ALL706 Critical Essay: Exploring Historical Fiction's Truths

This essay explores the concept of historical fiction and its ability to present truths about past events. It begins by defining historical fiction and its various genres, emphasizing that although fictional, it can reveal truths based on real incidents. The essay discusses how fiction can alter events to conv...Read More

Running head: HISTORICAL FICTION
Historical Fiction
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1HISTORICAL FICTION
When the concept of “Fiction” is used, it refers to an imaginary story set in a real
location, and comprising a number of characters in the novel itself. Fiction is divided into a
number of genres, and each of these genres is said to have a number of ways in which the
story and the characters of the fiction is used by the authors of the fictions. However, it is said
that although fiction are said to be imaginary, they might be based on some true incident or
event which might have happened in the past. In this sense, it is said fiction can reveal some
of the truths in it. Thus, it is on the basis of these truths that the authors can make up the
fiction part of the events. Thus can be mostly seen in the case of the historical fiction, be it
any kind of genre. Fiction can present the truth behind the events by presenting the story by
changing a little bit of the event itself. It is because of this fact that it is said by fiction can be
used to present the truth to the readers. Historical fictions are widely used for telling the story
of the world wars or the cold wars in the genre of thrillers or in the genre of romantic stories.
Thus, it is definitely true when it is said that the fiction can offer truths
The purpose of this prompt is to describe how fiction can be used to offer truths
and how can fiction be used to provide historical and past truths to the readers.
In today’s world, it is rightly said that the fiction can be successfully by the authors to
present the truth to the readers. This is because most writers of the present generation use the
hazy boundary between the fact and the fiction to write their stories and the novels. Thus, it
can be said that the authors do like to present the elements of truth in their stories and novels
which are considered to be works of fiction. There has been a keen interest between the
function between the fiction and the non-fiction and the ways in which both of these
functions together to present a story to the readers which comprises both the facts and the
fiction in it. Thus, it can be said in this matter that the writers of both the fiction and that of
the non-fiction are more interested in finding out the main reason behind how the media
portrays the fiction stories presenting the truth to the readers of the stories (Alston 2018). The

2HISTORICAL FICTION
main reason behind this is the writers want to find out the fact whether the readers of the
book or the stories or the events which are presented in the books and the stories. It is a
commonly known fact that the imagination and truth functions good together in good
literature story itself. This what the authors mean when they say the fact that just because a
story is fiction does not mean that it cannot contain the elements of truth in it. Fiction and
truth are said to be related to each other in various ways (Bokulich 2016). One such way is
the functions of both the facts and fictions with each other. In this case, it can be said that the
job of fiction is to feign, to shape and to create. Thus, it can be said that fiction creates the
events which takes place. The function of truth in this case is to form the original events
which inspires the fictitious side of the truth of the event. Another important fact is that the
fiction helps the readers to imagine the various things which they see in their own ways.
Human beings are said to be highly imaginative animals themselves. This can be said
especially to be true in the case of the children. The main reason for the human beings and
the children being so imaginative is the fact that that they have been created by God and have
been made imaginative in the similar manner he has created his human beings. It is because
of this reason that the children like story books which have pictures in them. Hence, it can be
said regarding this fact that the both the concept of the truth and the fiction have been added
in the pictures. This can be best explained in the form of the pictures which the truth and the
writings which serves the purpose of the fiction in the books (Boyd 2018). Thus, using this,
the children will be able to now a lot about the fiction and the truth of the stories which is
presented by the authors of the book. In addition to this, the concept of the truth and fiction
has also been used by the humans in the ancient times through the drawing of the images on
the sad itself. Thus, it can be said form this that the imagination is not only considered to be a
human gift, it is also an innovation in itself, which helps the individuals to connect he truth
and the fiction together.

