St . John's
HISTORICALFICTI ONAS ARESOURCE INSOC I ALSTUDI ES EDUCATION
by
@ MargaretWrig ley. B.A••B.A.(Ed.)
AThesis submitted inparti al fulfi llment ofthe requtrement sforthe degreeof
Kasterof Education
DepartmentofCurriculumand Ins tr ucti on MemorialUniv e rsityof Newfou ndl and
February 19B3
Ilewfoundland
ABSTRACT
The outcomeof thisstudywasthe producti onof ahandbook designed
~,)fos t er and facilitate the us e ofchildren 'shistoricalfiction of hi gh qualityas a resource 1nsocia l st udie seducatio n. The'l ftera ture onhi s t ori cal fictionwas reviewed and alist of criteriaof excellence drawnupto ef d the selectionofbooks forthe handbook. The lite r a t ure onsocial studiesindi c a t ed{Jneedforthehan dbook as a resultofthe curr ent changes inthenature and emp hasisofmany socialstudies pr ogr ams, whi l ethelite r at ure on the na ture of the relations hip bet ween historica l fic ti on andsocialstudiesst ro nglysupported thenot i on of us i ng the former as a resource inteachi ng thelatte r . Apro cedur e for creating the handbook was establ is hed andfol lowedand theres ultin g pieceof work introduces to teachers twenty-fivebooks ofhistorica l fiction. It pres- ents a rationale for the practice ofcombi ning lite r a tu re and socialstudies andthengives extensive informat ion about eachbookincl udi ng readability leve l . themes. topics.•concepts. peri ods . placesandpeople towhi c hit per-tatns, a detailedannotation.and anexcerpt whi c hthe teacher can use to enticestudentsto read the whole book. lite r at ur e suggested in the handbook isappropria t efor gradesfour throughtwelve .
ACKNOWLEOGEloIENTS
Iwis " to express mydeepest apprec ia tion to thosepeopl e whohave assistedmeinthe producti onof thisst udy.
Isincerelythank Dr.Ll oyd Brown,mySupervi sor,for his unfai lingassistancethr ough readingafterreading andfor the benefits ofhi sti me, patience andwisdom.
Iamgratefu lto Dr.G.Fizzard, Dr.F.G. Jone s , and Professo r M.A.Brewsterofthe EducationFacultyof MemorialUniver sitywho advisedmeon thesocial studiesasp ect s ofthis st Udy and assisted me in clarifyingand refini ngmy ideas .
Acknowledgement mustbe made of the financi al suppOrtI rece ived throug h the award of the A.G.Ha t che rSc hola rshipwhic h faci l- ita tedmy pursuit of graduate studie s in education on a full -time bas is.
Fina lly , thanksto myhusband Davi d whoseencouragement and house -husba ndl y skills havebeeninvaluableto me during this project.
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TABLEOF CONTENTS
Page PART I: THESTUDY
CHAPTER
1 NATUREOF THESTUDy•••• •• • • ••••••••••••••••••••• • •••••• • •••••••••
Jnt.rcduct ion•••••• •.••• ••••••••.•• •••• •••••••• •••••• • ••••••• • ••
Purpose•.••• •• ••••• •• ••••••• •• ••• • •••••••• • •••• ••••..•• • •••••••
Rationale••••••••••••••• •.••••••••• ••• • ••• •••••• •••••• • .• • ••• .•
Scope... .. . ... .. ... ..•••••••••••••••• ••• •• •• ••••••••••• •••• •• 10 Li mit a ti ons•••••••••.•••••• •• ••••• • •• •.••••••••.• .• •••• •• ••. ••• 11 Sign ificance.. .. ... .. .. ....•• •• • • • •••••• •••• • ••• ••••••• ••.•• 11 Design •••• ••••••... • •.• .•• ••••• ••. •.•••• •••• •.• • • •••••• •••• •.• • 12
2 REVIEW OF RELAT EDltTE: RATURE 13
Int r oducti on••.•••••••• • ••••• •• ••••• ••••• • •••• ••• •••••. ••• • ••• • 13 His t or ica l Fiction •••• •••••••• ••••••••••• •• • ••••••• •••••• ••• ••• 13 Social Studie s .••••• ••••••• ••• ••.•••• • •••••••••••••• •••••• ••••• 55 The Re l a t i onshipBetween Historical Fict ion
andSoci a lStud i es ... ••. •• ••. 70
Conc1usioil.. .. ... ... . ...••••• ••••.••.•• •• ••• ••• • 101
3 PROCEDURE FORDEVElOPMErITOF THE HANDBOOK ... .. .... .. ... . 102 Introduction ••• ••• ••• •. • • ••••••••••••• •. .•••••••••• •••• • • •.•.• 102 Compilationof a lis t of Child ren'sBooks
of Histori cal Fi ct i on 102
Criti cal Examinati on of the Books.. . . ... .... .... ... ... 102 Selectionof BooksforInc l us io n in theHandbook... . ... ... 103 Treatmentof the SelectedBook s... .... ... .. ••. ••••• • 105 Compilation of theHandbook••••• ••••••.•• • • •• •••• •• • •• •••••••• 107
4 SUMMARY AND RECONMENOATIONS.... ... ... . . . ... . .. 110 iii
page REFERENCES••••••• ••• •••••••• •• ••••••••••• ••• •••••••••••••••••••••••••••112 APPENDICES•• ••• ••• •••••••••• •••••• •••• •• •••• • ••••• •••••• •••••• ••••• ••••12.3 GUIDES TOHISTORICALFICTION••••• •• •••••••••••••• ••••••••••••12.4 SELECTIONA10S•• •• •••••• ••• •• ••••••••••••• • •• •• •••• • • •• ••• • •• 13 2.
LISTS OFCONCEPTS•••••• ••• •••••• ••••••••• • •••••••• • ••• ••• ••••135
PART II: THE RESOURCEGUIDE
HISTOR ICALFICTION AS ARESOURCEIN SOCIALSTUDIESEOUCATlON
TABLEOFCONTENTS•••• ••••••••••• • •••• •••••• ••••••••••••••••••147 INTRODUCTION••• •••••• ••• •••••••••• • •••••• •••• ••• •.•• ••••• ••••119 RATIONALE FOR USINGHISTORICALFICTIONASA
P':SOURCE IN SOCIALSTUDIES EDUCATlON •••• •• ••• ••••• ••• • • • •• •••152 GUIDELI NESFOR THEUSEOF THEHANDBOO K••••••••••••• • •• •••••••157 CONCLUSION•••••••••••••• ••• •••••••• • •• •••••• • ••• • • •• •••••••.•159 REFERENCES•• • ••• ••••• •••••• • •• ••••••• •••• •••••• • ••• •••• ••••••161 BOO KS OFHISTORICALFICTION••• ••••••••• ••••• •• •• •• • •••••• •••• 162 INDEXES•• ••••••• • ••••••••••• ••••••••••••••• ••••••••• •• ••••• • •286
tv
!'ART I
THE STUDY
1.
CHAPTER 1
NATUREOFTHE STUDY
Introduction
This chapter deser-t bes thepurpose of the study~presentsthe rationaleupon which itis based. outlines its scope and limitations, andassesses its significance. It concludeswith a description of the designof thestudy.
Thepur pose of this study was the developme ntof a handbook
\'jhf ch canbe employed both tofosterandfacili tate the useof chll d ren's lite rat ur e of high qualityas a resource in social studies education. By means of the handbook. socia lstudies teachers are first presente d~Iitha rationale for the use of tmeqtnettve literatu re in socia lstudieseducation and thenareintr oduce d to anumber of excellent books oft.s tortca 'lf1ctionwhichhave beenjudge d by theresearcher tobeappr opri at e for useinsocialst udi e s programs.
For eachbookteachers are provided wit hinformation which will enable them toascertainwhe r e it canbeint egr at e d into thei r cours esof study. They are also givensut rtc tent detailsabouteach book to fect lttace theirintroducingthe work to students inan int ere s t- provoki ng way. Thenature of thehandbookis such that, after reading it,teachers willbe ableto determine where these books may be fitted intotheirprogramandcapableofpresenting
them tochild re n withoutneedingtoreadthebooksthemsel ves. The hopeis, neverthele s s, thatte acher s
!!ill
readthe books, not only in order that theymay then be abl e todis cussthem with their st udents. but also to enr -tcb theirownknowledgeand under standing in the field of socia lstudi es.The preci seformatof the handbook is as foll ows:
1. Anint rod uct io n expla ini ngthenatu re andfuncti on of the handbook .
2. Aratton ale fortheuseofliteratur einconju nctionwith social st udi esprograms.
3. Gui delin es whic hindica te how toma keuseofthe informat i on in thehandbook .
4. A listof 25 booksof his t ori cal tt ctton of highqua l ity sui t able for childrenin grades four throughtwelveand app ropria te foruse 1n socia lst udiesprogr ams. For each bookthefo ll owi ng infonnat i onis pro vtded :
(a) bibliogra phicaland publ ishingdat a ; (b) an esti mate d min imum reada bility leve l; (c) identificati onof (i) histor i cal periods
(i i) places
(ii i)event sand/ or pers onages (iv) topic s and/or themes (v) concept s whi ch are dea lt within the boo k,
(d) an annotation gi vi ng detail s of theme. pl ot. che recte r, andsett ing;
(e ) anexcer ptfr om the beckwhich hasbeen selec tedon 2.
