough notes are fine. This is a self-check, with no mark or grade.
Reference: OCR
A narrative set in an alternative 1944 where Germany successfully invaded Britain, used to explore the psychological and domestic impacts of a successful invasion.
Topics that use Alternative history
Related terms
- Collaboration versus resistance
- Cultural and linguistic colonisation
- Cultural imperialism and resistance
- Excavation, memory, and the preservation of the past
- Historical and contemporary invasion
- Intertextuality and historical revisionism
- Isolation and the natural landscape
- The cyclical nature of violence and sectarian conflict
Using Alternative history in the exam
Check the command word and mark scheme for your exact question. After comparing your explanation with the reference, use the term in an answer on the linked topic. This practice does not predict an exam mark.
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