First things first, I am hoping to have the first essay concerning the purpose and benefits of the fantasy and science-fiction genres finished and posted within a couple days. After that I may not be as productive on the blog for some time, perhaps even being limited to a single full essay per month. There are two large scholarships that I really should be applying for and they will occupy a large portion of my non-course work or teaching related time until their completion. This is a necessary divergence from the plan as monetarily either one of these scholarships will allow me to pursue my Masters without the stresses of finance, at least until such a time as this blog and my own writings are able to generate some form of revenue. That being said I am looking at the potentialities of monetizing this blog through a variety of means but no plans are yet in place to do so. To compensate for the lack of essays I will be posting I will be putting together some random musings on some minor little topics that have jumped into my mind. With the various pieces I currently have some work done their may be a change in place for some of them to be turned into these unguided and unpolished musings that will then, at a later date, be turned into full fledged essays on the topics. Such musings may include thoughts on the Authorial Intent vs Death of the Author debate, musings on linguistics or even some general world building concepts I have for my own stories and the thoughts basic thought process behind design choices.
Anyways, this first musing was brought on as I was preparing for my courses for this winter term.
Starting this coming Monday I will be working on my coursework for my ancient Greek language course and the subject of our translations will be Herodotus’ Histories. This got me thinking about how authors will integrate written histories into their fictions and how these histories are presented to the readers. Whenever I read these small excerpts from some history book that an author has added to their (predominantly) fantasy world they read very much like our modern histories and less like a text written by some writer from our own past. I am thinking the most well known examples of this would be Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series and George R. R. Martins’ A Song of Ice and Fire. There may be some among you who are not aware of the difference in the manner in which histories are written between our modern histories and the histories written by those over a couple hundred years past. The concept of history as it exists currently is as a presentation of factual evidence and proofs telling the reader of the people and circumstances of some event or time period. They are presented as an unbiased and true telling. I am not going to argue here how the modern histories are in fact not unbiased and only partially true as there will always and forever be at least some bias in a telling. What I will tell you is that the ancient histories are unashamedly biased, the purpose of the history is to tell a particular story, a narrative surrounding the events and people. Thucydides even tells us in his history of the Peloponnesian war that his recorded speeches are fabricated to suit the narrative he is presenting. He declares that “it was in all cases difficult to carry them word for word in one’s memory, so my habit has been to make the speakers say what was in my opinion demanded of them by the various occasions, of course adhering as closely as possible to the general sense of what they really said.” He insists that he is presenting an accurate sense, an overall impression, but the factual representations are not guaranteed. Herodotus very similarly talks about his “researches” (ἱστορίης, or histories, is ancient greek for a learning by inquiry. In other words research) being talking to a variety of sources about the topics he was studying and compiling for the express purpose being “that things done by man not be forgotten in time, and that great and marvelous deeds, some displayed by the Hellenes, some by the barbarians, not lose their glory, including among others what was the cause of their waging war on each other.” However his method is to portray certain events in short descriptions on what his sources said happened then to explain what he thought happened, giving his predominantly Greek-centric worldview into focus and basing his interpretations of his researches on the Greek culture he lived in.
Some authors will also present histories within their worlds through the medium of journals, or diaries, like Brandon in Mistborn. Diaries as a primary source for historians are incredibly useful, they provide a direct insight into the mindset of an individual during a time period, event, etc. that creates a human connection for the historian. But these also need to be taken and read with a dose of skepticism as they are an individuals personal experiences and reactions. Each individual will have their own innate biases that will affect how they interpret the events they are experiencing. So journals are definitely a potentially interesting addition to any authors world and story but on their own I always find them lacking as an authoritative source.
Ultimately I find it rather refreshing when an author has inserted written histories into their narrative, but when there are conflicting histories presented it presents a far more realistic setting that has been living and breathing for ages before the current scope of the story. George R. R. Martin does this from time to time in A Song of Ice and Fire, he will have characters refer to one piece of writing within the setting while they are currently reading another piece. The comparisons between the two texts that are presented expand on the world building, provide insight into character motivations. If an author presents only a single source on the history of their world, it can easily read as merely exposition or as a hamfisted use of foreshadowing.
Anyways, all the best to you all. I hope you have found these musings interesting and useful. Keep reading.
DPJ Miles
Gadfly Fiction 