I just completed a fabulous class where we explored the intersection between historical fiction and “traditional” history. Not surprisingly, we did not come up with ironclad rules dividing the two, but the struggle to find clarity between the real and imagined was both exciting and worthwhile. And the reading list? What every history-loving graduate student in English hopes for:
Simon Schama, Dead Certainties/Unwarranted Speculations
Simon Baker, Ancient Rome
Marguerite Yourcenar, Memoirs of Hadrian
Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall
Thomas More: Utopia
Peter Ackroyd, The Life of Thomas More
Connie Willis: Doomsday Book
John Aberth, The Black Death
Jean Plaidy: The Captive Queen of Scots
John Guy, Queen of Scots: The True Life of Mary Stuart
Women’s Captivity Narratives
John Demos, The Unredeemed Captive
With a semester-long clash between history and fiction playing in my head, I was immediately captivated when I heard this NPR report on a new game, LA Noire. Another excellent merging of genres–game meets film, Los Angeles in the 1940s is brought to life, historical photographs and maps are married by advanced technology, period diners reign supreme! Now if I could just meander around the re-created 1940s Los Angeles and sightsee instead of solving murders…
For another novel approach to the city, consider a walking tour hosted by the Los Angeles Conservancy. You too could see the sights from the top of City Hall.
