The Daughter of Time is a fiction novel by Josephine Tey which is written in a very intriguing way. Tey writes about Richard III’s more notorious scandal in a less formulaic way by writing it as a detective story and approaches it from the 20th century rather than the 1500’s, during the reign of Richard. Tey instead, reflects on the history of Richard rather than addressing the situation from the original period. Tey is trying to convey that what we read in history books did not necessarily happen the way it is written. Sometimes historians fall into the trap of writing speculation and it becomes hard for them to discern the difference between rumors, and stories that are adopted as reality for many generations, and the truth. Another theme …show more content…
However, I believe that they should be studied because historians would be able to understand what advances people made back then and the culture the people lived in. Fiction, especially historical fiction includes actual history which means they should not be totally discredited. Those stories may exaggerate details or change the relationships between people, but they still contain credible information which could be more credible than actual primary or secondary sources. Historical fiction still has to remain true to historical record because they provide us with a glimpse of the past. An example that could be used is Hilary Mantels Wolf Hall which documents Thomas Cromwell’s rise to power during the period of Henry VIII. This book could provide historians a more detailed description of Cromwell’s rise to power since during Henry’s time, most historians and readers focus on Henry himself and his wives. Another book that could be used is Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley which was written in 1814 and described as the first historical fiction novel in history. The story took place in the time of the Jacobite uprising of 1745 and the character travels through England and to the low and highlands of Scotland. This story could help historians get a better idea of what it was like in that time through the eyes of …show more content…
But fiction allows humans to explore more abstract ideas and see the abstract human experiences such as love, hate, good, and evil. It also allows us to experience situations and places through the characters in the books. We relate to them and share their different emotions. As readers, we cannot always experience those feelings through non-fiction because non-fiction requires the content to be extremely loyal and accurate with history. However, historians have to be careful about fiction because fiction means that not all of it is true and the information that is in the books could be exaggerated and the characters’ thoughts are not really what they were thinking when an event happened. Fiction can spin webs of believability that can be more convincing than an actual historical account, which means depending on fiction completely is not
Jonathan Gottschall in his article,'' Why fiction is good for you ,'' he begins with question in his article is fiction good for us ? as it's known we spend most of time in our life by read novels , watching films , tv shows and other . Most of these things may affect us in a positive or negative way . Jonathan in his article show us that '' fiction seems to be more effective at changing beliefs than nonfiction, which is designed to persuade through argument and evidence through studies that show us when we read nonfiction, we read with our shields up. We are critical and skeptical. But when we are absorbed in a story, we drop our intellectual guard '' ( Gottschall 3) . He also states in conclusion,'' Reading narrative fiction allows one
When people read a story they form their own opinion. They form opinions on the characters, on what they think about the theme, and if they liked or disliked the book. An example would be when Guy Montag reads the Holy bible he can form his own opinion. Does he think the bible is horseshit and everything about it is terrible or does he think the messages are so pure he puts his faith into it, he could even be somewhere in between no one can know it is his opinion. The governments job was to figure out how to make everyone have the same opinion. They used technology of course. In The Life of the Mind and a Life of Meaning: Reflections on Fahrenheit 451 by Rodney A. Smolla, Smolla said that it first started with changing photography, then motion picture, radio and television. “Films and radios, magazines, books leveled down to a sort of pastepudding norm, do you follow me? Bradbury 54” The government started using technology to make everything bland and all the same. The old books did not follow this way of thinking. To make it hard to form an opinion on classic stories and history they sped everything up and cut out important details of the story or what happened in history. “Everything became condensed, with classics cut to fifteen minutes, then to two. Bradbury 54” Beatty then continues to talk about the fast-paced electronic images in movies moving too fast to fully grasp and understand. The English Professor Faber mentions that technology moves so fast and loud it is hard to think of anything else, therefore it must be
Richard III challenges notions of how history is created and presented. Shakespeare’s play depicts the infamous Richard, not only at odds with the other characters, but also fighting for a different interpretation of history. Richard and Margaret function as two characters opposed to each other with regard to history; Richard attempts to cover up the past as Margaret attempts to expose it. However, the creation and acceptance of history is largely predicated on more common figures. In particular the scrivener, a seemingly small side character, becomes an integral figure who creates the documentation of history, cementing the written version as a truth.
In her novel The Daughter of Time Josephine Tey looks at how history can be misconstrued through the more convenient reinterpretation of the person in power, and as such, can become part of our common understanding, not being true knowledge at all, but simply hearsay. In The Daughter of Time Josephine claims that 40 million school books can’t be wrong but then goes on to argue that the traditional view of Richard III as a power obsessed, blood thirsty monster is fiction made credible by Thomas More and given authenticity by William Shakespeare. Inspector Alan Grant looks into the murder of the princes in the tower out of boredom. Tey uses Grant to critique the way history is delivered to the public and the ability of historians to shape facts to present the argument they believe.