I
3.
the basis of itspote nt ial for encouragingreadin;:
of the book.
5. Anindexto historical peri ods dealt with 1nthebooks. 6. Anindexto geograph i cal placesdeal twith 1n thebooks. 7. Anindextothemajorhistori cal event sand perso nage s dealt",fL'! in thebooks.
8. An indextothe majortopi csand themesdealtwithin thebooks•
9. Anindextothesocia lst ud i es concept s iden tified1n each book.
10. Anindexto the titlesof the boo ks.
The rationale uponwhich the studyisbasedis as fol l ows:
1. The appr oac htotheteacnlng of soci al st u~'eshas bee n recen tlychanging. formerlytheaflllSand objectives of course sof stud y were outline dr.at he rvague ly.ifat all. for tea chers andasit result.thetext boo k oftenbecame the course ofst udygui de. In addition.becausefundsfor extr a mat eria l s haveneeusuall y been providedby Department s of Educat io n. thetextbookhas ofte n beenthe sole resourceused . Currentl ythere is adeliberate moveawayfr oC!.the centra l ity ofthetext- bookinthe programtowardext ensiv ea.rdwell- struc tu redcut-rtcu'leuguide$ wht ohareint ended to providetea c her s with aclea r ideas of the philoso phy. aims,andobjectives of theprogram.
Ilccisionsaboutthe approac hes and materialsto use inimplementing these obje c tives ar e inc reasinglybeing left to the teacher but tt 15
4.
alwaysmade clearto him thatreliance ona single textbooktsno long- er acceptable. Bonnell (1977)reported on thecur rent si t uationin Newf oundland:
The nat u re ofthecour sesof instr uct ion aut hori zed by theprovinci alDepar tment of Educationhasledto in- creaseddemandsfor support materi al s . Many of the newercou r sesare attempt ingtowean bot h teachersand st udents awayfrom dependency upon one text book . This is especi a ll y true inthe fiel dsofLanguage Arts and Social St udie s. (p.20)
Not onlyare teachersbei ngrequiredtouse a vari ety of resourcemater - 1a l s1nsocial st udies education.they ar eal s o encouragedto call upon othercur r i culumareaswhereappropriate(Eakin ,1970; Joyce, 1972; Wise.1966) . The recentl yrel eas ed Des i gn forSoci al Studi e s K..,-Vlin llewfoundland and labrador (1981 ) .which is thenewsocia l studie s cur r ic -
ulumgui de iss uedbythe Depar t mentof Education.supportstheut il i zation ofother curriculum are a s:
Attemptstoexpress one 's thou ghtsand feelings concern- ingthetheme.ortoappr eci atefull y someaspects ofi t. willcallforthe utilizati on ofothe rcurri c ul um areas andat timesfor theintegrationofsome oftheseareas. (pp.vttt- tx)
There is nodoubtthat children'slite ratur eis one of the are as which has~UCh to offertoteachersof soci al st udi e sinhelpin gthemto effectively implementtheir program. It fullycompl i es with the re - quirementsoutlfned byLawt on andDuf o ur (197 3 )who saidthat 1n selectingmater-tels for soci al st udi es. teachers sho ul d be looking especiallyfor thosethat"ca n present pupils with morevividvica r ious exper ienc e s " (p. 152). Closest udy reve als that in fact thetwoareas of soci alstudies andlite ra tur e have manysig ni fi cant and uniqueaffin it ie s and that in somecases the ai ms oftheforme r aremere likelyto be achieved throughutil izat ionofthe latt er than thr oughuse ofsomeof the mor e tr-aditaonel socia l st udies mat e r i als. Detailed examinat ion of the
5.
rela ti ons hi p bet weensocial st udiesand ch tld re n-slit er a t ure is under-taken inChapte r2 in the sect i onThe Relati onship aetween Hi stori cal Fic t ionandSocia lStu dies.
2. Apartfr omthebenefi t sto be derivedin indiv idu al subjects . inte grationof curricul um ar easis a wort hwhile pract i cein its own right. Manyeducatorsurgeintegrat i on. atleastforpartofthe program, in order thatstu den ts mayappr e ciate that subjectmatterbound - aries areman-madeand that.1n actual fact .all knowled ge and under- standi ng is based on acombinati onofinpu tfromdiffe rentsubjectar eas.
They poi nt out tha t in dealing withreal-l ifeproblemswe usua l ly need to synthes i z e info rmationand insigh ts we havegained fro mmany discip - lines as we sear ch for sol ut i ons(Whitehead.1959;Wise. 1966 ).
3. In order to faci l i tat e the ut i l iza ti on ofa varietyofresources andresour c eareas for the more effec tive teach i ng of social studies . it isneces sa ryto provideteacherswit hinformationaboutwhatresou rces are avail abl e. Peo p le from thefie ldof socia l stu di es are producing guidesto reso urc es inthe i rownarea . Itremains for people knowledgeable in other cur ricu l umareas to identifymate ria ls fromthe i r field whi ch have
so m e~ hi ngtooffer andsubse que ntl y fi nd ameansof shari ngthis know-
ledgewith socialst udies teachers. At the same ti me. thi smaynot be ent i r ely a di sin t ere s t edpr oj ect onthe partof peopl ewhose chiefint erests Tie in these other are as.for bypromotingtheuse of their owneeter-tels theyare hopef u'llyextendtnq andenric hing stu dents 'knowledgeoftheir own subj ect aswel l asof socialstudies. This is part ic ul ar ly appl tcebte tothefi e1d of1i teraturewhere books tnat mightnot otherwtse be rea d by st udentscanbeintroduce d andpromote dbythe socialstud ies tea cher s. andby this means youngpecple can be introduced tosome of thosewor ksof literat ur e which aretrul y"to o goodto miss"Ibut
whi ch because oftimeandcurriculumlimit a t ionsare unable to be prOlootedbythe 1iter-e ture teacher .
Guides to approp riateresources inothe r cur ri cul um areas are obviously ne cess a r ybeca use 1t is very unlikely thatwithout them socia lstudiesteachers wi ll have sufficien t I(nowle dgeand experti se inth e se areasto make inf o rmed and wisechoic es. Ei se nman (1962) in her doctoral dissertation reported that the responses ofelementa ry te achers indicated that they did not genera llykeep abreas t ofrece nttrends and wr i t1ngs 1n chtl dren 's ,iterature.
Sayers (1965)was of the opi n ion that as far aschildr en ' s books are concerned, "Few people outside ofthe professi onknow their inf initevariety,the scope oftheirinterests.and the hei ght s of thei r inspira tion" (p. 45). It is only tobe expected that unless they ha ve specializedin thefie l d of childre n'sliterature.
most teecters of socialstud ieswill have a veryli mite d knowledge of children 's books whichthey could usetn their programs.
Vokey(1978) poi nt ed out that teache rs inNewfoundla nd (and presumab lyelsewhere also)need to be "ass i sted in 'fleshi ng out '.... the pres c ribedSocial Studies programme" (p.5). This bei ng the situat io n, the product i on of ahan dboo k which can hel pte acher s to makerapi d acquai ntancewith at leastsome of thefinestworksof fictionwhichhave been writte nfor children is seento be worthwhile. Itcan beused as arefe rence tool for locilti ng literaturewhich canillustrate or developsocia lstudies learn i ngs.
4. In this resource guide strict~ont rolwas exer-ted over the quality of literature suggestedforuse. Only bo oks of excel lence
6.
wet' e·1ncluded .The reas oni ngbehind thisisfirsttha t childhood is su..:ha sho rtperiodthat the young pers on has theoppor t unity duri ng thi s specialtteeof hi s lifetoread onlyiI comparativelySIr."ll1 number ofbooks. He, there fore.has no timeto waste on literature of pooror mediocrequal ity. Se cond.the yea rs ofchildhoodare the 1mprf!Ss1onableandtcreettveones. What thechild becomes as an adult ts verymuchinfl ue nced bytheexper ienceshe hasduring this time;
therefore . his readingmaterial should be judiciouslyselected. Third . chil drenarenotworl dl y wise and,there f ore. are susceptible tobeing easi lymis l e d ifthey aretoldthe wro ng thi ngs. Poor literatur e may lead themastrayand give themaner ro neouspict ure of theworl d and hum"," nat ure. Finally.i faselecti onai dsuchasthisoneis not avail able tohe l p teachersguide thei r student s' readingchoices then the childrenmay never , or rarely,encounteragood book.
According toEgoff (l972 ) . of 1I11 thebooks publishedyearl ywhi ch are added to thethousands of booksal r eady in print forchil dren,only twoand one-hal fpercent are excellent ; sixt y-tw oand one-te l tpe rcen t are mediocre.andthirty-fivepe r cent are"per-cepr t blysludge and dross~(p.93). Ifthese figur es are ac cept ed . then ,asl. Smi th {l9SJ:
sa i d . "Whenwecons i der the numberof children'sbooks arriving from thepress each year...ther e is a real possibil itytha t thefinebookmay pass unnoticed"(p.34). I!oth teachers and children need assistance in fin din gthebook s of high qual it y among all those thatar e pot en tiall y ava ila bl e.
