Introduction to Historical Fiction

Course Home Syllabus Course Plan Course Pack Introduction to Historical Fiction	Introduction to Historical Fiction: Selected Readings ~ Online Course Pack http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/ Table of Contents
ø	ø
See also Cora's Online Reserve (password protected) for current term on Historical Fiction, Sir Walter Scott: http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci_articles/index.html
ø	ø
Third World & minority writers need to re-create "history." --Edna Aizenberg http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Aizenberg.htm
Aizenberg, Edna. Excerpts from *"The Third World Novel as Counterhistory: Things Fall Apart* and Asturias's Men of Maize."** In Approaches to Teaching Achebe's Things Fall Apart. Ed. Bernth Lindfors. Approaches to Teaching World Literature Series: 37. New York: Modern Language Association, 1991.
ø	ø
"... historical fiction can function as a method of time travel for readers." --Brenda Hoffman http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Hoffman.htm
Hoffman, Brenda. "Historical Fiction Criticism & Evaluation." *Historical Fiction.* Internet School Library Media Center (Inez Ramsey, Library Science Program, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA; 1997).
ø	ø
"There is no single 'right' method of handling literary problems, no single approach to works of literary art that will yield all the significant truths about them." --David Daiches [1] (qtd. in Jones). http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Jones.htm
*Jones, Joel. “Howell’s The Leatherwood God: The Model in Method for the American Historical Novel.”* Explicator 51.2 (Winter 1993): 96 (8pp). EBSCOHost Academic Search Elite 2000; Article No. 9307130070. [Full text available.]
	Cora's Abstract: Jones applies an Aristotelian perspective to defining the literary genre of the historical novel and to analyzing The Leatherwood God (1916), the first attempt to write an historical novel by author William Dean Howell, U.S. champion of literary realism. Jones's discussion of Howell’s objections to the historical romance contrasted to his advocacy of literary realism and his practice in The Leatherwood God, are useful in distinguishing these different modes of historical fiction.
ø	ø
“I expect that we can all agree that historical fiction should be good fiction and good history.” --Anne Scott MacLeod http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/MacLeod.htm
MacLeod, Anne Scott ( professor at University of Maryland and author of American Childhood: Essays on Children’s Literature of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, University of Georgia Press). "Writing Backward: Modern Models in Historical Fiction." Horn Book Magazine, January/February 1998. [Horn Book publishes Books for Children & Young Adults] See also: ---. “Rewriting History.”* Teacher Magazine 9.7 (April 1998): 34 (4pp). EBSCOHost MasterFILE Premier 2000. Article No. 424459. [Full text available.] Abstract: “Explains that by distorting the past to fit modern notions of right and wrong, authors of children's historical fiction do readers more harm than good. Idea behind historical revisionism; Discussion on history fiction; Examples of books under revisionist history.”
ø	ø
“[T]wo occasions...best call for the historical novelist: when the facts have been lost to time, and when a time has been lost to the facts.” --Thomas Mallon http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Mallon.htm
Mallon, Thomas (Univ. of Maryland, Baltimore). "History, Fiction, and the Burden of Truth." Writing History / Writing Fiction: A Virtual Conference Session. History and MultiMedia Center, University at Albany-SUNY. [No date.] See also: ---. “Writing Historical Fiction.”* American Scholar 61.4 (Fall 1992): 604 (6pp). EBSCOHost Academic Search Elite, 2001: AN [Item number] 9302010352. [NOTE: COCC Library subscribes to EBSCOHost]
ø	ø
Historical fiction has “ambiguous relationships to both history and fiction.” --Sue Peabody http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Peabody.htm
Peabody, Sue (Associate Professor, Dept. of History, College of Liberal Arts, Washington State Univ.-Vancouver). "Reading and Writing Historical Fiction." Iowa Journal of Literary Studies (1989): 29-30. Rpt. on the author's WSU web site.
ø	ø
“It’s not history. It’s fiction.” --William Rainbolt http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Rainbolt.htm
Rainbolt, William (Dept. of English, Univ. of Albany-SUNY). Excerpts from "He Disagreed with the History, But He Liked the Story." Writing History / Writing Fiction: A Virtual Conference Session. History and MultiMedia Center, University at Albany-SUNY.
ø	ø
“Accuracy is essential.” --Joyce Sarricks http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Sarricks.htm
Sarricks, Joyce (Literature & Audio Services Coordinator, Downers Grove Public Library, Downers Grove, IL). "Writers & Readers: Historical Fiction--Rules of the Genre." Booklist 1 April 1999. Rpt. NoveList News June 1999.
ø	ø
“A thorny issue...is how to define historical fiction.”--Soon Y. Choi http://www.cocc.edu/cagatucci/classes/eng339/Intro/Soon.htm
Soon Y. Choi. Part A. On Selection Criteria Used by Reference Books. An (Almost) Complete Guide to Historical Fiction Reference Books. Soon's Historical Fiction Site.
ø	ø

For problems with this web, contact webmaster@cocc.edu