3HISTORICAL FICTION
Therefore, from this fact, it can be concluded that the fiction indeed presents some
form of truth to the readers of the stories and the novels. This can also be said about The
Bible, which is the religious book for the Christians. However, at the same time, it can also
be said that The Holy Bible is also considered to be one of the pieces of the English literature,
as it consists of the messages of God. In this case, the fiction is the description of the events
surrounding God, the truth is the events which have happened lading to the creation of The
Holy Bible for the Christians (Boyd 2018). Thus, the concept of the fiction and the truth can
be seen happening side which leads to the authors to share the opinion that the fiction serves
the purpose of presenting truth to the readers of the fictions novels and short stories.
It is entirely possible for the fiction to present information related to the past rather
than providing history information for the readers. This can be made possible by the
historical stories about the ancient times which can be well understood because of the
presence of fiction. Fiction can play a very important role in helping to understand the
various ways in which historical and the information about the past is revealed. This is
mainly dine through the use of the historical books as well as the short stories of historical
nature. These historical and the past short stories and the novels presents to the readers
significant information about the information which had happened during that time in the
world. One instance is the outbreak of the Second World War in the year 1939 (Colvin 2015).
Thus, this historical information on the subject matter of the World War II are found from the
books and the documents which are presented online would help the readers to understand the
incidents which have happened during the time of the Second World War itself. All these
information can be included in the fiction by creating a story which would encompass the
events happening in that time of the historical incident in the world. Thus, if the readers are
talking about the historical incident of the Second World War, then they must pick all the
significant points of the particular incident of the Second World War so that the fiction can be

4HISTORICAL FICTION
well built on this truth itself. Having gathered all the important information relating to the
incident of the Second World War, it is important for the readers to build up the fiction part
of the story in relation to that particular incident (Currie 2016).
Once the fiction party is over, it is necessary for the imaginary part of the incident to
be combined with the actual part of the historical happenings. If the event picked is the
German invasion of Austria and Hungary, then all the important incidents regarding the event
needs to be combined with that of the fiction part. This would mean the setting up of man-
made characters, and places along with that of the original ones so that the fiction completely
matches with that of the original piece of the information. In this is done correctly, the
readers will get an incident that states the actions of the self-made characters in the actual
happening of the event itself (Hammersley 2016). Thus, it can be said regarding this fact that
the subject matter of the fiction presenting truths can be seen from the various ways in which
the readers pick up the parts of the historical incident on which they would like to make the
movie themselves.
In addition to the historical events, the concept of the fiction also presents the truth to
the people in a number of following ways. Firstly, it presents the accurate happenings of the
past events. These events can be considered to be of historical and of past importance. It is
because of these reasons that the past events are more carefully revealed to the fiction
themselves. It is also being seen in the films and the books that the past events play a very
important role in understanding the various ways in which the characters and the places
created in the short story and the novels. Thus, this can be used to determine the various ways
by which the concept of the past or the incidents can be well analysed to determine the fact
that their roles in the situation of the fiction and that of the tr8uty can be determined easily by
the bystanders in the society.

5HISTORICAL FICTION
Fiction and Truth connected to each other due to a number of different reason itself.
The first important reason is that without truth, there can be no fiction available. This can be
best explained through the examples of the historic events and how to incorporate such events
into the fiction part of the events itself. In this case, it can be said that the historic incident
such as the World War II and how the Germans began invading the countries of Austria-
Hungary and Romania is the fact itself. However, if the readers incorporate the concept of the
fiction into it, it should show the close connectivity between the fiction and the truth version
of the Second World War in the country of Europe itself. In addition to this, the truth part can
also be used by the readers to investigate further on their own the incident on which the
fiction had been written. Hence, it can be said that the truth and the fiction in the universe is
connected to each other through the subject matter of the historical evet and the way in which
the concept of the connection between the fiction and the reality can be made by the readers
themselves.
Another important point which needs to be mentioned in this case is the influence of
the media in making the people to understand about the close connection between the fiction
and that of reality in the 21st. It has been witnesses in the present times that the media has
been playing an important role in the motivation of the people of the societies. In this case,
the authors of the books had conducted an experiment to make sure that the fiction and truth
gets to be treated better than is done by then current media scenario itself (Jones 2018). This
is mainly because of the fact of imagination which continues to be associated with the fiction
and truth part of the cinema dekhben. The authors of various books was well aware about the
various controversies associate with the concept of the truth in the works and that of the
fictions in the works. That is why it is being said that fiction can tell a lot of truths for the
listeners and the readers of the mass media itself.