5. There is nootherselect ionaidwhichcanfulf ill the same purposeasthebendbcokpr oposed here. The cur re ntly evef te ble qui des tohistor ic alfi ct ionare revie wedinAppendixA lindare found to
7.
I ; ,
poss e ss the followingcharacte r i s t i cs\o(hi chrender them uns ati sfactory andinapprop ri ate to the basic purposeof thi s projec t.
(a) Theyempha s izequa nt ity rather thanqual i ty. Typically they conta i nmany hundr eds ,and of ten thousands,of titl esofbooks ofhisto rical fict i on. lheygive theimpre s sion of indi s cri min at e selection and certain lydo notpromoteonly books of excell ence. As Kar l (1967) said , "Fe wboo ksareexcell e nt "[p.40),and these guides lea ve theteache rwiththeproblemoffindin g those few booksamong the myriadci te d. Anattempt isof t en made bythe aut hors to giv e ti t les for every historica lperiodfromprehis toric timesto present day;so compre hensive ness. rather then sel e c t iv ity , is the irdis- tin9ui sh i ngfeat ure.
(b) Thoughsome of the se aids are intendedto hel pteachers useliter atur ein theirsocia l st udie sprog rams , none of them presen ts a cle arandpers uasiverationale for this practi ce.
(c) Annot at ion s, i ftheyare provided, are bri e f-- us ual lyonesenten ce ,or,at themost, two se nte nces. Such brevity is not very hel pfu l.
(d) Mostof the aids are not recent l ypubItshe d. Theyda t e fr omthe mi d-19 60sor befo r e ,and donotincl ude manyof thebes t wor ksofhistori cal fi ctio n. for as Char lton(1969),J.S.Smith (1967), andTreese (1977) poi nt out , the overall qual ityofhis t or ical fiction publ ishe din the1960s and 1970sis far higher than it was prior to that period. Aguidewhi c hint roducessome of thesenewer wor ks is nee ded.
(e) Thebooks are usuallyorg an i zedchronologically and some- times alsogeographically, butnone of these selectionaids attempts to lin kthe books with soci a lstudies conce pt s , topi cs and themes which
8.
the y mayil lus t rate. Thisis a signifjcant shortcomi ng invi ew of thefactthatmost social studiesprogramsare now orga nized around themesand/ orkey concepts of thedisciplines.
(f) AnAmer ica nbias inthechoic eofbooks isevident in manyof thes e etds.
(g) They do notprovi de exce rp tswh ichcan giveanindi ca ti on of the qua lityandstyleofwr iting andcan alsoservetote mptst ude nts and teachersto obt ai nthebookandreadit.
6. Hist ori cal fi cti on was chosenas the focusof this resource guid e because the researche rbeli evedi twasne ces sa ryto confi ne the study toonepart icu la r liter ary ge nreso that inves ti gati on 1ndepth couldbe purs ue d. Biograp hy ,autc btograph y,real'Istic fi cti on. historica lfi ct io n .myths, le gendsand fol ktal eswe reall considered for thei r potential contri bu ti on to social studies . His toricalfict ionwasfinall y selectedforfocus .initallybecause of thepersonal int er est ofthe int erninthi sgenre. Itwasalso subseque ntl y discovere d that thisis a part ic ularlyappropri ate ti me in the his t ory of chil dren 's lite r atu r e to promote thi s ge nr e. In the pas t. the qua l ityofmuch his t or i c al fic t io nhas beenpoorand . asa result, the reput ati on of the who l ege nre has bee ntarni s hed.
Her sey(1949) note d:
Wit hrega rdtohi stori c al nove l s , there has be en
a...tendencyto oversimplify: the reputationof
the whole genre has suf fe redbecause someofits bookshav e worn bosomsonthe irjac ketsrathe r thanvi ce ve r sa. The imputa t ionof gui ltby ass oc1ati onis unf or t una tein any field.{p.82) Charlton (1969 )impute dpartnftheblamefor thed1screditin g of thegenre to "t heGot hic kTa le ofwhichpe r-napsHorace Walpol e's CastleofOt ra nto is the prototy pe ,fu llof varlets,dungeons,tvy-
9.
10 . covere dkeeps and queer90 lngs·on int~edark"(p.l). These books . heec nutnuec , were "in credib le In their plotsandwildlyina cc ur a t e inthei rhistory" (p.
n .
Reputationsdenot die eas ily and ye t today there are somany excellentbooksof histori cal fi cti onavailable tha t itwouldbemost unfortunatei fthey were bypassedwithout prope r consi dera ti onbecause of unwarrantedprejudice. Townse nd (1967) said:Inrecentye a rs the future has not beennea rlyso well se r ved incll11dre n ' s lit e ratur eas thepast. There can have been no time when hist or ica lnovels for chil drenwereso good as they are now.. ••The modern historical nove l isnot just aneasy answer to theprobl em ofplot·flnding. Almos t inva ri ably itIswrit t enby anauthorof hi gh ability ,it is basedon thor ough re se arch,and us uallyitembodi e s a themeof pe rmanen trel e van ce . Indeed , Isome- times feel that the historicalnovel is get t in gmore than its shareof the ava il able talent. One could wi sh that asmany first-classbooks werebei ng written about contemporaryyoungpeopleas aboutbatt les long ago. (p.ll S)
In additfon, then,to providingbenefits in the fie l d of soc ial studies education, the handbook.will also ,thr ough promoti onofanumber of works of high qua l ity,hel ptoest ablish histo r ica l fic t ion as a respecta ble genrein theeye sofeduc ato rs andintroduc eto stu dents someof the bestliterature thatis available in anygenre at theprese nt time:
1. Thehandbookissuitable for usewith socia lstudies progr ams for grades four through twelve.
2. Theent i rerange ofall childre n'sbooks of his t or i cal fictio n current lyavailable tntne Engl ishlanguagewasthe fieldfromwhi ch thefinalsele ctionof25booksof exce llencewasmade. Themethods usedto dothi sare described in Chapte r3.
11.
1. Only 25books of hi s t ori cal fictio nare presentedinthe handbook thoug h the r e are 7130ymore ofhighqualitythatcould have beenincluded had space and time permitted.
2. Thehandbook isconcern edwith books forgrade s four through twelv e only. The neglect ofgrade ski nde rgar tenthroug hthreeisnot reallya severe 1imitat i on,however , because social studi espr ogr ams forchildrenofthis age areunlikelyto provideoppor t unit i es for the introduc ti on of histor ical fiction . Also.asRay (1972 ,p,107) point edout , mos t his t or ical fict i onis wr ittenforchildrenabove grade thr ee becz•usei tisbelieved tha t a youngperson's sense of hi storydoes not developSUfficientlybeforethis time for the works to be properlyappreciated.
Si gnific ance
It is ant icipatedthat this resource guide ca n make a uniq ue andsignificantcontributionto childre n 'seducat iontnbot hthe fields ofliter atu r e andof soc i alstudies. Itis hoped.first .that it willen- ableteachers to enrich andenlive nthesocialstudiesprogramthrough theintrod uctionof booksofhistoricalfiction as aresour ce. Theguide is a practicalpiece of materialthatwillmakeit easyfor theteacher to translatethetheoryof usinglit er ature insocial studi es progr ams int o practi ce. D.W.Chambers (971) maintains:
Theoryis thefoundat i on ofany succes sfulteaching pra ct ice. Theor y.by itself. however .oft enremai ns at alofty level--not transl atedint othe practica l, workable tools thatthe teacherneeds when she pract ices theart of teachi ng. (p •xi)
12.
Second .i tis ant i cipated thataf t er usi ngthe ideasand infonnationin thehandbook , teac he r s will recognizethe benef i t s that can be der ive d from integr atinglite raturewit hthei rprog ra msand willesta blis h a regular practiceof usi ng not only histor i calfict i onbut otherki ndsof litera tu re as well-- biogr a phy , auto biogra phy, real i sti c fiction, myths, fol k tales.and legends. Thi rd.i tis hope d tha t because of theattent ion givento thequality of liter a ture presentedin the resou r ce guide,children willbe brought toget herwithbook s of exce llence inthe fieldofhist or i cal fic t i on whichare"too good to mtss",but whichtheymigh t othe rwisenot encount e r.
Thispiece ofworkis in two parts. Part I is The Study andPar t.II isTheRe s our ce Guidebas edon thestudy. InPar t I,thisfirstchapter has outlined thena t ur e ofthe stu dy. In Chapter2rel a t e dlite r a ture is examined. Chapte r3describestheprocedurefollowed1ncreatingthe reso ur ceguide andChapter4 is a surrmary of wha t was accomplished to- getherwithreccemendettonsforfurthe rworkin the area. Fallowi ngthe mainbody of theworkare thre e append ices: Appendix A,anovervi ewof exi st in g guides to childre n'shfs tcric a'l fiction; Appendi x B. ali st of sele c t i onaidswhichwereused forthe ini t iallocationof chil dre n's books of hi s t or i cal fiction;andAppendixC. sixli stsof soc ial studies conce pts whichwere usedto helpidenti f ythere l e va ntconceptsinthe books ofhistor ical fict i on . Part II, The Resour ceGuide, is the hand- bookwhi ch canbe separated from Pa rt I. duplicatedandusedby teachers .
13.
