for Dec. 24, 2009:
Given the choice, which do you prefer? Real history? Or historical fiction? (Assume, for the purposes of this discussion that they are equally well-written and engaging.)I love good historical fiction. My favourite books are historical fiction. My favourite authors write historical fiction: Dorothy Dunnett, Steven Saylor, Geoffey Trease, Norah Lofts, Lindsay Davis, Alan Massie, Cecliia Holland, Ellis Peters, Georgette Heyer, Mary Renault, and many more.
But I find that good historical fiction is getting harder and harder to find. Most historical fiction seems to be either bodice-rippers or mysteries. The bodice-rippers are getting harder to find in a market that's increasingly filled with vampires and werewolves - and I, on the whole, would prefer the bodice-ripping. Templar Romance seems to be a small but significant genre; one of these days, I'll look into it. And the mysteries are so often bland, and not very historical, and usually a disappointment to me. But there are exceptions. Recommendations happily received.
As with anything: it's all in the quality of the writing and the quality of the thinking. In historical fiction, this is also linked to the quality of the research and a concern for verisimilitude. I am more tolerant of errors in fact than errors of culture; I don't want 21st century people in medieval costumes. I don't want misplaced technology, like gunpowder in
Robin Hood. (And, no, the Muslems didn't have it either.)
I want a glimpse of another world.
And of course I love historical non-fiction with a passion. That being said: it's often badly written, too. And/or full of errors. And/or only as good as the thinking behind it. Still, it's delightful to know what's out there: including the books written in whatever time we might be talking about - the
Histories of Herodotus, the writings of Julius Caesar,
The Story of My Misfortunes by Peter Abelard,
L'Histoire de Guillaume le Maréchale,
The Autobiography of Benvenuto Cellini,
History of the Franks by Gregory of Tours,
The Ecclesiastical History of Orderic Vitalis,
A History of Deeds Done Beyond the Sea by William Archbishop of Tyre, the diaries of Pepys, the writings of Bede, Cassiodorus, Snorri Sturluson, Caffaro da Caschifelone, Einhard, Guicciardini, all of them and more - such fascinating people, looking at their times and commenting on them. I love historical biography and autobiography.
My favourite popular historians tend to be those who wrote about the middle ages, because that's the era I love most, but not by any means the only era I love. Sir Steven Runciman is one of my heroes, though the more I reread his books the less astute they seem - but the entertainment value doesn't lessen. John Julius Norwich, whose style is sublime. The Cambridge encyclopedias and, a personal favourite for browsing,
The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Medieval Civilization by Aryeh Grabois. And books about castles. I've a passion for books about castles, especially if they have maps and ground plans.
Which is not really to pin down an answer: when it comes to history I love both fiction and non-fiction. Quality matters. But to choose between the one or the other? I'd rather not. I want both.
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