Gore Vidal, in the afterword of his novel, BURR, pretty much sets out the rules of the road in historical fiction. "To me, the attraction of the historical novel is that one can be as meticulous (or as careless!) as the historian and yet reserve the right not only to rearrange events, but most important, to attribute motive--something the conscientious historian or biographer ought never do."
We sometimes get ourselves into trouble commenting on novels set in ancient Egypt when we confuse historical fiction with the historical romance novel. In the former genre the author is privileged to exploit all of the advantages that come with the literary license defined by Gore Vidal. The same is true for historical romances. The difference then is not one of license, but of performance. The practitioner of historical romance is not required to value character development or complexity of plot with the same urgency as the writer of historical fiction. In today's world the distinction between the two genre is sometimes blurred by CPA editors and all too willing bloggers who by sleight-of-hand pawn off historical romances as historical fiction.
All of this is not to denigrate historical romance novels. This genre has tens of thousands of followers. Witness for example the success of Michelle Moran's novels. She is most certainly the present queen of the historical romance. It would be a mistake, of course, to compare her romance novels with the stellar lights of historical fiction such as Robert Graves, Collen McCullough,Pauline Gedge and Mary Renault. Ms. Moran has not reached for those heights, and it is perhaps unfair to measure her work outside the genre she writes in.
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I have to agree with you, William, and I write historical romance. I've been dealing with this problem for years. Fiction is always partially untrue anyway, of course, but I want authenticity, or at least verisimilitude. But the romance novel concentrates on the development of the romantic relationship, not the history, and too many readers these days want a contemporary heroine in costume. I wish it weren't trus, but it is. And publishers are most interested in a story that doesn't just sell, but sells extremely well.
ReplyDeleteI look forward to Michelle taking the world by storm with her third novel releasing Sept. 15. She is much more socially available then any of the other authors therefore her popularity will far exceed the others at her current pace. Ask me in a year if I've read any of the authors you've mentioned, but I can guarantee you by that time I will have all of read Michelle's works.
ReplyDeleteI wonder what you'd think of my novel, Conceit, about the daughter of the poet John Donne? Also, interestingly, there's another novel--perhaps more of an historical romance, by your definition--called The Lady and the Poet, by Maeve Haran.
ReplyDeleteIf you'd like more info about Conceit, have a peek at www.marynovik.com
all good wishes,
Mary Novik