CHAPTER.2
REVI EWOf RELATEDLITERATURE
Introduction
Thi schapte r 1s di vi de d intothree secctc ns, eachofwhic h present sinformati on from thosearea s of knowledgewhich are inte gr al to the subj ectof thisst udy.
Thefirst sec tion.Histori cal Ficti on. out l ines thedisti ngui sh in g characteri s tics, traces the hi stor i caldevelopment and describes the current sta t us of the genre. Itals o selec ts "'h'examines thosecharacter- is ticswhichdistingu i s h his to r i cal fi ct ionof hig h qualityfrom the in- feri orkind. These crite r iaofexcell en cethenformthe basis upon which booksare sel ecte dfor inclusi on in thehandbook.
Insec t ion two, Soc ia lStudies . thenatureofsoci al studies and currenttrendsin the fieldwhi ch haverel e vanceforthe studyare discus sed.
Sectionthree ,The Rel ationsh ip BetweenHistori cal Fi ct ionand Social St udtes , exploresthekindofcontrfbuttons thathistor i cal fict ion canmake whenused as a resourc etn socia lstudieseduca tion.
Hi storica l Fic ti on
TheNatu re andHis t o ryof_~...§.~
Ther ehavebeenmat.,attempt s tograppl ewith the problemof de- fi ninghi s t or ical ficti on. Someseem sat is fac t oryat first ins pect i on but arelater found tobe notsufficient l yprecise. IntheNewEnc y.£..!gJl~.!.il_
t',
~
14 .
~(1974)ahistor ical novel i~definedas a "work of fiction that attempts to convey the spirit.manners.and socialcondit ions ofa pJos t age withrealisticdetail andfide lityto historical fact" (p,64). Itis distingu is hedfrom the "purel y escapistcostume romance,which ,maki ng no pretenseto hts.-or-tcfty,usesa setting inthe pastto lend credence to improbable charactersandadventures" (p.65). Hol man. inAHandbookto
~(1972) defined the histor ical novel as one which "r eco nst r ucts a personage, a series of event s. amovement, or the spiritof apas t age andpays thedebt of seriousschol arshi pto the facts oftheage being re c r eat ed" (o.254). Huck (1976) describedhi s t or ical fi c t io n as"an ima gi nat i vestor y in whichtheauthorhas deliberately reconstru cted the life and timesofaperi odin the past" (pp,470-471). These andother writers allagree that the hi stori calnovel has its settinginpasttimes but they have not,for example. addres sedthemselves to the questio n of where the past ends andthe presentbegins. Sheppard (1930) reported:
Mr.Arnold Bennet.•.considersthat thefirs t thing about an hist or ica l novel is tha t the auth orre-creates in itanageinwhi ch he did notlive. (p.15)
AccordingtoMr. Bennett . then. the books of Laura IngallsWil derfor example, wouldnot becl a s s ifi e d ashi storical fiction. Wals h(1972) .on the other hand,said that,
A novel isa historical novel whenit is whollyor partl y aboutthe publ i cevent s andsoc i alcondi t i ons which are thematerial ofhist or y , regardl e ss of thetimeat which itis written. (p. 19 )
Accord ing to this definition.littleWomenwouldbeconsi dere da his t or ical novelas would someof thebooks that were wr itt endur ingthe Viet nam uer abo ut theVietnam War. The researcher.however.would preferthatthi s typeof novel be knownas a novel of conte mpor ary history becau sether-e~ a disti nction to be madebetween novel s wr itt e n whilethe eve nt sare
'5.
happening andnove l s written inret .respe ctwhendi s t an ce inti mehaslent per spe ct i ve.
To defin ehis t ori ca l fictio n, then. is not a si mple task.but an extensi vesurveyof the'ltte r et-n-eper t ain in g to thesubject re veals some c0ll111on1yrecurri ngelement s. Forthe purpos es ofthisstudythe seelements havebeenidentifiedandusedto define theparameters ofhis torical fi ction . Theyare as fol lows:
1. Itis fi ctional.
2. It is concer ned withmat tersof hi stor i c al import. (Th isdistingui shes histor i cal ficti on fromcostuneroma ncein whic hthe storyis not inany orga nicwayabout it s historica lmateria l.)
3. It is set in a pas t timeto whi ch di stan c e has given theauthor a perspectiveonevents . (Th is distin gui s he sitfrom reali s t i cficti on and the novel of contemporary hi s t o r y. )
4. It "owe s thedebt of seriousschola r shi p tothefactsof the age being recre a te d" (Holman, 1972. p. 254). (This distingui she s it from someof the novelsof thenineteent h cent urywhich"f alsifie d htsto r-y'e fund an;enta1 reco r d"
(Haines, 1942,p.115) . )
Thehistor i c al novel first becameapopular formof fict i on in the ninet e ent h cent ury. Marri o t (1970) affirmedtha t "wi th rareunani mity critics have at t ri bute dthe pater nityofhis tor i ca l fic t ion to Si r Walter Scott"
(p.9) ,although histor i cal novel s hadbee n writtenby others before he wrote Waverley. Thect t-cums tances favori ng the riseofhis torical fictionwer e the development ofthe novel as a form in lite r at ur e and an incr e as e inpeop l e ' s inte res tin the past genera t e dby the histori cal work ofHome, Robertson , andGi bbon(Nar r-tot, 1970, p , 10 ). Sheppard (1930) pointedout that al t houghScot t "did not inve ntthe his tor ic al novel.. .he improvedit outof knowledge , makingitsC'meth i ngalmostenti re ly new"(P. 48 ). Accord ing
:,:.j
16.
tc Sir Walte rRaleigh,
Thehis t or i cal nove listswho preceded Scott chosea centuryas theymight have chosenapartner for a dance.
ga il y andconfidently, wit hout qualif icat ionor equipment beyondafew outwor nverbal archaisms". (Sheppard,1930, p.37)
Scott,howeve r , ualthoughhewasfnt luc.rcedbyhis predec essorsand reta ined 1n di lution some of theirextravaganc es..• madethe historicalnovel not only cleanbut probable "(Sheppa r d, 19~O.pp, 48- 49 ). Through Scott thehis t or i cal novel gain ed a place ofrespectability inEnglish litera tu re, although today his wor k ts in somequar te rs not esteemedas highlyasi t oncewas. Other no t abl ewrit er s ofhistorical fictioninthe nin et eent h cent urywere AlexanderDumas, James Fenimore Coope r,Nat haniel Hawt hor ne, Charles Kingsl ey. EdwardBu'lwer -Lyttcn,VictorHugo ,andLeoTol s t oy.
Histor ical fi ction for childrenhadits genesis inthemi d- nineteenthcent uryaccording to Green (1969) . Itwas startedby~larryat and dev e l opedby Charlotte Yonge, often takingtheformofhi stori cal ro- mancewitha chi l dhero. R. M.Ball antyneand G.A.Hentyspec i a lize d in thegenre,andtowards thecloseof the centu ry thehisto ri cal novel s of R.L. Stevensonand Ri der Hagg ar d were read both by adults andyoungpeople.
Inrecentyearsaconcer n for historica l accura cy in children's hist orical fict i on has emerged. It hasre sulted inthe productionof a numberofbooks whichfulfillthe hi ghes t requi rements of lit era t ur eand of history. Tr ea se (1964)observed the burgeoningofqual ity booksofhis- tori cal fiction:
Bet t ercharacteriza tion, li veli er action, lessha ck- neyed subjects,mor e vivid backgrounds,a poeticpower toevoke somethi ngthat reallyis "at mosphere"andnot there ek of moth-bal1s- -al1 these have combined to pro- duce an astonis hin glyrich florescenceof this genre. (o.97)
17 .
J.S.Smit h(1967) concurred wi t h this view of curre nt 1tterac ure, sayi ng,
Astrik ing aspect ofjuven i le historica l fiction is the surprisingly high le ve l of originalityand literar y effectivenessin the stylesof its prac- titioners•.. . There is. in short, a wealthof fresh, tho roug hlygood writing in this genrefor children- - a condition not al waysma t c hed inothersorts of children'sbooks. (p,146 )
Children 'shistorical fiction in its finest fo rm possesses all the qualitiesof goodliteratureplussome additionalqualiti es pecu liarto the genre. Inthe following section the characterist ics whi c h disti nguis hfi nehistorical fictionare examinedas a necessary preparat i onfor the process of selectingcooks worthyof presentation to chl1 dre n.
