Historical Fictionistas discussion

Maybe a misleading title, but I've run into this a lot recently, especially with ancient world novels. There are many sides to a story, and that holds true for history as well...

Thus my love for a good underdog tale, one that tells history from the perspective of the vanquished hero. There's a line from Braveheart I like to quote that explains the concept perfectly:

"I shall tell you the tale of William Wallace. Historians will say I am a liar, but history is written by those who hang heroes."

The point being that sometimes, when looking at history from a different perspective, the entire era is brought to life in new ways. I especially feel this when reading a female POV in ancient landscapes - worlds traditionally dominated by war and the male arena. It provides a nuanced depth to an era that effectively provides an "alternative" read on history.

Do you agree? And if so, which books do you think best rise to that challenge?

Coincidentally, I think that last month's Featured Author group read The Serpent and the Pearl fits. It's narrated by three "side characters" if you will, and describes Rodrigo Borgia's election to Pope and other events of the time.

Also, I'm going to move this to the Recommendations folder. :)

History is certainly written by the victors. But I'm not sure if you're talking about novels that take the traditional "victors" and make them antagonists, or novels about big historical events told from the point of view of lesser known figures or fictional characters. Or both?

Aria, I loved The Red Tent for this reason -- as the idea of one god is emerging, we see this time through the eyes of women who were very tied to mother earth and their gods. Hearing Joseph's story told from a female's POV was awesome after all my catholic school years! A non-HF example would be Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West, flipping the Wizard of Oz story so that it's told from the wicked witches' POV, with plenty of adult political undertones.

I was blown away by The Mists of Avalon when I first read it, for the same reason. It's told by Morgan Le Fay who is usually the villain in Arthurian legend.

Today on a state test we had to read an article about the Titanic "from the iceberg's point of view" then write an essay about that and how it related to the point of view of another article about apes (how icebergs and apes relate, I have no idea) - but, the point is, it was a different point of view on 'history'. So... yah.

Shelley wrote: "Aria, I loved The Red Tent for this reason -- ...A non-HF example would be Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West"

Ohhh, good examples! I love Wicked for precisely the point that it opens your mind to view OZ in a completely different way. So much of story is subjective to what your main character wants and feels. And lately, the anti-hero, the person who behaves badly but has the ability to turn back to good, seems more compelling to me.

Aria wrote: ."I shall tell you the tale of William Wallace. Historians will say I am a liar, but history is written by those who hang heroes.""
I love this quote. It is so true. Likewise, until fairly recently, women were reported upon by men, wars were reported upon by men, medical matters were reported upon by men. And I'm sure there are other examples that I'm missing.

While not an historical fiction I think The Gospel of Loki also fits in this group.

Rabbit Hole is a perfect fit to this inquiry.