History in Fantasy – Part 2

This is part two of my post about History in Fantasy. If you have not read the previous post, you can read it here.

As previously mentioned, Historical Fantasy is the sub genre of fantasy fiction where the story centers on a historical period in the “real world” (instead of a secondary world) and brings in fantastic elements. There are many variations of renderings by different authors in this sub genre, most taking form within medieval Europe. I would say that it is the Arthurian legend that triggered the influence of Historical Fantasy; with the story of King Arthur, Merlin and Excalibur being the beginning of a type of Historical Fantasy.

The historical account of a real-life King Arthur remains inconclusive amongst historians; however, the legend—stemmed from the account of the 9^TH century Welsh historian called Nennius and the pseudo-historical account of the 12^TH century Welsh cleric Geoffrey of Monmouth—has become one of the most retold and honored stories in the western world. The story of King Arthur penned by Geoffrey of Monmouth shaped the mythology of Britain that we’re familiar with today, producing a wealth of novels such as: The Once and Future King by T.H. White, The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley, and The Pendragon Cycle series by Stephen R. Lawhead, just to name a few.

“Secret History” is a popular formula within Historical Fantasy, where the author takes historical persons and/or events and creates a story based on occurrences in that period of time that were censored from historical records. Novels like Mary Gentle’s Book of Ash series (a single volume in the U.K.) and Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series use this type of method. The Book of Ash tells the story of a fictional 15^TH century female mercenary captain in Europe, receiving military tactical guidance from a voice in her head—akin to Joan of Arc. Though the setting of the story of Ash is late Medieval France, elements of fantasy and science fiction are found in the book. Elizabeth Bear’s Promethean Age series contains that mixture of Urban, Historical and Epic Fantasy that I hinted at in my previous post. The first two books of the series deal more in the contemporary times, but the last two books in the series (prequels to the initial two), also known as The Stratford Man Duology, take us back in the Elizabethan Era—using historical figures such as English dramatists Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare as key characters in fictional form.

J. Gregory Keyes (also known as Greg Keyes) went all out with his Age of Unreason series using historical figures like Sir Isaac Newton, a young Benjamin Franklin, and King Louis XIV of France in an epic tale full of magic, demons and adventure. In similar fashion, the Traitor to the Crown series by C.C. Finley is set during the American Revolution where witches, magic and supernatural beings have a great impact on the tensions of the Revolutionary War. Historical figures like John Adams and Benjamin Franklin appear as supporting characters in Finley’s series.

It is Historical Fantasy’s duty to shake up and change history. John M. Ford was applauded for his method in The Dragon Waiting, which won him the 1984 World Fantasy Award for best novel. In The Dragon Waiting, Ford sets up an alternate 15^TH century Europe where Christianity never excelled and Islam never existed, the Byzantine Empire threatens Europe, and the worship of Roman gods is very active. Add in the workings of magic and vampirism (as the result of a contagious disease) and The Dragon Waiting becomes another rung in classic Historical Fantasy. The popular Temeraire series by Naomi Novik takes readers into a world where dragons are real and used in the Nopoleonic Wars. Not only is the world different because of the existence of dragons, but Novik also spins nations like China, the United States and Mexico with alternate histories.

Two Historical Fantasies released this year, which sound interesting, are Mark Alder’s Son of the Morning and Angus Watson’s Age of Iron. You can read the authors' explanation on their works by checking out these two postings: Son of the Morning here  |  Age of Iron here

I could go on and on with other examples of Historical Fantasy, like Judith Tarr’s The Hound and the Falcon trilogy, David Gemmell’s Stones of Power series, or D.B. Jackson’s Thieftaker Chronicles—works which have entertained many. This is a sub genre which can stretch on and on into new and intriguing stories; however, like Epic/High Fantasy, the overdose on Medieval Europe is apparent. The works described above set in the 18^TH and 19^TH century, even dealing in American history, make for something appealing to readers—because it’s not overused. With the spark of Flintlock Fantasy reaching for attention in the genre, I hope we can see more settings in the Age of Reason.

In my next and last post on History in Fantasy, I will discuss fantasy books that deal with the inspiration of history within secondary worlds.

