NAIS - Historical Fiction

Tailors’ Lane was a typical Aventine scene. Faceless tenement blocks loomed above a filthy, one-cart lane that meandered up here from the Emporium down by the Tiber […] Little near-naked children crouched playing with stones beside a dubious puddle, catching whatever fever was rampant this summer. Somewhere overhead a voice droned endlessly, telling some dreary story to a silent listener […]. We were in deep shade, though aware that wherever the sun could find access the August heat was shimmering. Even here our tunics stuck to our backs.

Lindsey Davis, Three Hands in a Fountain
London: Arrow, 1996 (pp.4-5)

Hardly the picture of a grand, majestic, marble-covered Rome teeming with proud toga-clad citizens and soldiers wearing brightly polished armour—an image often evoked in the great Hollywood movies. Far from it, historical fiction author Lindsey Davis frequently lets her readers in on the seedy underbelly that existed in Rome and the Roman Empire. She and countless other writers have brought history back to life with their novels. But why expose students to stories set in a far away time, about people long dead and (at times, sadly) almost forgotten? The educator in all of us wants to say, “Because it would get kids to read and develop their literacy skills!” And the classicist in me is screaming, “What can be better than reading about the deliciously scandalous — and mundane? — details of ancient times brought to life by an expert story-teller?!” Far from hindering students’ learning, stories and novels based on historical events can serve as valuable tools, complementing and enriching the learning experience.

One of the primary focuses of the Ontario curriculum is the development of students’ literacy skills. In our modern era of media saturation, 24-hour Internet chatrooms and video games, reading is a pastime in danger of falling by the wayside. Walking through the halls, it is not uncommon to hear students boasting about how little they read and how boring books can be. Writer Jim Collier laments that the lack of reading time cuts into language learning; I would add that this, by extension, affects the acquisition of crucial literacy skills.

Historical-fiction novels, therefore, are one way to render reading not only more accessible, but also more attractive to students taking a course in which history plays a role. And historical content is often far more ubiquitous than we may realize. Classical studies, social studies, science, math, physical education, languages, music — one could go on ad infinitum; the course content and key concepts of almost any topic can often be approached through an examination of the subject’s historical roots. Laying aside — for one moment — their obvious connections with history as a subject, historical fact and narrative are omnipresent in other fields of study: in physics, for instance, one cannot comprehend the gravitational theory without mentioning Sir Isaac Newton. What of the sports of discus throwing, foot races, and wrestling? They all have rich historical roots in the ancient Olympics. The BBC recently produced a series on The Story of Maths (2009), in which Oxford professor Marcus du Sautoy traces the history behind the evolution of this venerable field. As numerous as there are subjects to study, so too will there be behind them intriguing histories to tell.

But let’s return to the topic of historical fiction itself. Children and young adults’ author Rosemary Hayes maintains that historical fiction is perhaps one of the most effective ways of awakening interest in a subject. Imagine introducing a unit on 17th century France with an excerpt from Alexandre Dumas’ Les Trois Mousquetaires (1844); or piquing students’ curiosity with this swashbuckling tale as a means of launching into a philosophical study on friendship and honor. In the music classroom, why not complement Vivaldi’s Four Seasons with a little bit of Baroque history and a dash of Barbara Quick’s Vivaldi’s Virgins (HarperCollins 2007)? The tales told by a skilled writer can offer students a glimpse into what life was like in a particular era. Naturally, these works of historical fiction cannot be relied upon to deliver the full breadth and depth of the subject’s curriculum. And, more importantly, they should not replace or eclipse the subject itself. As humans, however, we have always been drawn to stories, and if a well-written imaginary account of the past can serve as a springboard for further study, why not embrace it?

Teaching classics, I have become acutely aware of the need to balance language content with cultural nuggets and socio-political history. A small project on a historical fiction novel set in classical times, for instance, can be a welcome distraction from the everyday routine of conjugating verbs and declining nouns. If one’s ultimate goal is to make a subject accessible to as many students as possible, a study in historical fiction provides that perfect opportunity. Chances are that reading a story about how a band of Roman soldiers was captured and ransomed by pirates would appeal to — and engage — students who may not find discussing the nuanced uses of the gerundive ("Roman soldiers requiring to be ransomed") quite as riveting.

Fortunately for educators, the field of historical novels is nowadays varied enough to appeal to the different types of readers in the classroom. Students who love a good mystery can choose from any number of detective novels set in ancient Athens, Victorian England, or even provincial 19th century Hungary. The student who prefers politics and intrigue can look to a plethora of works such as Colleen McCullough’s Masters of Rome series. The aspiring art student and comic book enthusiast will readily find graphic novels recounting Homer’s epics or the life of Louis Riel. Even students for whom the English language and reading may not be familiar territory can journey back to times past through literature aimed at younger readers.

Beyond piquing students’ interest in a given topic, historical fiction allows students to engage actively with the content. But what of those historically-inaccurate novels? What better way to get students to develop their critical thinking and inquiry skills than by having them research a time period and comment on the historical inaccuracies in their novel study? There can, in fact, be many layers in this process: (1) researching the basic facts behind the historical narrative; (2) identifying the surrounding cultural circumstances and the social mores in play; (3) examining primary documents associated with the time period; (4) recognising that all authors — primary, secondary, and fictional — have prejudices and perspectives on a given era; and subsequently teasing out the historical inaccuracies in the fictional account for comparison with the “real” history; (5) and, perhaps most importantly, becoming aware that factual historical accounts are just as prone to the same biases as historical fiction.

This multi-layered approach to the study of historical fiction can be broken down, with each component serving as a tool for the development of crucial literacy and research skills, or taken as a whole scaffolding process for the development of critical thinking and inquiry skills. As Jean Fritz puts it, through books and storytelling, students learn to grow more comfortable with the paradoxes and ambiguities that present themselves in the study of history, and to reflect on the complexity surrounding a seemingly immutable account of a given set of events.

The life and times of the Greeks and Romans have frequently been taught in a manner as to place them on an almost unreachable pedestal. Consequently, it is easy to develop the impression that all Romans were pompous and loquacious politicians like Cicero, or that the Spartans were stoic warriors immune to the pains and joys of life. With a study of historical fiction, students will expose themselves to one author’s perspective and interpretation of what life was like in the past. And by reading about little children playing near a puddle of urine on a hot summer’s day, young learners will hopefully develop an understanding that the ancient Romans — and, indeed, all those who lived before us — weren’t just imaginary people who circulated in a world of ideals and theoretic situations; they played with their children, they coughed and spat, they scratched itches, they suffered from claustrophobia, and, yes, they sweated on a hot August day.

Further Reading