Criteriaof Excellence inHis t oric a l Fiction
The selectionof a number of fine books of historica l fiction from amulti t ude of worksofle s s e r qualitywas oneof the majorunde r t a ki ngsof this study. In ordertodothi s . i twasnecessary to conduct research into the ent irefieldof lite r ary criticism to find guidelinestohe l pin the task-cfdistinguish ing litera t ur e of highqualityfro m the inferior kin d , Thr oughou tthe ages the question of whatconstit utes excellence in ltte r-ature has beenpondered . Itis acomple x and difficultquestion to address. Karl (1967) asked,"What is excellence in a children'sbook"?
and answered;"Thereis no solid answer" (p,31). Other writershave echoed thisopinion (Davis .1963; Eliot. 1933;Nesbitt.1940; Richards, 1925 ; L.Smith ,1953). Steele (1975) main tained. "This is the bothe rsome thin 9 about excellen ce. Iamconvincedthati texists , butit is car- tain ly ame r curi a l thi :1" (P.251), Nevertheless. in spiteof thefac t thatthere is no simple . ready-Madestandardfor jud9in9literatureand no
18 .
har d-and-fastrulesthat descri be thenatur-eofexcellence . ther e are cert ain qualities whose pr esence-ct-absen ce inawor kgive someindicati on of itspotent ialiti es . Ove r thecentu riesva r io uswr itersandexpe rts in the fieldof lite r atu rehave tried to determi nethe elements whichare found inworksofexcel lence andwhi chdi stingui sh such work s fromthos e ofless er quality. Thefollowi ngis a distillat i onof thei robse r vati on s drawnup in the for mof a li st ofcri t eriaofexcellence allof which applytohi s t o ri calfict io nandmostof whichapp lyto literat ure in genera l . It mustbenot ed that such ali st does not reducethe art of criticismto a si mplecheckli s tprocedur e. Neverthelessi tdoes give a comprehensive gUide to "things to thi nkabou t" in evalu at i ngworksof hist or i c al fi cti onforinclusion in theresource guide.
Int erestand readability.
Afundamental requirementof good historica l fi ct i on is thati t beenj oyab l e . int er e s ting andentertaining. Tr e ase '(1964) said."Enter- tainment is essential. Children may1ike abad book. but a book noneof themlikes canno tbe good"(p, 9). Ot her critics have similarly felt obli.ged to pointout thatshee rreadab i li ty andinte r es t are necess- arycomponentsof allbooks of excellence(Arbuthno t.Clar k. long and Hedlow,1971;Da t che s, 1956 (b); Danziger and Johnson, 1961; Egoff .1972 ; James.1880; Lukens,1976). lor d DavidCecil (Chambers . 1973 ) went fur t her than this andexpressedthebel iefthat enterta inment is not me r ely a requi rementofgoodliter at ure but thatitis rathe r the basic purposeof theart. He wrote:
19.
Thereare many bookspublfshed inthe wcrld andofmanykinds ,but one categoryst ands apart : bo oksthatcome under the .hea d ; 09 of1; terature. Thi smeansbooks notwritt enfor anyulterior purposebutsimply togi vethe readera sati sfying experi ence, suchas hewouldha vefrom a pi e ceof musi corabeautiful picture: theirai misto delight. (p.13B)
Inte rest is,ofcourse,not to be confus ed with se nsat i onal ism orthe continual arousementof curi os;ty upon whi ch somewritersde pend to keeptheaudiencereadingto thelast page. Both Coleridge (Ande rso n and Buck l er , 1967.p. 73l)andDaic hes (1956 ( b ) } agreethat int ere st istheability to kee p the reader absorbed and fascinated by theindivi- dual eventsof thestory asthey unf old rat her than theabi lityto keep hi mre adingon solelyin order tofindout wha t happe nsnext.
Absenceof didacticism.
Finewor ks of literat ure donot usua ll y emerg efrom the penof a wrfter whos e bas icpurposeis toteach OJles s on . poin t amoral ,or convey use fu l informat i on. At one time inthe his tory of cr itic i smsucha bel i e f woul dnot havebeen expresse d,for re s pect was thengiven to liter a t ure whichhad a wor t hwhile 'me ssa ge ' . Nesb i t t (19 71)observedtha t in the etghteenth century,
TheAge ofReasonhada particular lydisas trous effec t uponchil dren 's books.since in this fieldit tookthe fo rm of thoroughdidacticism....On the posit iv eside this passionfor didacticism provedtwo things-- t hat a book writtenwithult er i ormotivesmay bea goodtr eat i se.
but never literature , andthat the qualitie s of potentia lly goodwriters are rende r e d negativewhe ndid acticismis dominant. Nothing writte nfor child re nduring the didacti c periodwas consi dere d acce pt able unless i ttaught a les son . (pp. 268-2 69 )
Itis amusi ngto note thatSamue lJohnsonin his Preface.t:Q..Shakespear£.
(1765)critici ze d Shakespea re for writing"without anymora l purpose",
.:~
20.
maintainingth.\ti ttsalwaysa writer.lsdutyto'make the worldbetter"
(Andersonand Buckler,1967 .pp•581-582) .
The requirem entthat booksfor chi ldre ncar ry a suitable ethi c a l, socialor t-reor aattonalmes sa gewasperp etuat ed inmanyquar te rsthro ug h thenineteen t h century,an-t itis onl yin thetwen t i eth centur ythat the folly ofthis cametobe widel y obs er ved andthe thi nlydisgu isedtreat ises masque r adi ngas children' s liter atu r ethat were so popularwiththe Vi'ctori anshave bee nscorned. Fi sher(197 0 ). however,cauti oned thateven tlX', y. though we seemto be mor e enlightened.ther e are sti ll writer s. and readers too. whobeli eve thatgoodlit er atu rehasauti l itaria npurpose , andHuckand Kuhn(1968)conf i nnthat "d fdecttctsnis st i ll alive and well in the twent iethcent ury" (p, 9).
Thosebooks of historica l fi ct i on whi c h arewrit ten wit h the in- tenti on ofpre sent ing hi s t ory tri-a pala t a b l eformor "su gar-c oa t i nghistor y"
areunlike ly to be of highlitera r y qual i ty,although wri ting booksof fiction can be ate mptati on to someent husiast ichistor ia ns who wish to find awayofsharing their knowledgeand insightswiththeyoung.
Marriot(1970) deploredbooks whichfitted the des cr i ption of "a maximum ofpowder imperfectly conce aledina min imum ofjam"(p. 1).Jac obs (1960 pointed out thata wri te r "may be tempter'to co ncoc t a plot andchar acte rs as me r e vehiclesforhis inf ormati on" bu t he anti c:ipat estha t in suchcases the fict i onwill sufferfro m "contr i vance and1ifel es sn e ss" (p, 193).
Mee k(1964)conner rted thatin hi stor i cal fict i o n "toomuchte ech tn q about the conditions of appre nttce s and the sto ryislost"(p.32). Huck (19 76) usedJohnnyTremain asanexampleofan aut hentichi stor i cal novel,con- tras t i ng it withthetypeof story whi chis "justan excu seto prese n t theca uses oftheRevolut iona ry~Iarin a pala ta ble fonn foryoungpeo p l e "
(p, 471). Th e lattertype
O f
book can some tim esbeenj oyable to read but21.
the fact is thatitcannotbe classifi~das lite r a tu r e ifi tts written withthisulteriormotive .for asWe l le k and Warren (l956) argued.
What[good)lite r a tu r e is,bymoderndefinition, 'pur e of'is practicalinte nt (propaganda. incitati onto direct immediate acti on)andscie nt ifi c int ent (pro - visionofinf o rmati on,facts. 'additionstoknowledge' ).
(p, 239)
Itis of course possible thatgood1iteraturemaycontribute to moral per cepti ons or socialadjustment in the reader but."Weshould not expectchi l dr en's stories tobese rmons or judicial ar gument s or sociological pamphlets" (Fis he r .1970. p.377)nor shouldtheauthor have a"conceal ed purpose"inmi nd ashewrites (Ai ke nin Havil and, 1973,p , 151). Ifindeed the st ory does espousesomeimpor tantca use, express some fundamental truths about life .or conveyinformation about unfamil i ar times. placesandpeople . in good historicalfictionthese elements are implicitin thewl'iting. AsViguers (1964) sai d:
The best booksarewithout infor mati onal. edu- cat iona l.or any solemnpurpose. Any.•.te aching containedin themis fundamen taland natura l to thest ory. (P. 148)
Accuracyandverisi mil itude.
Itis essentialthat historical fictionbeaccura t e inits pre- sentation of history. Theauthor mustbase his account on thoroughre- search andno situatio nshould be pres ented in a way that maymislead the readeror distort thehistorical facts. Horn (1937)statedthat.
Fidel i t y to1ife has rema ine d a major canon of lit era r y criticism;it is evenmore significant as acr i t e ri on for appr ais in gthe cont ri bution ofliterature to his tory. (p.268)
Haines(1942)concur r ed.observi ngthat "fac t ual acc ura cybtlsedonsound historica ldatevhesbecome"an accep t ed responsibil ity"of the hts tcrtcel
22.
noveli s t(p ,113) .andthat he isundera seri ousobligationnottoMf a ls ify history'sfundamenta l record"(p.115).
Thewriterof histor ica l fictionneedstoexercise more carein this respect than thewriter ofmode rnfi ction. because. while chi ldrenca ncheck the experience s descr ib ed inthelat t eragai nst thei rownli ves, theybri ng totheformer littleknowledgeofpar ticu la r per i odsofhistory.and,there- fore , maybeeas ily misled or misi nformed . The historical novelistcarries a heavyrespons ib i lityinthat he may beheld account ablefor ideas and idealsofthepast cheris hed bythe read ing public. for manypeople who neverreadtheworkof his to r ianswi ll read hi stori cal novel s andlearn what they knowof hi story from them. All e n (1944) pointed out that "wha t peopl ebel ieveabout the past lar gelyfixes thei r action inthe future"
(p, 120) . It ; sindeedimpor t ant thenthat thenove list st r iv efor corn- plete accuracy.
