Comments on: What Makes For Great Historical Fiction? http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/ A School Library Journal Blog Sun, 05 Aug 2012 22:26:42 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 By: Vicky Alvear Shecter http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-294 Vicky Alvear Shecter Sun, 25 Oct 2009 10:06:26 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-294 Wow, what a great line. Historial fiction provides "a powerful hallucination of presence, the vivid sensation of lived life." So true on so many levels! Wow, what a great line. Historial fiction provides “a powerful hallucination of presence, the vivid sensation of lived life.” So true on so many levels!

]]> By: marc http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-295 marc Sun, 25 Oct 2009 09:18:31 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-295 Greenblatt credits Mantel with knowing her subject well. And I completely agree about immersing yourself in research. But, as I will spell out more fully in a blog, he also raises a really interesting question when he says Mantel's Cromwell does not sound like the man in the available letters, yet he is a fully successful creation. And I think it is that borderline, that issue of evidence and invention that we need to ponder. Yes of course, the fullest research, but what are the boundaries of invention? And, what are the standards or judgment -- where does accuracy trump literary accomplishment, and where does rich evocation on the page trump precise match to sources? These are questions, not answers. Greenblatt credits Mantel with knowing her subject well. And I completely agree about immersing yourself in research. But, as I will spell out more fully in a blog, he also raises a really interesting question when he says Mantel’s Cromwell does not sound like the man in the available letters, yet he is a fully successful creation. And I think it is that borderline, that issue of evidence and invention that we need to ponder. Yes of course, the fullest research, but what are the boundaries of invention? And, what are the standards or judgment — where does accuracy trump literary accomplishment, and where does rich evocation on the page trump precise match to sources? These are questions, not answers.

]]> By: Peni Griffin http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-296 Peni Griffin Sun, 25 Oct 2009 06:36:46 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-296 Writing historical fiction is so much a means of time travel for me that all three of the ones I've written to date are time travel fantasies. But I fail to see how anything but the most accuracy you can get can conjure up that hallucination of presence. I don't even plot the book until I've done a critical mass of research, at which point the plot forms itself in my head - given this time and place, and that character, the plot has a natural channel in which it must flow. Of course, making stuff up is necessary. History is full of lacunae; prehistory, even more so. But the more saturated the brain with the available facts, the more convincingly the shape of the unavailable facts emerge from the negative space. Writing historical fiction is so much a means of time travel for me that all three of the ones I’ve written to date are time travel fantasies. But I fail to see how anything but the most accuracy you can get can conjure up that hallucination of presence. I don’t even plot the book until I’ve done a critical mass of research, at which point the plot forms itself in my head – given this time and place, and that character, the plot has a natural channel in which it must flow.

Of course, making stuff up is necessary. History is full of lacunae; prehistory, even more so. But the more saturated the brain with the available facts, the more convincingly the shape of the unavailable facts emerge from the negative space.

]]> By: marc http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-297 marc Sat, 24 Oct 2009 18:22:59 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-297 I will explore some of his points in more detail in my next post, but of course all of you please add your own thoughts. I will explore some of his points in more detail in my next post, but of course all of you please add your own thoughts.

]]> By: Mary http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-298 Mary Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:43:53 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-298 Marc, I am getting your feed now. Thank you! And thanks for the post on historical fiction. Very interesting discussion. I would like to hear more on the topic. Marc,
I am getting your feed now. Thank you!
And thanks for the post on historical fiction. Very interesting discussion. I would like to hear more on the topic.

]]> By: Monica Edinger http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/comment-page-1/#comment-299 Monica Edinger Sat, 24 Oct 2009 07:20:30 +0000 http://blogs.slj.com/nonfictionmatters/2009/10/23/what-makes-for-great-historical-fiction/#comment-299 Thanks so much for pointing out this excellent essay. Thanks so much for pointing out this excellent essay.

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