"Moreover, before the rise of academic history, there was no clear distinction between what was said to have happened and what had actually happened in presentations often made to justify the policies and enhance the reputations of kings and queens and other outstanding individuals." ~ Paul Drake
"I think there is a great need, these days, for good old-fashioned storytelling. The straight novel has gone so far up market as to be almost invisible; the thriller has gone savage, and the mystery has gone glum. If you want to tell a plain romantic tale you must put it in disguise. Fantasy builds worlds of its own with its own rules; the historical novel recreates the rules of the past. It means that for both of them that delightful old-fashioned thing, the happy ending, is still a practical possibility." ~ Jane Hodge
"The historian serves the truth of his subject. The novelist serves the truth of his tale. As a novelist, I have tools no historian should touch: I can manipulate time and space, extrapolate from the written record to invent dialogue and incident, create fictional characters to bring you close to the historical figures, and fall back on my imagination when the research runs out." ~ William Martin
"Good writers write the kind of history good historians can't or don't write. Historical fiction isn't history in the conventional sense and shouldn't be judged as such. The best historical novels are loyal to history, but it is a history absorbed and set to music, so to speak, changed into forms akin to opera or theatrical productions." ~ Daniel Aaron
"The fact that the reader already knows the end of your story somehow intensifies the drams of waiting for that familiar moment to arrive. A reader begins Lincoln completely aware of how it must conclude, but this only sets the heart beating faster as the carriage begins to roll toward Ford's Theater." ~ Max Byrd
"Fiction reveals truths that reality obscures." ~ Jessamyn West
"History is not just a catalog of events put in the right order like a railway timetable. History is a version of events." ~ A.J.P. Taylor
"But people of the past were not just us in odd clothing. They were people who saw the world differently; approached human relationships differently; people for whom night and day, heat and cold, seasons and work and play had meanings lost to an indust rial world. Even if human nature is much the same over time, human experience, perhaps especially everyday experience, is not. To wash these differences out of historical fictions is not only a denial of historical truth, but a failure of imagination and understanding that is as important to the present as to the past." ~Anne Scott MacLeod
Soon's Historical Fiction Site is the most comprehensive of the WWW sites devoted to historical fiction. Includes a master list of historical fiction writers with a short biography and list of works as well as links. Also a pseudonyms list and current historical fiction best sellers at Amazon.
dmoz.org provides a reasonable collection of useful links.
Of Ages Past, the Ring of Historical Fiction will lead you to a variety of enthusiast sites.
Teresa's Historical Fiction Page contains many useful links.
The Historical Novel Society, Great Britain, is a notable source for reviews of books published in the U.K.Reviews are available via their WWW site. Use the search index since reviews are not organized for use.
Overbooked has a site devoted to "Historical Fiction Stars" which provides an excellent core list of works recently judged to be of unusual quality.
BookBrowser has a good database of historical fiction reviews arranged by author surname.
Goodnew fiction.com, the home of great historical fiction, has a few feature selections.
The Swashbuckler's Page is devoted to adventurous historical fiction that includes sword play. Chronological access to swashbuckling historical fiction.
Legends deals with history, literature, folklore, fiction, and the arts associated with swashbuckling characters (King Arthur, Robin Hood for example) from historical fiction.
Since many mysteries have historical settings, the Historical Mystery Fiction Site is most useful. Includes author access and access by period (ancient world mysteries). MysteryGuide.Com also has a section devoted to historical mysteries.
The Romance Reader has a page devoted to reviews of historical romances. Reviews use summary tags.
The Internet School Library Media Center has a Historical Fiction Page. Critical comment, lesson plans and other resources are available.
There are a variety of WWW sites devoted to particular places, characters, or times. For example, Fictional Rome is devoted to historical fiction set in the Roman world.
American Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults and Young Adults by Lynda Adamson. Includes more than 3300 works. There are genre, place and subject indexes. Updates the 5th edition of Dickinson's American Historical Fiction which included about 3000 novels issued between 1917 and 1984.
World Historical Fiction: An Annotated Guide to Novels for Adults and Young Adults by Lynda Adamson. Updates McGarry's World Historical Fiction and complements Adamson's American Historical Fiction. Brief descriptions of about 6,000 novels set outside the U.S. Includes place/time and subject indexes. Annotations are short.