Inaddit i on tota ki ngcare not to "f al sif y history'sfundame ntal record", thehist orica l novelistmust avoidanachronism inthesmaller factsanddetailsof theperiodtha thedes cribe s. Shep pard(1930)gave examplesof thetypeofmista kes thatcaneastly be made:
Aturkey ..•ste psintoafarm-yarda cent ury or two be for ethebirdwa sknownin Europe;a pine-wood is discove r edat adate whenno pine-woodcould ha ve existed inthelocal ity; an oldmanis unint ent i onall y madeyoung,a youngman old;your latinorFre nch does notaccor dwith its ce nturyorpl ac eofus e ; your armour doesnot belo ngin its proper period;
youhave arudder ona shi pbeforerudde rs were inven ted; .•.youki lla manon thebat t l ef ield.
fighting valiantly to the last ...as Lyttonki ll ed War wick in"Thela s t ofthe Saro ns:'.. when in real ity he has fledfrom thefieldanddied elsewhere . (pp, 167- 168)
Also ,andmore signif i can tly,the write rmustavoidimposi ng the thought s, feeli ngs andvie wpointsof hi s own dayon other times.
23.
As Belloe(1955)sa id . readingof one'.sown timeinto thepast isafre- quent andse ri ous pit fall. Theat t itudesofsoci etythat thewr iter con- veysmust be inaccordance withthe mental and emotional character of the pl ace andper iod. The char ac t er smust not onlydres s butmustal so thi nk and act ascontempor ariesof theworldwhichtheyinhabited. Cam(1961) cr iti ci zed thosewriterswho"i nj ectmoder npsychol ogy andmodern assumpti ons into.. .[t he]cherecters" {p,8). Sheillustra ted this point by obser vi ng that.
Forallherconsci e ntious and learne d backgr oundwor k... [Charl otte Yenge 's ]fifteenth cent ur y Christi naSorel 1n TheEagl e 'sNes thas a ti ngeoftheOxf~ rdMovement about her... .Ches t e rto n has observed ofHenty ' steIe s ,
"the same very Englis handmodernyounggentl emanfrom Rugbyor Harro w turns upagainandagain as aYoung Greek, a young Car thar, inian. a youngGaul,a young Visigoth. a youngSca ndi navi an. a youngAncie nt Briton andalmost ever ything shor tof a youngNegro.(p.B) In cont ras t,she applaudedthew~rkof anot her author;
Hope Munt z has been crit ic iz edfor mitiga t i ng the horrorsofthebat t l ef ield in he r accountof HastingsinTheGolde n\~arr1o r. butsheis tr uer tothe cl imate of theeleventh cent ur yinconform - ing to the matter-of-fac tstoi cismof the saga rat herthanifshe hadpl ayedupto thesadi sti c sensi bili t i esofthe twent ie t hcentu r y. (p.9) Huck.(1976 ) mai nta i ns that,
Sto r i es mus t accurat ely ref lect the spidt of the times.aswell as the events. Histor i cal fiction can'tbemadeto conformto today 's more enlightened poi ntofview conc erning womenor blac ks orknow- ledgeofmedici ne. (p.472)
In order to be true tothe"spi rit ofthe ti mes"the authormust thorou ghl y resea rc h hi sper iodand. as Sprag ue (1966 ) sai d, "become thor oughl y conversant with the pol itics . economics.rel ig iou sopinion . andinte llec tua l ambi ance ofthe ent ire wor l d"duri ngtheperiod of whi chhe iswriti ng (p. 283) .
24.
Fusion ofhi stor yandficti on .
In the goodhis to rica lnovel. histor yand fict i onaresat is f actor ily combin ed. Matters ofhisto rical signi f icanceare dealt wit h ra t her thanthe st ory beingjus t anadvent urewith a his tor ic a l se tti ng, and . ontheother hand.itismore than justhis torywith a st oryattached to itto tr yto makei tint e r est in g. Ther e shoul d be a coalescenceof schola rshipand imagin at ion . L. Smitn (1953)desc ri bed thetypeof workwh-ichfulfill s thi s requirement:
The greatdiffe r e nce be t weena good historical story and apoor one. apartfrom thewr iti ng. liesin the diffe re nce betweena write rwho is steepe d in the 1ife of a peri od andfinds there is a story to tel l.anda write r who, withapreconceivedidea of a story, looks fora suitab lypicturesq ue peri od for its set tiltg . In othe rwor ds ,thediffe r en c eis that thoug h both writers are invent ingfict io n. thefirs t is in int en ti on a histori cal story while the secondis anyadve nt ure st oryset in the past.. . . Historical fiction must be afus i on of storyandperiod.i fitis to enr ich and enlarge our pic t ur e of thepast to the exten t that i tbecomes a part of our expe ri e nce •.. . Onthe one hand the re is anice bala nceof his t or y and fict ion.the sense of period.thet~e'in gfor theiss ue s that setthe age apa rt ;ontheother hand a conve ntio na l storyis projectedagai nst a shallowly conceived .picturesque backgrou nd.
describ edra t he rtha nbrou ghttolife ,by a write rwho has notunde r stoodthereal signif i - can ce of whathewrites . (pp. 16B.175)
But te r fie l d(1924) rema rk edonthedi ffe rence be tweenthe two kin ds of authorsof hi s t ori cal fict i on. He observed tha t ,ontheonehand,the re is"amanwho has a story tote ll and wishes to se tit in the past age and toadjustitto thedema ndsof history". whil e onthe other ha nd , there is "theman whoha sthe pastin hi s head andallows itto come for t h in story " (p, 36). Hedisdai nedthe for mer and applauded the latte r , saying that"In the onecase l1istor)' ha s to bela bori ousl y gatheredup aroundthe stor y ,and itis abur den ;intheot he r casethe history is there to begin
25.
with.and thest or ygrowsout of the hi stor y" (p.37).
Fine his tori cal fic t io n. the n , can only come from an author who, /'laving steeped hls mind 1nthe past ,findsasto r y totellwhichhas his t orica l impart . But, how does hebest combi ne thetwo eleme ntsof h1storyand fi cti on? Theprob lem which faces hi mfstoprovi desuff ic i ent infonnationto make the storyunderstandable wi tho uthaving to int er r upt theflow ofthe tale, Inorderthatthe re ader may apprec ia te the his - toricalsi gnific ance ofthe sto ry ,thewrite rofte n needs to give many de t ail s about the background to thetale. in par ti c ularthe poli tica l andsocial eventstakin g placeatthe time. These detail s mustbe subtly interw oven . Char l ton (inBurston. Green ,Nicholas, Dickin s on andThomps on , 1972). surmtsedthat inthe besthis t or i cal fic tion "re sea rch has ceen done ,but , unl ike just ice , it isnot seen to be done"(p.272). Sutcliff (in Havil and, 1973) , suggested that the "ga rn eredresults of the wr i te r' s. resea rc h"shoul dbe "proper ly di ge s t ed beforebei ng used--not hi ng is worseforahi storical sto ry than undiges t edfragments of historical backgr ound" {p,307). Ar but hnot, Brode rick ,Root, Tayl or and h'en z el (1976) said thatoneofthecriteria forhistori cal fictioni~thesmoot hness with whic h theaut hor incorporate s inf ormati on. Theydepl o redthe pre- sentati onof backgroun d inf ormat io n in"s uch long . sol i d pas sages that the flowof thenar rative is ha l t ed" .or info rmat io n incorp or ated inconver - sat io nsin an unnat ur al way "sothat thereader sar e awarethat theex- change ofdial oguebetween cha ra ctersis so le lyfor the benefit of the readi ngaudience" (p, 738).
Historic al sig ni fica nce.
His tori cal fictionshou ld concern itse lfwit h mattersofhi storic
26.
significance,dealingwith someof the.issuesand problemsgermane tothe periodin whichthebookis set. L.Smith (1953) att ache s grea timportance tothis requir ement :
Unl e s s the writer evokesthe forceswhic hliebehi nd the histori cal event sof thetime. there is notru erelation between theInvent ed plot andthe his to r i calsetti ng.
Withoutthisrel ati onshi pabook has nottheri ght to be judgeda his t or i cal story. (p,171)
She mai nta i nedthatsome oftheissues of the ttneanditspeculi ar prob- lemsshould beint egral to the tal e. andshedep lcred those booksin which the aut hor has merely imposed a story upon ahistori cal backgr ound be- causehefeel s that dista nceinti me lends glamour tohis tal e . Jacobs (1961) sugges ted that oneof the questio ns to be askedtnapprais ing his- tor ical ficti onis. "Isthe sto rytrulyhi s t or i ca l in nature ,or mi ght it as well have bee ntoldtn amoder nsetti ng?"(p,193 ). Walsh (1972)be- lievesthat the ambitionofhi storical wri t er s should be "t o ensh ri ne in thenovel,intheverycenterofits bei ng.a tr ulyhis t oricalinsight "
(c.19). Horovitz (1962) similarlythinks thata useful questi on to help eval uat io n is,"Is thest orygermaneto thetime, doesit deepenthe reader'sfeeling'forthetime?"(p,255- 256).
