1. ELE 616 Research in Children’s Literature
Spring 2011
Historical
Fiction
… and Mice (or, well, rats, really)!

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Define historical
fiction?
• historical fiction
– A narrative in the form of a novel set in a specific place and
period in history, or based on an event or sequence of events
that actually happened. The characters may be completely
fictional, but if they are known to have existed, their
feelings, words, and actions are reconstructed and to some
degree imagined by the author. The presence of dialogue in
a historical work is usually a clue that the account is
fictionalized.
– For more information, connect to the Historical Novel Society. Click
here to connect to the Google list of historical fiction Web sites. Compare
with nonfiction. See also: Scott O'Dell Award.

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But, what is
Historical
Fiction, forsooth? been a
•―The historical novel has always
literary form at war with itself. The very
term, implying a fiction somehow grounded
in fact – a lie with obscure obligations to the
truth – is suggestive of the contradictions of
the genre.‖
–Quote from a review, cited in “History is but a fable agreed upon: the
problem of truth in history and fiction,” speech by Richard Lee to
Romantic Novelists Association

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What is History, though?
• Whatever else it may be – it is NOT truth
– Each decade throws up new approaches to
history, finds new or previously overlooked
sources and gives entirely new weight to the
facts they do agree on.
– History, in other words, is tailored for its
audience.
– The facts that survive are absurdly inadequate.
The interpretation that is put on them is a huge
distortion even of those few facts.
• History is but a fable agreed upon

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What is History, then?
• History is not quite the out and out truth
that it seems
– At its best it is only one historian’s selection of what
he or she BELIEVES, at any particular time, is most
relevant from the body of material that survives. At
worst – well at worst, it is no more than the sort of
bigoted opinion and blatant manipulation of sources
that we’ve recently seen exposed in the work of
holocaust denier, DAVID IRVING.
• History is but a fable agreed upon

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Where does that leave
Historical is the most primal, the most NATURAL
• Historical fiction Fiction?
of literary forms
– Historical fiction . . . is the artistic form that springs from this
impulse to give a shape to the past. But it’s not JUST to give a
shape to the past. It is to bring part of the past ALIVE into the
present.
– . . . all historical fiction . . . makes us feel, as a
protagonist, what otherwise would be dead and lost to us. It
transports us into the past. And the very best historical fiction
presents to us a TRUTH of the past that is NOT the truth of
the history books, but a bigger truth, a more important truth –
a truth of the HEART.
• History is but a fable agreed upon

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Differences between history and
historical fiction
• Andrew M. Greeley
– History and historical fiction are necessarily not the
same thing. The purpose of history is to narrate
events as accurately as one can. The purpose of
historical fiction is to enable a reader through the
perspective of characters in the story to feel that she
or he is present at the events. Such a goal obviously
requires some modification of the events.
• Quoted by Cindy Vallar in Historical Fiction vs. History
• See her selected Articles on Historical
Fiction vs. History (scroll down page)

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Problems with writing Historical
Fiction Problem of Definition
• The
– just how “past” is “past”?
• The Problem of ―Truth‖ Fall 1998
– Historical Fiction or Fictional History? Historical
Fiction or
• The Problem of Balance Fictionalized
History?
– How much “authentic” detail?
Problems for
• The Problem of Accuracy Writers of
Historical
– How do you avoid errors or Novels for
anachronisms? Young Adults
• The Problem of Provenance Joanne Brown
– Where does the story come from?

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How do these authors do it?
• Making it real: bringing historical
fiction alive
– The challenge for me in writing historical
fiction is this: How can I see, hear, feel,
taste, smell, and know what my main
character experienced? I have always done this through a
combination of book research, exploring original
records, searching for artifacts, doing interviews, and
reenactment. I am an experiential learner. I am also somewhat
dyslexic, so the book research can take me just so far.
Touching real original records and artifacts can often
transport my imagination back in time in ways that no
microfilm ever could.
• Carbone, E. (2007, June). making it real: bringing historical fiction alive.
Teacher Librarian, 34(5), 27-30. Retrieved October 27, 2007, from Academic

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Teaching Historical
Fiction
•
– To help you build good fiction into your social
studies program, you’ll find:
• Seven Reasons I Teach with Historical Fiction
• Tips for Choosing Good Historical Fiction
• Fifteen Fabulous New Historical Fiction Books
• Is Pocahontas Real? Discovering Where History Stops
and the Story Starts

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Mice in historical fiction?
• Not many mice—a few rats, though!

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Historical fiction
based in legend
• What Happened in Hamelin
http://dogeardiary.blogspot.com/2008/10/what-happened-in-hamelin.html

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An Australian story
• Ratface and Snake Eyes
– A rat plague begins at the height of
the depression in Gladstone, Qld.
Snake Eyes and his primary school
friends go into business snake
catching and Ratface and his gang
go into business as rat catchers. Together, the
two gangs uncover an important opal smuggling
operation using both rats and snakes. For those
aged between 10 and 14.

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The End