Historical Figures in Fiction by Donald Hartman includes about 4200 novels arranged by 1500 historical characters. More than half the books were published before 1970.
Twentieth-Century Romance and Historical Writers by Aruna Vasudevan and Lesley Henderson is part of the St. James series. About 500 writers are included.
What Historical Novel Do I Read Next? by Daniel Burt is probably the single best source for the reader advisor. Includes works from Walter Scott to those issued in 1996. Part of the Gale "What Do I Read Next" series. Includes more than 7000 titles from 3,000 authors. Excellent indexes, including one for characters. Comments on historical accuracy.
There is some controversy about the exact definition of historical fiction. Still, here are some attributes of good historical fiction:
Walter Scott, perhaps the father of the contemporary historical fiction novel, suggested that "historical" meant at least two generations in the past. More recent authors have suggested that 25 years would be a reasonable amount of time to separate historical from contemporary.
Historical fiction is usually classified by place (Rome) and period (the Republic). In some cases, fiction is classified by main character (King Arthur, Robin Hood) or by character type or sex (pirates, women).
Historical fiction may inspire the reader to "do the impossible." After reading how historical characters have overcome great obstacles to win important victories, the reader may decide that she too can overcome obstacles and become an important person.
Through historical fiction, the reader can be present at a historical event or period. The reader connects to people and events. History becomes a story of particular people doing what they must do in a stimulating environment rather than a series of dates and names. The reader learns interesting bits and pieces of information that makes the period seem real. This vicarious experience can have considerable impact on one's life beside gaining a considerable appreciation of what others had to do so that we can enjoy society as we know it. Universals of human behavior can be seen and reflected upon. We certainly learn about others, but may also learn more about ourselves.
Saricks says that through historical fiction we learn about history "from the inside." As the reader learns more about the past, that may help her to understand the present and reflect upon the future.
Some readers will have a particular interest in certain time and place, perhaps related to ethnic heritage or to places they have visited.
While many historians have always been critical of historical fiction because it is never accurate enough, some popular historical fiction has ignored the historical evidence in order to make a better story or to underscore some point the author wishes to make. Here, history is simply local color background for "fights, escapes, and lovemaking." Often, historical fiction includes a romanticized view of history. HISTORICAL ROMANCES may be more guilty of this, although the quality of the historical research in them has increased over time.
Some authors of historical fiction make a distinction between "historical truth," and "emotional truth." Typically, the author is most concerned about the emotional truth because that drives the story.
Although historical fiction should be true to known historical evidence, historical fiction is a story and not a text book. Contemporary historians rarely write for a popular audience. Historical fiction authors need enough historical "stuff" to make the story realistic and persuasive, but not so much that the story is overwhelmed by detail. "Serious" readers of history are often disappointed by historical fiction because the compare the novel to what they "know" really happened. Besides the fact that what the know may not be accurate, the novel needs to be persuasive but not accurate in every detail. Above all, it needs to be a compelling story.
While not always true, many historical fiction novels are long books (many pages) and the pace is often slow as the world building is absorbed by the reader. SWASHBUCKLING HISTORICAL FICTION is really an adventure story and is usually faster paced.
In recent years, historical fiction has become notably popular. In fact, it is read by many who did not think of it as "genre" reading. Often, historical fiction is part of general or mainstream fiction. In 1997, 36 percent of all fiction books reviewed by the New York Times were historical.
John Jakes, author of the several volumes of the "Kent Family Chronicles," was one of the first contemporary authors of historical fiction to achieve a large popular audience. More than 50 million copies of this series have been issued.
Books with added features such as maps, chronologies, lists of major characters, and historical sources make reading easier and more fruitful.
1. How essential is it that historical fiction be historically correct? How much liberty can an author take with events and settings?
2. Is historical fiction more "legitimate" because it provides an opportunity to learn about real people and events?
3. Does the distinction between "historical truth" and "emotional truth" make sense to you?
4. Is "historical fiction" an oxymoron?
5. How much historical research should the author do?
6. Is it possible to see history through the view of those in a particular time rather than our own view?
7. Is it reasonable to include "time travel" and "alternative history" under the heading of "historical fiction"?
8. Are those who enjoy historical fiction also likely to enjoy reading historical nonfiction?