The novel JohnnyTre main by Esthe rForbescan be citedasan ex-
ampl eofabook tha t ensh ri nes mattersof his t orical signif ica nce. Itis ;~ notjus tthestoryofalively apprenticeandhis advent ures twohundr ed
year sago inBoston . Johnny is a youngman who gets caughtup in thedi s- putes betweenAmeri ca and England. Hetakespar t in thefamous Poston teapartyand witn esse stheearlystagesof the Americ an revol uti on. The stra i ned relati onship betwee nAmeri caand Engl andts made evidentand the mannerin whi ch the revolut i onary movementburg eone disreveeled. Larger ques tion sofsocialsignificanceemergetall,suchas, whatis themeaning
t·:
.,'
27.
of freedomand to what ends are people.preparedto goto fig ht for it?
SilDil a r l y . in My Ki ngdomfor a Grave Ste phanie Pl ownanisnotjust tellin g the sto ry of theyoung ll'Ian,Andr e iHami lton.who livedin[Illpe ria lRus s i ain theearly part of thiscent ury. She is also examin ingthecau..esof the revoluti on of 1917 whichmarkedthe endof Imperia li sm andthe beginni ng of conmuniSillin thetcount ry.
!!21 .
E.M.For s t e r (1927)de f ined plot inthefollowi ng way:
A plo tis•.. a narrati veofevents, theemphasisfalling oncausality. "The kingdiedand thenthe queen di ed", is a story. "The kingdied. and then thequeen died of grief" is a plot. The time- sequenceis pres e r ved , but the senseof causality overshadowsft. (p.82)
Danzi ger andJohnson(1961)wereexpressingasi milaridea when theysaid.
-Esse ntially .thepl ot isillnarr ati ve ofmotivatedaction. invol ving some confH ct orques tionwhichis finally resolv ed"(p.19) . Luke ns (1976) whodescr i bedplotas"t hesequence of even t sshowingchara c tersin acti on"
(p.33). continued by expla i ning that.
This sequenceisnot acc idental but is chosen bythe auth or as thebestway of te ll jnghisorherstory. If he or she has chosen well,theplot willarouse and holdour int e rest.(p .33)
Goodplots shouldpossessanumbe rof significantfea t ures. Firs t . theyshould bewell-constr~cted . Accord i ng toSuth erland andArbut hnot
(;177) this meansthat.
The story needs abeginning .a middle andan end . First the authormust set thestage. Thentohave devel opme nt and momentum.aplot needs ccnf l tct, oppositi onorproblem. las t. the r e shouldbea definitiveendi ng: aclimaxofaction, oreve nill strong indication ofillfut ureresoluti on. (p.21) With in thisfral1lf=wor k. thest oryshoul d be organi cand theelements
interrel at ed . Anderso nandGroff (1972)pointedout tha t "fromthe time oftheGreeksithas been assumed thatilplotshould ha ve an organic un1ty- -thatall its parts shouldbenece s s ary membersof the whole"
(p.6). second,the series ofevents inagood plot shou ldfollowa logi ca lsequenceandunfol din an orderlyWilJ A basis of cause and effe c tshouldbe observedin the happenings (Broo ksand Warren. 1959;
Georgiou,1969; Huckand Kuhn,1968). Third , the outcome oftheplot shouldbe anet urel , convincingone. Itshouldbe plausibleandshoul d notrel y oncoinci denceorcontrivanceforItsresol ut i onbut rather shouldbe perceived as aninevitableconclusionto the st ory. Lukens (1976 ) said that.
In liter atu r e... whe r e the truths ofhuman nature and humanexi s t e nce are explored.relianceon coincidence to resolve conflictweakens plot.(po52)
Four th,the plot shouldhave some originalityandfreshness;i tshould not bepredictableand hackneyed. Cullinan(1971)maintains :
Corolla ry to the requirement thatapl o t becr e di bl e isthe expectationthat it must be based on some ele- mentof novelty,surcrfse , or the unexpected. Just as chil dren are not susceptib l etoundue coin cidence.
neitherarethey interested in plotstha t are pedes t ri an and predictable.(p.47)
Finally,afifth element ofa goodplot is dynami sm. Thereshoul d be actio n,tensions. suspenseand conflicts. Broo ks and Warren (l959) ill us t ratedthispoint as fol l ows :
If.forexample.acharactermoves easil ytoward his tr iumph,orhisruin.there is reallyno story.
It isno storyto tell how a barrel rollsdownhill.
Thestory interest inheres in the reststances en~
countered andovercome,or not overcome--inthe logi c by whichresistanceevokes responseswhich, in thei r turn, encoun te rorcrea t e new res i stances tobedealtwith. (p. 81)
Cullinan(l971l expre ssed a si milarview:
Plo t isnot a se ries of progressive inci dent s of equal value leading from here to there withno
28 .
29 .
compl i cati ons . In a children's book.plot is a problem thatgrows.ge nerall y. outof character andisresolvedby the efforts of theheroor her oine. It has suspense,action.and life.(p.43) Act ion 1s an especiallyimpor tantingr edi ent in booksfor childrenand thepace of this actionis impor t ant also in thati fa plotmoves slowly andthe rearetoo many dtver stonsfr om the main thread.or too manycon- versat ionsand des criptions ,theyoungreader may becomebored and lay thebookas ide.
Cha r acter iza tio n.
Thereareanumber 0'; aspectsto considerin determining the qua l ity of an author'sworkwithres pec t to chara cter iza tion in histori- calfiction. Thefir s t is depth. Themaj or characters should be wel1- roundedindivi duals with manyfacets oftheir personali tie srevealed.
They shouldnotbe flat,puppet-ftke fi 9ure s,neithershouldthey be stereotypesplace din thest or y to embody some parti cula r traitorqual i ty but havingnodimensions other thanthis(He tr-s ,1942;Huckand Kuhn, 1968; Kar l,1970;J. S.Smith. 1967).
Thesecond is credibi l ity. Thecharacter s needtobe so human thatthey.ccnt.tnve toexistfor the reader beyondthe page s. L.Smith (1953)believes thatcha ra ct e rs should"t a keon life and ind i viduali t y un- ti l theyliveinthereader's imagina ti onlongaftertheeve nts of the sto ry fade fromthe mind" (p. 41). This can be effe c t ed by anauthorwho showsbot h the strengthS and weaknessesof his charac ters . their flaws, their se ns iti vities andinsens i t iv i t ie s,their vi rt uesandvices.stup'id- Hies and wisdom (Broo ks and warren, 1959; Kar l,1970;Say e rs ,1957). A moreelusive, but neverthel ess accur a te way,to descr i beth is requ t re nent
was providedbyHuckand Kuhn (1968) who sa i dthat cr-edtbl echa ract ers .~
30 .
were thoseint owhomtheauth~r ~btew.thebrea t h of lif e"(p,11) . Athirdrequi r ementwhi ch. followsfromcredi bili ty is consistency.
Notonly shouldcharac te rs behave and talk inways consis ten twith thei r age,sex.backgro und.ethnic gro upand educat i on,but they shouldalso develo p andbehavecons i s t ent l ythroughout thebook with the persona lities whichhavebeencr eat ed forthemand nothavetheir act ionscondit i oned unnat urallybysuchexigencies as the demandsofplot. Everythingthey do orsayandtheirapproachto1iFe shouldseemnatura l andine vitableto the reader .
A four t hrequirementof excellenceis thatthereshouldbesome growt hand develo pmentof major charactersthroughout thest ory. Notal l cha ract erswill changebutsome of the moresignifican toneswill do so . Also.to appear tr ulyhuman,the changeshouldbe "gradual and convi ncing rather thanmercurialandunreali st ic "(Huck and Kuhn,1968. p ,12 ).
SadkerandSadker (1977)agree with thi s. Theysaid,"Ifa charac t e r mat uresor regr e s s es . thereshould beadequatemotivati on toaccount for the sechanges , and developmentshoul dbesequent i aland teltevebt erather thantnstanteneo usandcont r i ve d"(p.6). Similarly,Sayers(1957) con- tends, "Chi ldrenmis t rus t the too- sudden conver sion,resenting it as an insul t to't heir int ell i gence andtothe truthofhuma nna t ur e. Butthe pos s i bl e andpla usiblemuta ti on --this is as fasc inat ingtochild r e n as itisto theadult"(p.10).
Fifth.it isof t en the case that speechand actionarea better meansof reveal i ng characterthan is descript ion. JohnBuch enin Haviland (1973) commentedth~ t,
Thebus in e ss of the novel istis to make men and womenreveal themse l ve s in speechandaction, to playtheshowman aslitt le aspossible,to prese nt
31.
thefin ished product . and nottoprintthejottings of hislabor a t ory.(p.225 ) .
Danzi ger-andJohnson (1961)concur. sayi ng that·Characters who provethl!lll- se lve sby tal kingand acti ngbefore 0111"eye s aremore likelyto sees com- plexandconvincing thanthose about whomwe are onl ytol d·Ip, 241.
Inthe fi nal.ana l yst s,chara c t eriz a tionis ofsuc himport ancein chil dr e n's novelsbe cau s e as Cull inan(1971)said .itisoneof the pr tncipaIavenuesbywhi chch il dr enbecomeinvolvedl<ti ththeliterat ure theyrea d. It ts thechar ac ter s,of tenthehero orheroi ne,with"hom child- renident if yas theyinte rac t with th!novel,andthroughthis identi fic at ion theybecometotal l yimmersed1nthe story.