RELATED POSTS: 
History in Fantasy - Part 1 
History in Fantasy - Part 3  
The Secondary World
Inspirations of Fantasy
Epic Worldbuilding
Flintlock Fantasy
         

History in Fantasy – Part 1

When you set aside the fantastic from epic/high fantasy you can surely conclude that you are reading a story that is not modern, but set in a time long past. Today, fantasy fiction is pretty much presented in three different facets—High Fantasy, Urban Fantasy and Historical Fantasy—but sometimes mixes some of the three. Urban Fantasy is usually set in the “real world” in contemporary times, but the other two facets, High and Historical Fantasy primarily takes place in a setting that is far from modern.

High Fantasy is predominant in the use of Anglo-Saxon history, holding strong to the Medieval period for its entire setting, but in a secondary world. Historical Fantasy takes a historical period in the mundane world and adds elements of the fantastic. From this point forward, when I talk about fantasy, I will be talking specifically about High (Epic) Fantasy and Historical Fantasy, as these two sub genres are the keystone of fantasy fiction.

Fantasy is a kind of mosaic of different inspirations from various histories and cultures, with the flavor of magic, adventure, and fantastic creatures—like a recipe of many ingredients to form an imaginative story. Most writers of fantasy are people fascinated by history in one way or another; with a good handful of them being historians themselves, such as J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, Judith Tarr, and Sara Douglass, just to name a few.    

Think about how history is presented to us. Whenever a historian writes a non-fiction book about a prominent historical figure or event they construct it into a story in a way. They do not have any way of knowing for sure what Cleopatra was thinking, or why Alexander the Great did a certain thing, or how George Washington acted when he was a kid. The historian is taking recorded facts about an individual or event and piecing it together into a cohesive narrative, often speaking as if they were there and are certain that every account that they are reporting is accurate. But, at the end of the day, it’s all constructed; it’s not entirely true in a sense. Likewise, paleontologist piece together fossils and bones and try to illustrate and describe the appearance of long-extinct creatures and convince us of their survival habits, but they cannot be 100% certain.

The power of the human imagination can take a historical figure like Bishop Nicholas of Myra and turn him into Santa Claus, or take an affair between Cleopatra VII and Marcus Antonius (Mark Antony) and romanticize it, or be inspired by Vlad III Dracula to bring about the iconic character of Count Dracula. A lot of people probably obtain most of their knowledge of Julius Caesar from William Shakespeare’s play, The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, which was a fictional dramatization based on the conspiracy to kill Julius Caesar. Creators of fiction, in great sums, have an almost natural urge to be inspired by historical persons and events. It seems to be mankind’s desire to write, read and watch stories of mankind in any shape or form—even in the form of fantasy.

Guy Gavriel Kay is widely know for his fantasy books inspired by historical persons and events, transforming real historical periods within secondary worlds and bringing life to fictional characters inspired by people of the past. He said, “I do as much research as I can in a period of history, and then I do a quarter-turn to the fantastic. …that quarter-turn to the fantastic is under-penned by respect for the actual period and the actual people that I’m using as the inspiration for my novels.” Kay’s strategy is to craft stories out of real settings, letting some of his characters be fictional representations of figures in history. He stays away from retellings of history; in his own words: “…not wanting to project my imagination on to the real lives of real people.”

Robert Jordan noted the use of bits and pieces of historical cultures in his Wheel of Time books; such as the ancient Celts, the Shogunates of Japan, and 17^TH century France. In regards to the city-state of Mayene in his books, Jordan said, “Mayene is based culturally on the cities of the Hanseatic League, as well as Venice and Genoa when those cities were world commercial powers and city-states in themselves.” These were just a few of many things he took and used as influences on his fantasy world.

In regards to his book series, A Song of Ice and Fire, George R.R. Martin said, “…although I've drawn on many parts of history, the War of the Roses is probably the one my story is closest to.” He also said, “I like to use history to flavor my fantasy, to add texture and verisimilitude, but simply rewriting history with the names changed has no appeal for me. I prefer to re-imagine it all, and take it in new and unexpected directions.” In an interview with Time Magazine (online) back in April of 2011, Martin speaks a little more about his work and briefly on how history is related in fantasy fiction—click here to read it.

In my next post I’ll continue the discussion on history in fantasy, expounding on more authors and books that pull inspiration from history. 

RELATED POSTS: 
History in Fantasy - Part 2 
History in Fantasy - Part 3    
The Secondary World
Inspirations of Fantasy
Epic Worldbuilding