Editing Historical fiction (section)

==Introduction==
Definitions differ as to what constitutes a historical novel. On the one hand the [[Historical Novel Society]] defines the genre as works "written at least fifty years after the events described",<ref>Richard Lee. [http://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/defining-the-genre/ "Defining the Genre"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711120201/https://historicalnovelsociety.org/guides/defining-the-genre |date=2018-07-11 }}, Historical Novel Society.</ref> while critic Sarah Johnson delineates such novels as "set before the middle of the last [20th] century ... in which the author is writing from research rather than personal experience."<ref>Sarah L. Johnson. ''Historical Fiction: A Guide to the Genre''. Westport, CT: Libraries Unlimited, 2005, p. 1.</ref> Then again Lynda Adamson, in her preface to the bibliographic reference work ''World Historical Fiction'', states that while a "generally accepted definition" for the historical novel is a novel "about a time period at least 25 years before it was written", she also suggests that some people read novels written in the past, like those of [[Jane Austen]] (1775–1817), as if they were historical novels.<ref>{{cite book|last=Adamson|first=Lynda G.|title=World Historical Fiction|year=1999|publisher=Oryx Press|location=Phoenix, AZ|isbn=9781573560665|page=[https://archive.org/details/worldhistoricalf00adam/page/ xi]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/worldhistoricalf00adam/page/}}</ref>

Historical fiction sometimes encouraged movements of [[romantic nationalism]]. Walter Scott's [[Waverley (novel)|Waverley]] novels created interest in [[Scotland|Scottish]] history and still illuminate it.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}} A series of novels by [[Józef Ignacy Kraszewski]] on the history of [[Poland]] popularized the country's history after it had lost its independence in the [[Partitions of Poland]]. [[Henryk Sienkiewicz]] wrote several immensely popular novels set in conflicts between the Poles and predatory [[Teutonic Knights]], rebelling [[Cossack]]s and invading [[Sweden|Swedes]]. He won the 1905 [[Nobel Prize in literature]]. He also wrote the popular novel ''[[Quo Vadis (novel)|Quo Vadis]]'', which was about [[Nero]]'s [[Roman Empire|Rome]] and the [[early Christianity|early Christians]] and has been adapted several times for film, in [[Quo Vadis (1913 film)|1913]], [[Quo Vadis (1924 film)|1924]], [[Quo Vadis (1951 film)|1951]], [[Quo Vadis (2001 film)|2001]] to only name the most prominent. [[Sigrid Undset]]'s ''[[Kristin Lavransdatter]]'' fulfilled a similar function for [[Norway|Norwegian history]]; Undset later won a [[Nobel Prize for Literature]] (1928).

Many early historical novels played an important role in the rise of European popular interest in the [[Middle Ages in history|history of the Middle Ages]]. [[Victor Hugo]]'s ''[[The Hunchback of Notre-Dame]]'' often receives credit for fueling the movement to preserve the [[Gothic architecture]] of [[France]], leading to the establishment of the ''[[Monuments historiques]]'', the French governmental authority for [[historic preservation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.mappinggothic.org/person/440 |title= Hugo, Victor |website=Mapping Gothic France|access-date=2014-09-14 |archive-date=2018-11-06 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181106202434/http://www.mappinggothic.org/person/440 |url-status=dead }}</ref> [[Rita Monaldi]] and [[Francesco Sorti]]'s historical mystery saga ''Imprimateur Secretum Veritas Mysterium'' has increased interest in European history{{citation needed|date=August 2021}} and features famous castrato opera singer [[Atto Melani]] as a detective and spy. Although the story itself is fiction, many of the persona and events are not. The book is based on research by Monaldi and Sorti, who researched information from 17th-century manuscripts and published works concerning the [[Battle of Vienna|siege of Vienna]], [[plague (disease)|the plague]] and [[papacy]] of [[Pope Innocent XI]].<ref>''Imprimatur'', p. 532.</ref>

The genre of the historical novel has also permitted some authors, such as the [[Poland|Polish]] novelist [[Bolesław Prus]] in his sole historical novel, ''[[Faraon|Pharaoh]]'', to distance themselves from their own time and place to gain [[perspective (cognitive)|perspective]] on [[society]] and on the [[human condition]], or to escape the depredations of the [[Censorship|censor]].<ref>Czesław Miłosz, ''The History of Polish Literature'', pp. 299–302.</ref>

In some historical novels, major historic events take place mostly off-stage, while the fictional characters inhabit the world where those events occur. [[Robert Louis Stevenson]]'s ''[[Kidnapped (book)|Kidnapped]]'' recounts mostly private adventures set against the backdrop of the [[Jacobitism|Jacobite]] troubles in [[Scotland]]. [[Charles Dickens]]'s ''[[Barnaby Rudge]]'' is set amid the [[Gordon Riots]], and ''[[A Tale of Two Cities]]'' in the [[French Revolution]].

In some works, the accuracy of the historical elements has been questioned, as in [[Alexandre Dumas, père|Alexandre Dumas]]' 1845 novel ''[[La Reine Margot (novel)|Queen Margot]]''. [[Postmodern]] novelists such as [[John Barth]] and [[Thomas Pynchon]] operate with even more freedom, mixing historical characters and settings with invented history and fantasy, as in the novels ''[[The Sot-Weed Factor (1960 novel)|The Sot-Weed Factor]]'' (1960) and ''[[Mason & Dixon]]'' (1997) respectively. A few writers create historical fiction without fictional characters. One example is the series ''[[Masters of Rome]]'' by [[Colleen McCullough]].