Historical fiction
Fictional narratives set in real historical periods.
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which a fictitious plot takes place in the setting of particular real historical events. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other types of narrative, including theatre, opera, cinema, and television, as well as video games and graphic novels. An essential element of historical fiction is that it is set in the past and pays attention to the manners, social conditions and other details of the depicted period.
- field
- Literary genre
- known_for
- Fictitious plots set in real historical events
- earliest_known_examples
- Ancient Greek and Latin literature; oral and folk traditions
- foundational_19th_century_figures
- Sir Walter Scott, Honoré de Balzac, James Fenimore Cooper, Leo Tolstoy
Lore & Background
Historical fiction has a long tradition in world literature. Three of the Four Classics of Chinese novels were set in the distant past: Shi Nai'an's 14th-century Water Margin concerns 12th-century outlaws; Luo Guanzhong's 14th-century Romance of the Three Kingdoms concerns 3rd-century wars which ended the Han dynasty; Wu Cheng'en's 16th-century Journey to the West concerns the 7th-century Buddhist pilgrim Xuanzang. Classical Greek novelists were also 'very fond of writing novels about people and places of the past.' The Iliad has been described as historic fiction, since it treats historic events, although its genre is generally considered epic poetry.
Reader's Guide
Historical fiction as a contemporary Western literary genre has its foundations in the early-19th-century works of Sir Walter Scott and his contemporaries. Scott's Waverley novels created interest in Scottish history. The genre has sometimes encouraged movements of romantic nationalism, as seen in the works of Józef Ignacy Kraszewski on Polish history and Henryk Sienkiewicz's novels set in conflicts between Poles and Teutonic Knights, Cossacks, and Swedes. Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame fueled the movement to preserve Gothic architecture in France. The genre has also allowed authors such as Bolesław Prus in his novel Pharaoh to distance themselves from their own time to gain perspective on society or to escape the censor. Postmodern novelists such as John Barth and Thomas Pynchon mix historical characters and settings with invented history and fantasy. Definitions differ as to what constitutes a historical novel, with the Historical Novel Society defining it as works 'written at least fifty years after the events described,' while critic Sarah Johnson delineates such novels as 'set before the middle of the last [20th] century.'
Did You Know?
- The Historical Novel Society defines historical fiction as works 'written at least fifty years after the events described.'
- Victor Hugo's The Hunchback of Notre-Dame helped lead to the establishment of the Monuments historiques in France.
- Three of the Four Classics of Chinese novels are set in the distant past.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is historical fiction?
It is a literary genre in which invented plots unfold against the backdrop of actual historical events, demanding that the writer faithfully render the customs, social structures, and cultural details of the depicted era.
What makes historical fiction distinct from other genres?
Its defining requirement is that the narrative is anchored in a past period and must attend to the authentic manners, social conditions, and period-specific details of that setting, rather than using history as a loose backdrop.
Where does historical fiction originate?
Its earliest traces appear in ancient Greek and Latin literature as well as oral and folk traditions, though it solidified into a recognized literary genre during the nineteenth century.
Who are the foundational figures of historical fiction?
Sir Walter Scott, Honoré de Balzac, James Fenimore Cooper, and Leo Tolstoy are widely credited with establishing the core conventions of the genre in the nineteenth century.
Is historical fiction limited to novels?
No. While the term most often refers to literary fiction, it equally applies to theatre, opera, cinema, television, video games, and graphic novels that follow the same principle of fictional narratives rooted in real historical periods.
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