When Historical Fiction Becomes Problematic
In writing my book, I naturally did quite a bit of research. While much of it was reading historical books and articles about the war and politics, I also tried to incorporate books that were personal histories. Much to my dismay, because I wasn’t always paying careful attention, a few historical fiction pieces snuck their way in.
I know that there is a huge market for historical fiction, and I understand why writers are drawn to writing it, but I have to admit that it bothers me. I am not referring to histories from hundreds of years ago when facts weren’t always well documented, and therefore writers are forced to fill in the blanks. I’m talking about recent history, like anything in the 1900s.
The books I am thinking about specifically center around WWII, or really the Holocaust. What I can’t quite grasp is why would you want to read a story that’s “based on” instead of the actual story. Trust me when I say that the real stories are compelling enough, and they don’t need any embellishments. Even if a writer isn’t sure about a fact, or there is a piece of information they can’t find, there are ways around that. Writing something along the lines of, this might have happened, is usually sufficient. Julie Metz did a brilliant job in her book, Eva and Eve: A Search For My Mother’s Lost Childhood and What A War Left Behind, where she refers to photographs that exist and those that don’t, but maybe should.
One of the books that I found to be extremely disappointing was The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah. It was overly romanticized and at times it felt like it was written with the sole purpose of pulling on the heart strings. It’s as if it was pandering to people who either can’t handle reading about the truth or won’t read it unless it comes neatly wrapped up with a pretty bow.
I can’t help but wonder what that does to us as a society if we can’t read about something that actually happened, without it being “glossy”. Let’s take a look at the Holocaust. A recent study stated that about one-third of North American students thought the Holocaust was fabricated or exaggerated (there have been other many similar studies). As horrifying as I find that, I’m not really surprised. We don’t talk enough about human stories, so the facts and figures on their own don’t always have enough of an impact. With the rise of racism and antisemitism on the world stage, there is a lot of misinformation floating around.
I’ve been to Auschwitz twice now. The first time I went with family, and during a time when visitors were still allowed in on their own. I can’t think about it without getting emotional. The second time, I was with a tour group, and it was a day I will never forget; it has embedded itself into my soul. During the tour, I was only half listening to the guide. What caught my attention was a couple from the Middle East. I didn’t catch exactly where they were from, but early on, because of some of their questions, it became very obvious that they knew nothing about the Holocaust. The tour guide was amazing, and patiently answered all of their questions. As the tour progressed through the barracks, through the rooms filled with broken eyeglasses, children’s toys, and human hair, I watched the man get more and more somber. When we arrived at the gas chamber, the tour guide stopped us and said that in the room we were about to enter there was an eternal flame. He asked us, out of respect, to refrain from speaking or taking photographs. As we stepped inside, his partner pulled out her camera, and in one swift movement he motioned for her to put it away. I could see that he got it. I could see that this day would forever be a part of him. Throughout the day we were given the facts, there was nothing created or made up. This was real. There was no need for any enhancements.
Let’s take a look at the book, The Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne. The book has made millions, has been turned into a major motion picture, and it is sometimes used in schools to teach students about the Holocaust. The problem is that it’s not real, and in fact, it propagates a lot of misconceptions about what went on during the war. There has already been a lot written about this book, so I won’t get into all the details, but in short it’s an insult to the survivors of the Holocaust. When their stories should be highlighted, this book is making money on one untruth after another.
So now we have a generation of students (and I don’t for a moment believe that this is limited to one generation) who is learning historical facts from fake stories (while their nonfiction counterparts are being banned), and because these stories are emotionally compelling, they naturally continue to pick up similar books.
What is the writer thinking? Do they assume that their readers will know what’s real and what isn’t? Do they assume that their readers are also picking up nonfiction books to read more about the subject? Does the writer assume any responsibility when they are writing about a real event, and one that has dangerous detractors constantly denouncing it, or are they merely in charge of writing a book that sells?
Escapism is one thing (it’s very valid and I certainly have books that I read so that I can disappear from the world for a while) but it’s a big problem if we never learn the truth when it comes to important world events or worse, think the neatly told fabrications are the truth.
