THE HISTORICAL TRUTH
I’VE always wanted to do a post on true literary truth, that is non-fiction, or what one could call “historical truth.” In this time of fake news, docu-adverts, “spinning the truth,” and, within the contemporary literary world, paid “book reviews,” it is pleasantly relieving to encounter a purely historical, non-fiction work. An enlightenment that one need not question. Ah, but is that so?
First, I am reminded in a history class being told that history is written by the victor. Second, another historical scholar mentioned to me the importance of remembering that memory and hindsight together are, at best, 50-50. Remember the exercise where the first person in a series is told a “secret” only to find the secret totally changed by the time the last person in the series passes it on? Finally, there’s the Survivor Truism. If something happens, those who survive typically minimize, or if they’re inclined to hubris, exaggerate the event, while those most affected, namely those who experienced the brunt of the event and died, aren’t there to add their corrections.
So, in this day of popular “historical novels,” just what is it that readers take away? To be extra cautious of “believing” anything read? I would hope so, but my experience is the opposite. It is easier to wholly believe something fictitous that’s grounded in truth, especially if presented in an appealing way. Don’t believe me ask the CIA. And what are the classic appeals? As old as ancient Greece, they include pathos (emotional appeal); ethos (appeal to the readers’ ethical, moral or cultural norms of the day); keiros (appeal to or based on popularity) and numos (appeal to law). Any of these appeals (which in and of themselves have no absolute “truth value”) ensure an intriguing read, one that if enlivening and well written will seem as “true” as truth itself. So what DO readers of historical non-fiction or fiction take away? Well, at best, an interesting though requisitely distorted view of a “real” event or story.
One of the great tasks in life is to construct one’s own life story, pruning out what we believe to be uninteresting or distasteful, incorporating the more exciting parts with most appeal. That’s what’s most “real” in our otherwise truly strangely twisted world. My recent book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, is a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths is set in an erotic future where every pleasure is available…if one can but afford it. The ultimate question then is: Can true love or even sanity be found in such a world — a world not all that unlike our contemporary world, I might add?
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold, while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way though, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” So, why not put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
First, I am reminded in a history class being told that history is written by the victor. Second, another historical scholar mentioned to me the importance of remembering that memory and hindsight together are, at best, 50-50. Remember the exercise where the first person in a series is told a “secret” only to find the secret totally changed by the time the last person in the series passes it on? Finally, there’s the Survivor Truism. If something happens, those who survive typically minimize, or if they’re inclined to hubris, exaggerate the event, while those most affected, namely those who experienced the brunt of the event and died, aren’t there to add their corrections.
So, in this day of popular “historical novels,” just what is it that readers take away? To be extra cautious of “believing” anything read? I would hope so, but my experience is the opposite. It is easier to wholly believe something fictitous that’s grounded in truth, especially if presented in an appealing way. Don’t believe me ask the CIA. And what are the classic appeals? As old as ancient Greece, they include pathos (emotional appeal); ethos (appeal to the readers’ ethical, moral or cultural norms of the day); keiros (appeal to or based on popularity) and numos (appeal to law). Any of these appeals (which in and of themselves have no absolute “truth value”) ensure an intriguing read, one that if enlivening and well written will seem as “true” as truth itself. So what DO readers of historical non-fiction or fiction take away? Well, at best, an interesting though requisitely distorted view of a “real” event or story.
One of the great tasks in life is to construct one’s own life story, pruning out what we believe to be uninteresting or distasteful, incorporating the more exciting parts with most appeal. That’s what’s most “real” in our otherwise truly strangely twisted world. My recent book, THE EDGE OF MADNESS (Aignos 2020) by Raymond Gaynor, is a love triangle and a coming-of-age story of three youths is set in an erotic future where every pleasure is available…if one can but afford it. The ultimate question then is: Can true love or even sanity be found in such a world — a world not all that unlike our contemporary world, I might add?
The Edge of Madness
https://www.amazon.com/dp/0999693859
This story will make some excited about what the future may hold, while others may recoil at a world of such extremes. Either way though, it’s an engaging ride in a world where, for example, teachers and students appear holographically together in instructional classrooms while remaining safely at home, begging the question of what, if anything, in this future world is “real.” So, why not put on your CandyShades, breathe in a little ContraSpray and settle back for a T-rip like never before.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Je6CC...
No comments have been added yet.
