In every good lie is a grain of truth. So is the case for historical fiction. Let's look at why we should study it...
Did you know that Uhtred of Bebbanburgh was responsible for ensuring the existence of Anglo-Saxon England in the 800’s CE?
Well Bernard Cornwell sure did.
Or didn’t. Because Uhtred did not exist (or at least the specific Uhtred of Bernard Cornwell’s stories did not, I believe he has spoken before about having a similar distant ancestor). Instead, he has been writing a series of books set in Anglo-Saxon England during the Great Heathen Army and beyond. The events are broadly accurate where possible and well researched, even if the protagonist isn't real.
Does the fact that it is fiction mean that we should reject any potential lessons in every word written down in that fantastic Last Kingdom series? Not at all.
Just like everything else in history, there is always something to learn.
I’m going to say that again.
There is always something to learn.
In Edexcel’s GCSE history spec, there are two occasions when students have to answer a source or interpretation-based question, and the format of the question is ‘How useful is……… to ……….’?
To answer this question fully, the poor, stressed students will need to tackle not only the content of the question, but also the context. Will a speech from Goebbels about how Jews are destroying Germany be biased or contain falsehoods? Absolutely it will (and if you think otherwise, please see a therapist asap!). It will also however give you a good opinion of how the Nazi ideology of the 1930’s was shared or spread to the masses in Germany.
We can apply this same standard to historical fiction. Saving Private Ryan is a prime example of how to best convey the Normandy beach landings. Does that mean students will come away insisting that poor Matt Damon got stuck deep behind enemy lines back in 1944? Almost certainly not. But there are strong nuggets of truth and information in historical fiction. The level of value might vary from project to project, but it is still useful.
So how can this apply to the classroom?
Well, all historical fiction is an interpretation of History – source and interpretation analysis is a fantastic second order concept that features prominently in the History curriculum. It would be a dry curriculum indeed however if every source was a Samuel Pepys diary entry, or a snapshot of the Bayeux Tapestry only.
Modern media, in all forms really, can be a phenomenal tool to visualise a world that thankfully no longer exists. By weaving fictional stories into the narrative, modern authors, poets or filmmakers are creating that personal connection, that entices and draws in the audience. We can allow students to get absorbed by these connections, and highlight the information as it appears to find the value – or even have the students form a judgement on how accurate something appears to be based on what factual sources present.
Let’s look at an example.
In a series of lessons, you have been teaching students about the first world war. You have studied militarism, alliances, key battles, the conditions of the soil, the geopolitical situation in Europe that led the great powers to folly. Your students all understand the numbers, they get the weaknesses of the treaty of Versailles, and they might even have found an ancestor who fought or died in the war.
But they still can’t grasp the grit, the grime. They won’t understand how navigation of complex mazes deep in the ground became a forced second nature. They won’t be able to conceive the way crouching as you walk becomes second nature. They won’t fundamentally empathise with the experiences of those involved. Of course they won’t – how could you expect them to; it’s so far removed from their own life experiences that it might as well all be fiction anyway.
Well, instead of digging holes in the dirt outside and pouring water on their heads, why not show them the opening clip of 1917, where the soldiers engage in a monologue while they walk deeper into the trench network.
There are a couple of tasks you could do to engage students in the ‘historical’ part of ‘historical fiction’.
- Targeted questions, based on what appears at certain points of the video (E.g. how are the sides of the trench supported?)
- Pause the video and verbally or with white boards have students predict what they will see next, based on previous work on the trench layout system.
- Make a mood board as they watch, or write key emotive language that springs to mind as they watch, ensuring they focus on the emotional experience of what they are seeing instead of specific facts.
After the video, you could engage in deeper questions about the clothing worn, or the presentation of the signposting for soldiers (or the one-way system the protagonists ignore).
Alternatively, one thing that is always fun to do if the students are advanced enough is to nit-pick these scenes. What did they get wrong? What could they have shown instead. Allow the students to review them and argue (politely!) with each other about the accuracy shown. Hell, if Lord of the Rings superfans can overly analyse the lore inaccuracies between Tolkien's books and the movies, why can’t our classes do it between real life naval life and Master and Commander?
So think about 1917 again. Is it a piece of fiction? Yes. It gives a story that didn't happen, with characters that are not real. But does that mean the trench layouts weren’t painstakingly recreated? Or does it mean that the casualty clearing stations shown hastily arranged at the end aren't an accurate reflection of how they would have been in the chaos of war? Do the guns fire as they should, or does the tense horror of diving into enemy dugouts replicate real life experiences? We know the answers are yes.
At the end of the day, analysing sources can be difficult for students of any age group. If using historical fiction in your work helps to inspire a few more students, or helps a theme ‘click’ for someone, then it can only be a net positive; just as long as you clearly label that it is a piece of fiction first, and signpost the historical aspect you are looking at - and really, that is scarcely different than picking specific political cartoons that best convey the message you want to show.
So historical fiction, let's use it. Because at the end of the day, a bit of entertainment is always good, and doubly so if we can learn from it.