Fictionalized biography
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The Fictional Biography/Biographical Novel
I have frequently come across a hybrid beast in the historical fiction woods that calls itself a biographical novel. That is, it is essentially the story of a real person’s life, but it has been, to one extent or another, fictionalized. Permit me—not as a history professional but as a reader — to scream aloud in pain.
So what’s the problem? Is it historicity?
My problem is not the reality-vs-fiction line. Very few authors openly deform a person’s known life. The fictional element generally lies in putting thoughts in the protagonist’s head, words in their mouth. The author creates dialog where we cannot know what was said. This is legitimate. A good example of doing this successfully is any of Jeff Shaara’s books about the Civil War. They are so accurate and full of well-documented detail that a reader comes away having learned an enormous amount about the War. Yet they are fiction.
But they are not biographies. They chronicle a protagonist responding to a particular moment in his life.
Obviously, the writer of a biography wants her book to be just as compelling, as humanizing as fiction. In fact, that may be the reason authors use the format “fictional biography” rather than simply “biography.” It makes more interesting read
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As most of you know by now, I love and adore historical fiction. It&#;s my preferred genre, although I will have a go at most things if it&#;s well-written, has an interesting premise or I&#;m in the mood. However my go-to, when I need a guaranteed read, a read I can simply fall into with comfort and ease, will always be historical fiction.
Historical fiction is a novel where an author sets their book in a period of time before their own and populates it with fictional characters (think Thomas Keneally, Geraldine Brooks, James A. Michener). To refine this even further, you could include authors who write about the immediate past. A time they may have lived through themselves or perhaps their grandparents lived through, providing a personal perspective to the historical context (think Tolstoy, Zola, Harper Lee).
In and around this are books that might be classified as alternate histories (think The Man in the High Castle or Stephen King&#;s 11/22/63 or George Orwell&#;s ) where the author plays with what might have happened if just one event changed.
AH is a genre of speculative fiction consisting of stories in which one or more historical events occur differently. These stories usually contain &#;what if&#; scenarios at crucial points in history and present
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Biographical novel
Novel containing a invented account stand for a person's life
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