> You're saying a book set in the past that's not
idealized isn't an
> historical? Let's say I write a novel set in 1945
and I do my best to
> make it an accurate representation of the times,
without any
> idealization or distortion -- what have I written if
not an historical?
I suspect it would not be popular with readers of
historicals. And the definitions I am interested in are those
that have meaning for readers. It might be technically a
historical (there are many definitions) but historical
readers seem to read for particular historical periods, not
just any year.
They read Regency, Tudor, Civil War, Ancient Rome, Victorian,
Colonial America, etc. They don't read 1865 or 1236.
It is similar to those who prefer to restrict "hardboiled" to
a particular historical period (1930-1950?), not a world view
that can be applied to a work written in any period.
Sharon
-- Sharon Villines, Editor MacGuffin Guide to Detective Fiction, http://www.macguffin.net MacGuffinL, History & Criticism of Detective Fiction http://www.onelist.com/subscribe.cgi/MacGuffinL
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