6HISTORICAL FICTION
The last point which needs to be mentioned in this case is the imagination ability of
the humans. It is being said that the humans are the most imaginative creatures on the world
itself. The imagination of the individuals can be best explained according to the belief that it
is in the story, the readers of the story either will have an experience or understand the
situation very well. Although the third member will see the light, they will have to deal with
the various difficulties and hard. Imagination of the people also plays and important role for
the readers because it invites the readers for enjoying the truth and the fiction of the subject
matter of the historical event (Leavy 2016). The imagination is considered to be the most
important party of the readers of the work because it is through the imagination of the
sources, the readers are able to find the solutions to the dilemma that they are in. In addition
to it, the purpose of stories to identify the truth behind it is not new.t is said that even Jesus
used to tell stories to his followers so that they could find the concrete truth in the stories of
Jesus.
It is said by the experts that just like a person is good or bad, the imaginations of the
persons can also be good or evil depending on the person who is controlling the imagination.
If the person controlling the imagination is good, it will be good. The imagination is
considered to be an important for the fiction and the truth and the fiction because it allows the
humans to realize the fact whether they would like something good or not (Munslow 2018).
However, it can be said in this matter that the imagination is considered to be very important
because it would allow the writing and the writer to do their jobs well. It is because of this
reason that the imagination plays an important role in the relation of the fiction to that of the
truth. It is this imagination which helps to make sure that the fiction is accurate with all the
details and the chronological placement of the required information that would help the
readers to understand the order of the occurrence of the events.

7HISTORICAL FICTION
Thus, form the above discussions, it can be said that the fiction indeed performs the
task of telling the readers about the truth itself. It is because of the truth obtained from the
fiction itself. Therefore, it is necessary for the readers of the article to make sure that they
obtain all information from the facts before they make the fiction (Nichols 2016). This will
help the facts and fiction to maintain balance in the novels and the short stories itself.
Therefore, it can be said that the imagination is indeed one of the essential requirements for
writing an accurate relationship between the fiction and the truth and how it affects the short
stories and novels.

8HISTORICAL FICTION
Reference List
Alston, W.P., 2018. A realist conception of truth. Cornell University Press.
Bokulich, A., 2016. Fiction as a vehicle for truth: Moving beyond the ontic conception. The
Monist, 99(3), pp.260-279.
Boyd, B., 2018. The evolution of stories: from mimesis to language, from fact to fiction.
Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews: Cognitive Science, 9(1), p.e1444.
Burroway, J., Stuckey-French, E. and Stuckey-French, N., 2019. Writing fiction: A guide to
narrative craft. University of Chicago Press.
Colvin, S., 2015. Why should criminology care about literary fiction? Literature, life
narratives and telling untellable stories. Punishment & Society, 17(2), pp.211-229.
Currie, G., 2016. Models as fictions, fictions as models. The Monist, 99(3), pp.296-310.
Halpern, D., 2015. Inside the nudge unit: How small changes can make a big difference.
Random House.
Hammersley, M., 2016. Reading ethnographic research. Routledge.
Hom, C. and May, R., 2018. Pejoratives as fiction. Bad words, pp.108-131.
Jones, K., 2018. The politics of credibility. In A Mind Of One's Own (pp. 154-176).
Routledge.
Leavy, P., 2016. Fiction as research practice: Short stories, novellas, and novels. Routledge.
Munslow, A., 2018. Narrative and history. Macmillan International Higher Education.
Nichols, B., 2016. Speaking truths with film: evidence, ethics, politics in documentary. Univ
of California Press.

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Seib, P., 2016. Beyond the front lines: How the news media cover a world shaped by war.
Springer.
Strevens, M., 2016. How idealizations provide understanding. In Explaining Understanding
(pp. 53-65). Routledge.