Theme.
Theme isoneof themostimportant elements In allworks ofliter ature . Br ooksandWar ren(1959)defineit as"the idea, thesi g n ificanc e , the inter- pretationof pers ons and event s ,theperva s iv e andunifyi ngvi ew of1i fe whichisembodi edinthetotalnarrative" (p.273 ). Theycontinue:
Itis•••wha twe are to makeof thernnaan experience rendered inthestory . And what wemakeofsucnhuman exce-tence always invol ves ,directlyor indire c tly,somecormenton value s inhumanna t ureand ht.lllanco nduct,on good and bad, 01\the trueandthefalse. someconcept i onof wha t the hlJllan pla ce isinthe worl d . (p.273)
Lukens (1976 )tri edto illus trate theide aof themein thisway : In storytelling"Wha thappenednext?- isaquestion about chronologyand narr ative or der, "I-J hydi di t happen ?"is a questio nabou t confltctandnlot, Butwhen weask,"Wha tdoes itall mean?"we:>egi n todi s covertheme•••,Theme in lite ratu re fs -e it1 that holdsthest ory togethe r,suchasaco-rent about either society,humannature,or thehU'llan condition. It 1sthe main idea or centra leeen- ingofapiece ofwr iting. (p. 81 )
., ,
~
32.
In goodhi stor i ca l fi ct i onther eare~womaj or requirementsoftheme. The firstistha t it shouldbe one of value andsignifica nce. Hunt (in Huus, 19GB),beli e vestha t oneofthe cr ucia lquestionsto be asked inexamining worksoflite r atu r e is. "Isita storywhich demandsa telli ng.a situ- at ionthat clamors for apart icul arwriter' sint er preta t i on?" (p. 14).
Only thi smot i ve wi ll leadto the productionof goodl tt er etu re . Huck and Kuhn (1968)agree that"the themeof a goodbook should be worth im- parting"(p,11)whileKarl (1970) saidtha t in fine lite rat urethe centra ltheme is "a deep anduniversa lone,oftenso subtleitcannotbe expressed. onlyacted out" (p,72). In a fine book of historica lfiction itwill befound thatin additionto the storyline, the reis a grappl ing with signi ficantquestionsabout the human condi tion. Sutherlandand Arbuthno t (1977) said that good books are "builtarounduniversal themes orneeds "(p , 15). J. S.Smith .(1967) inc lu dedthe followingamongst hi s criteria of excel lencein chi ldren's li t e r a t ur e:
The book is an especiallyeffectivegrappling, at the child r en ' slevel of experience andunderstanding,with sig nifican t factsofhuman existence-- bi r th and death, fr iends hi p and emnity , loya l t y and di sl oyalty , just ice and injus tice ,being puzzl ed anddis coveringananswer or not dis coveri ng one. (p.120 )
D. V. Smith in Squire(1968) sai d:
Grea t lit era tu r e raises theprobl emsandques t i ons that have perplexed man through all history: for example .therel ati ons between powe rand responsi- bility or thepr oble m of undeservedhuman suffe ri ng . Itpresent s the solutions and answersof the great - estmi ndsthe worldhas known. Ifthesolut ions and answer s are not comple te ,theyare the best we have.(p.715)
Thesecond requtr eme nt is tha t thetheme should be sensitively woven intothestructureof the st or y . Huck and Kuhn(1968) suggestthat one of theimportantquestionsto ask is. "Doesthe themeemerge natura lly
33.
from thest o r yor is itst a t ed toocbvtouslyt" (p•18). L.Smith(1953) deplores thosebooksin whi ch the themeis"hamme r ed in.inanobvi ous way, in isolated inciden t s "(p.40) . She recommendsalternat i vel ythat .
Itshouldbedevelopedthr ough the ect.tInor event s ofthe bookanci thr oughthecharactersco 1 conver sation.
To take a simpl eexample : Ifthe theme15"th e cunningof thefox", children donotwant to be toldina storythatthefox is a cunni nganimal. Theywantto see himshowi ngcra ft and cunnin g in the thi ngstha tha ppenin the story andso buil d upthe i r pictureof thena tureofthefox.(p.40) In thefinal analysis. the success ofthewriter's tre a tment of theme canbejudge d by theeffect onthe reade r. Broo ks and Warr en(1959) maintainthat ina fine pi ec e of fic t ion .
We seemtobe caught up ina vi ta l processin whic h meaii"lrigemergesfromexper -ience- v endtha t iswhat , in theend, makes ourownlives, in so far as we liveabove the br utelevel,inter e sti ng to us: the senseofdeepening discovery ,the sat isfactionof lea r ningandachiev ing, the growt h of awareness andappreciation,the fuller under s t anding ofour own exper ience. (p,274)
Sett ing.
The settingof a storyrefer s to the timeandplaceinwhi chthe sequenceefact io noccur s. There are two pri nc ip altypes ,as Lukens (l976) explained:
It maybe a backdrop for the plot ,like thegenera l'ized backdro pof acity, street , orfo r e staga in s t whichwe canseesomeoftheact ionofa play. Or it maybean integralpartof the stor y ,so essent i a l to our under- standingofthi splot, thes e charact er s , and these themes,tha t wemus t exper ie nce itwithoursenses....
The integral set t ingnot onlymay clari f ythecon- flict,butalso mayhelpthe rea derunderstand charact er, maybecastasthe anta goni st , may in·
fluencemood,orper haps act as symbol. (p, 77)
Sadkerand Sadker (1977) agree, sayingtha t set ti ng,"maybe a minor aspect
34.
of the storyor itmaypervadethest o.r y andcreat ea mood thathightignts thenatu reof the char act er s andthe action in which they are tnvct ved'' (p .5).
Therequi rementsfor a well-createdsettinginahis t ori calnovel ar efirstthatit shouldnotbe mere scene paintingbutshouldbe capable ofmakin g thereaderfe el theillusi on of reality. This meansitmustbe clear,vividly drawn, believableand authentic down to the last detail (Cull i nan, 1911 ; Huckand Kuhn,1968,Sedke r and Sedker,1977). Second. i t shouldaf fectandbe consistentwith the action,thecharacters, andthe themeofthe story. That is.itshouldbeca pable of givi ngdepthand moodtotheta l e (Cull i nan,1971; Huck and Kuhn,196B). Third.the details of the setting must be woven subtly int o the te xt ,not insertedinlong, boring passagesof description. The authorshoul d not engage in such de vi cesas an unna tura lexchanqe.ofinf ormat i o n between charac ters in order to set the scenes (Georgiou, 1969; Sutherlandand Arbuthnot, 1977).
Karl(1970)is of the opinio nthat,"The best backgroundsare created by authors whobec:ome steeped in thes~tt ingthey need andthenforgetitand write.putti nginwhatcomes andis necessary " (P.74). Afinal point is tha tsuffident attenti on must be devotedto creatingsettingin order to makethework unde rstandableand enj oya bl e and inthe case ofhi s t or i cal fic tio nthe writer hastotake especialcare to incl udesufficientdetail becausethe setti ngwil l us ua ll y be an unfamil iarone to his reader. How- eve r, this mustnot be overdoneto thepoint ofbecomi ng tedious,because toter-esc maylag if the author spends too much time building setting. The writer must bes~nsitiveenoughto strike the ri ght be Isnce ,
35.
~.
Sut herland(1973) makesthe assertion that , "Thebest books have tha tmost el usivecompone nt, a distinctivelit erar y style" (p. viii) . SeekerandSadker (1977) definestyle as,"each individual author's mannerof expression,his Dr he runique adaptation oflangua ge tofi t ideas. Itinvolvesan autho r's sel ec t i on and arrangeme ntof words.the le ngthandpatternofsentences.and the use of rhythm and 1 ; terary imagery" (p.6). Danz i ge rand Johnson (961)sai d , "Whenwe speakof style••.we are conce rnedspecifically wi thwha t migh t becal ledthe texture of wr itin g ,wit hsuchmattersof verbaldetail as diction,imagery, syntax, andsound".(P.33). Mor e simply,Swift,in hi sLe tter to a Young Clergy-
~.January9th,1720,maintainedthat "Properwords in properplaces make the true definitionofa style" (Bartlett.1968, c•3B9).
c.S.lewis(1961).discussi nghow the qualityof a writer'sstyle canbe assessed said. "The onlytwo tests thatare really relevant .. •[are]
thedegre e inwhichitis (as Dryden woul d say) 'sounding and significant '·' (p. 35). AnU~berof elements havebeenpinpoi nted as impor t an t contri- butorsto the soundingnessand significance of1iterary style. The first isthedeqr e e of craftsma nship exhibitedby the author,his controlover lang uage andhis powerof handling wordsandrhy t hm. Karl (1970)said:
A'load styleshows thatt "autho rhas anear for how thi ngs soundon paper. a sense of drama thathelpshim vary hi s sentences and underlinewhat is importantby using hisownnaturalrhythm to the best pos sible ad- vantage.anda discriminat ionwith words that allows eac hward tocarry feeli ngas wellas meaning. (p.64) Sayers(1965) observedthat."The r e are writers whous elanguJ.ge as thoughitwere a ritualof worship •• • •Itis a feat of handlingwords and rhyt hm soth~ttheybecome anincantation. Theytake on a meaning
