History vs. Fiction

As we discussed Hayden White's mixing of fiction and history, I was struck by how similar history and fiction really are. "Good" fiction tries to be believeable to its readers, so that the reader can really understand the story and relate to the events. Think of The Hunger Games, Twilight, Harry Potter. They all tap into the characters, and try to make the characters seem as real as possible. Even though there isn’t magic in he world, with muggles and wizards (or is there?) or there isn’t a real hunger games where we all have to fight to the death, or there aren’t vampires and humans that can turn into werewolves, the stories don’t seem so crazy to us. We love reading the stories, and some people relate to the book characters more than the people around them. We compare ourselves to them, and try to imagine their plots and story lines. I don’t know if White was necessarily talking about this type of fiction, or if e was mostly addressing realistic fiction, but I think it still works in some ways. Of course Ragtime would seem a bit more believable than Harry Potter in a realistic sense, but they are still alike in that they being human characters out of just the words, but truly in our minds. To me, fiction is a way I bring historical characters out of the textbook and into 3D, actual human beings. History may seem like just a bunch of events, but it’s more. It’s about real, breathing humans, who changed society and the course of history for the better or for worse. Houdini wasn’t just some weird guy who put ok entertainment. He had technique. Fiction can put people in perspective. It can show that Houdini was always conscious of how people perceived him. Fiction proposes what history wouldn’t dare to look into. And in that sense; fiction can bring history into a different light. They’re aren’t too different when you think about it. History is what is written in the books, but historical fiction is what we imagine in our minds.
What do you guys think? Are they too different to be similar?

Comments

  1. Irina February 9, 2018 at 8:24 PM

    In my opinion, they are very similar. In fact, I think history and fiction overlap a little too much, the biggest difference being how people think of them - history being factual, fiction being, well, fiction. I like how you put it -that history is what is written in the books, but historical fiction is what we imagine in our minds.

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  2. Annemily HogansonFebruary 9, 2018 at 9:21 PM

    Nice post! I think Doctorow definitely brings history to life but I think especially through the plot, context descriptions, and non-historical characters. I felt like I could understand the non-historical characters better than the historical characters. All the crazy stuff Doctorow made the historical characters do (I'm thinking especially Morgan but also to some extent Ford, Houdini, and Evelyn) sometimes made them less real. I think that made us question what we thought we understood about history while still bringing history to life.

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  3. Gloria SunderlandFebruary 10, 2018 at 11:44 AM

    I like this a lot! I agree that a lot of "good history" tries to avoid the emotions of people in the past and focus more on the facts and narrative of what actually happened. But if we just learn history like that it can be hard to understand what really happened or just show us a partial picture of the truth of the past if we don't try to understand how people felt about the things happening to and around them. A lot of times the most informative and interesting history is that which shows the perspectives and feelings of people who lived in the past.

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  4. RaineFebruary 10, 2018 at 4:55 PM

    This is a really interesting idea! I like your distinction between history and historical fiction near the end. What I'm thinking is if historical fiction is what we imagine (a kind of empathy for the historical figure) then can anyone really know a true history? If our analysis of the history involves us imagining and applying our own perspective and ideas about a historical figure or event, does that make it somewhat fictional? I definitely think that history and fiction overlap more than people typically think.

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  5. Adam Mao (johnuger)February 10, 2018 at 5:49 PM

    Nice post! I think that history and fiction are essentially intertwined. The issue is that we can't really know what happens in history unless we were there at that exact moment. There's a saying that history is written by the victor. This means that whoever wins can twist and turn history into whatever they want it to be. They could write complete nonsense and we would still probably believe it. For me, history is what we believe it to be. It comes from what people tell us, and whether of not we choose to believe what they say.

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  6. Nathalie SteinFebruary 10, 2018 at 5:53 PM

    This is super cool! I think that history and fiction have a close relationship. I agree with your analysis of history vs. historical fiction. A good base of knowledge laid by a thorough history can be a wonderful tool for enhancing a historical fiction novel- and vice versa! Would Ragtime be as interesting if we didn't know who Houdini or Henry Ford was? And, in turn, I feel now that any future readings I do about any of the figures featured in Ragtime will be significantly enhanced, since I now have that special connection that one can only form with a good book character.

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  7. Tim ChoFebruary 10, 2018 at 7:55 PM

    I liked your post, and I agree that history and fiction are very connected. I would argue that a history can be written so that historical figures can be brought to life as well, and that it would be possible to write a work like Ragtime with enough information about people like Father and his family. The only difference between history and fiction is the traditional way in which people think about them in the sense that people see history as truth and fiction as false. In terms of how they tell narrative it's tough to discern between them.

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