Female portrait in historical novels

How do you describe a woman who lived during the middle ages, the renaissance or almost any time period before the 20th century? Often there are no descriptions of their life, their way of living, what they looked like and definitely no written words from them, most of them time not even a signature. The exception would be monarchs and noble women, but they do not belong to the majority.

This is what gets interesting when authors of historical novels try to describe these women. Can they make it real enough for us to believe them? Or do they simply just take the easy way out and exclude them from their stories. The Swedish writer Agneta Pleijel has made one approach to the subject. In her book, The queen’s surgeon, she simply says I don’t know, but perhaps it was like this. She does it so well and make it fit into the story so well that you agree with her.

There are other approaches to this problem, some writers simply leave out the women and let them be merely background props. This however, I believe is to cheat the reader of half the story. But then again, it is called fiction for a reason.
Josefine

My recommendations: The Orange Girl by Lena Kallenberg

The art of reading more then one book at the same time

I have noticed that there are two kinds of bookworms. There is the ones reading one book from cover to cover before starting on a new. Then there are those, like me, who has any various numbers of books started at the same time. For example, I currently read an autobiography, an historical non-fiction, a collection of feminist essays and listen to a fiction CD book and of course the random magazines that I subscribe to.
To me it depends on what kind of mood I am in. It requires a special mood to follow in the sometimes difficult arguments in the essay collection. On the other hand, I need the CD book when I bike to work at six in the morning and want something that does not require full brain activity. There are different times for different books.

I can’t understand those people who only read one book at the time. I t would take me too long to do that. What if I am not in the right mood, then what would I do? Not read? But I have to admit that sometime I admire those people who read only one book at the time, it requires a determination to finish what you started, which can be helpful in other aspects of life as well.
Josefine

My recommendations: Wild swans by Jung Chang

Philippa Gregory webcast II

This past Sunday I watched a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It was an interesting way to present an author and more writers should try the same. It gives a whole new dimension to the worldwide tour. At the moment I have no statistics of how many actually watched the web cast, but for those who attended, it was certainly a great event.
Gregory gave a short introduction and then she opened up to the floor to questions from the audience in the studio as well as the audience on the web. The questions ranged anywhere from the craft of writing, to the specific of one book to which of her characters she would have been if she lived in Tudor England.

There were many questions about the upcoming films made from two of her books. In February The Other Boleyn Girl will have premiere and next autumn The queens fool will be released.

If you have ever read her books you notice that most of her characters are strong women, during times when women had no rights. You notice the commitment Gregory has for these kinds of characters. When she got the questions of who she would want to be in a past life, she determinedly said that she would not want to be born in any time period before the 1920s when women got the right to vote. If she had to choose one of her characters she would have picked Henry VIII during his best days in The constant Princess when he, young and handsome was at the height of his career.

Gregory is like her books, very sympathetic and I can’t wait for her newest books and the film to be released in Sweden.
Josefine

My recommendations: A respectable trade by Philippa Gregory.

Philippa Gregory web cast

As you might have noticed I have a big interest in history. I read anything I can get my hands on, historical novels and historical non-fiction alike. When I look through my booklist more than half of the books have something to do with history. One of the newest authors, writing historical fiction, I have discovered is Philippa Gregory. She has written a lot about the history of England, and especially the Tudor time (16th and early 17th century). She is a talented writer with an interest for what happens around a monarch in their immediate court. It is difficult to find something I do not like about her books, I read them fast and can hardly wait for her newest books The Boleyn Inheritance and The Other Queen to be released in Swedish.
This Sunday, September 16, at 19:00 GMT, you can watch a live web cast of Philippa Gregory. It is a web cast of Philippa Gregory, talking to an audience in London. If you are interested in Philippa Gregory, historical novels, or writing in general, this is an opportunity you can’t miss.
As a warm up for the big event I am currently reading A respectable Trade, one of her early books, published in 1995.
Josefine

My recommendations: The queens fool by Philippa Gregory

The value of historical novels in teaching history

Using historical fiction novels when teaching history was an ongoing discussion in my classes at the university. In one class my professor used historical fiction in his teaching and encouraged us to read it. Another professor asked us to not pick one for our book report, since he was not going to approve it.
For me the topic is a double edge sword. I have a strong belief in people reading historical novels actually can learn something. Most important, it might spark an interest in the reader to actually study more about the period. In introduction classes a historical novel might just help more than it breaks. On the other hand I can also see the faults in historical novels, which like any other book can be badly written and researched, which then leads to blatantly wrong descriptions of the period. If then the reader doesn’t bother to look up the facts, this will create a problem.

When I was younger, I learned much about Swedish history through the novels by the Swedish author Olov Svedelid. This helped me in class because many of topics we learned about there, I was already somewhat familiar with. A situation like this can give a boost to any student in the 5th grade.
Nowadays, I like to read Philippa Gregory’s stories about Tudor England, different stories about World War II and the books by Marek Halter (whom I wrote about in my last post) purely for their entertainment. These are books of fiction and I now that there are some inaccuracies in their books. Mostly about personalities or when they include fictional characters as well as real people and events. That is why it is fiction.
I believe that as long as you have a clear understanding of the differences of fiction and non-fiction, go ahead enjoy some of the many great historical novels there is out there. Enjoy them for their writing and storytelling and then pickup a non-fiction book which is well researched and accurate to study the period.
Josefine

My recommendation: Girl with a pearl earring by Tracy Chevalier. The book NOT the movie.

The book of Abraham

Among my more recent read authors, I have found a really good storyteller in Marek Halter. I read his book about his ancestors The book of Abraham, recently and even though it was a thick book (+900 pages), it kept me captivated until the end. It is a story told through the men in his family living over the centuries in Europe and Northern Africa. The story begins with the writer Abraham who, with his two sons, escapes the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE by the Romans after his wife is killed. They end up settling down in Alexandria, Egypt where his sons grow up and starts families of their own. To remember what they have been through and to record the family history as refugees in a faraway country, Abraham starts writing a family history on a scroll of parchment, something that will continue to follow the family over the centuries until the end of World War II when the author is grown.
Combining fact with fiction, Halter paints a remarkable story that shows you the destiny of the Jewish people in Europe and northern Africa over the centuries. Halter combines the saga with writings of his own, which tells us about the adventures he made trying to retrace the path of his family over the centuries.
This is a well-written book, which capture your mind. He intertwines historical events and persons in his story but without overshadowing the true purpose of the book, telling the life of his family.

With the lasting impression he left on me with his first book, I am thrilled to start his new trilogy, called Canaan trilogy, about the women of the bible. The first one is a free adaptation of the Bible story about Sarah the wife of Abraham. The two books to complete the trilogy are called Lilah and Zipporah, two books I have yet to purchase as I am waiting for them to be translated into Swedish.
This topic has led me in to the discussion about using historical novels in history classes and how it affects what people learn and think about history, but this I will discuss in my next post. Until then, please feel free to give your own comments on the topic or anything else that interest you.
Josefine

My recommendation: The book of Abraham. Marek Halter