Although a novel is usually fictional most are written off real life experiences and feelings. Novels can enhance the feelings of what realism dumbs down to straight facts.
In Robert Penn Warren’s essay “Why Do We Read Fiction?” he has many reasons why humans are drawn to fiction. But which one is the most important? When we read fictional stories, they always “satisfy our deepest need—the need of feeling our life to be, in itself, significant” (Warren 174-175). Lord of the Flies and A Separate Peace are two very good examples of books that, when we read them, make us feel significant. When people see how darkness takes over mankind, we feel like we would never stoop to that level when put into a situation.
Most fiction books can demonstrate lessons and allow people to relate to the characters’ problems and situations to their own. For example, Aesop’s Fables story, The Ant and the Grasshopper, directly demonstrates that we simply cannot have fun all the time. Durring the summer a lazy grasshopper rests and lounges around while the ants work hard to gather and store food for winter. As winter came the grasshopper had nothing to eat and begged the ants for food and shelter. In most fiction stories the author adds a lesson for the readers to receive and comprehend . However, not all fiction has a lesson that can be learned. Some stories might have situations that the readers can relate to . I was adopted into a loving family and can relate to Matthias since he was adopted into the Abbey. Since reading fiction benefits as teaching life lessons it is a good use of
I believe that reading non-fiction gives the reader more of a personal feel. There were millions of slaves that were transported across the Atlantic. In Reversing Sail, it gives you the straight facts that they know about the people, the counties and routes that were taken. Most people would find it boring when reading about the straight facts and information as if they were reading from an Encyclopedia. I believe that reading non-fiction is great to a point, it is better to link it with a personal or fictional story.
I've heard it said that the goal of "serious literature" is to illuminate the human condition. If that is the case, the error of serious literature is that it is far too simple-minded and attempts to illuminate the human condition by portraying it directly. The great strength of myth, legend and their modern-day successor trashy genre fiction is that they don't just show us the human condition, but interpret, highlight and contrast it by showing us the larger than life symbols. The courage and romance that allows us to survive and to savor daily life are the core of myth and genre. There they are made larger than life and inspire us to aspire to a greatness that goes beyond simple daily experience.
Blurring the boundaries between Fiction and Non-Fiction has always been a great way for authors to make their points, yield their arguments, and to keep interest. Some may even be inclined to believe that there is not a definite boundary between the areas of fiction and non-fiction. Fiction is often used throughout non-fiction writings as more of a point of view than a character in itself. This voice is not exactly a character in the text, but it still exercises an attitude toward the material to help control the writing.
Can history books be trusted? Many textbooks just skim the surface or contain author bias.Relying on one source of information can be risky.The story of Christopher Columbus is just specific example.
...n be explained, it can be appreciated; however, it takes getting absorbed into a story for a real connection to be established. I don't think the majority of the people who claim that movies are better than their novel counterparts have ever been absorbed into a novel. It's interesting to think that 200 years ago, literacy rates were a fraction of what they are now. It has only been in the last century where large amounts of intelligent, critical thinkers have been able to examine literature in a way that only certain members of the aristocracy could a few centuries ago. In this context, literature has never been more relevant.
Literature also gives us glimpses of much earlier ages. These glimpses take our imaginations back to the roots of our culture, in some instances. The study of Literature, through our history, enhances our understanding of our modern world.
Literature has had a major impact on society, and, also our history. Literature has reformed and shaped civilizations, changed political systems, and has exposed injustices (3). Our literature has changed and developed as we have, keeping up with our society. “...literature is crucial for the advancement of society (3).” With literary works, we can convince others to view things a certain way, share our opinions, and more. Literature is greatly intertwined with our society and everyday lives, and they would not be the same without it. Literature plays an irreplaceable role in our
Are there limits in what a novel can do and what it should not attempt to do? Miriam Wallraven states that fiction is fundamental for reconstructing history. (Cf. Wallraven 144) This does, however, not imply that fiction should be the only way to process the past. While some historians try to hold on to their supposedly unique feature of authenticity, many historians show a significant amount of self-reflexivity. Readers are invited to witness the process of writing history. (Cf. Neumann 23) This does, however, not imply that they have turned towards fiction, leaving historical documentation behind. On the contrary they enable the continuing existence of historical documentation. Contemporary societies depend on the processing of the past and on history, even if the evidence consists of subjective memories about past events, as Southgate puts it. (Cf. Southgate 73) It would not be sufficient to reduce history to fictional texts, leaving behind the aim to look back on and reappraise historical events. It should not be the aim of literature to nullify historians’ work of documenting the past, instead a revolutionization of their approaches should be pursued. It should be acknowledged that other forms of processing the past are also valid and in fact essential to documenting the nations past. According to Kate Darian-Smith it is not about dismissing history as an old fashioned concept, labelling it as irrelevant. Instead