Editing Historical fiction (section)

===History up to 17th century===
[[File:IOC.UTokyo-009910 繡像隋唐演義一百回民國年上海商務印書館排印本 卷首.pdf|thumb|A page from a printed copy of the Chinese historical novel ''Sui Tang yanyi'' (''Romance of the Sui and Tang dynasties'') by Chu Renhuo, collection of the University of Tokyo]]
Historical prose fiction has a long tradition in world literature. Three of the [[Four Classics]] of [[Chinese literature|Chinese novels]] were set in the distant past: [[Shi Nai'an]]'s 14th-century ''[[Water Margin]]'' concerns 12th-century outlaws; [[Luo Guanzhong]]'s 14th-century ''[[Romance of the Three Kingdoms]]'' concerns 3rd-century wars which ended the [[Han dynasty]]; [[Wu Cheng'en]]'s 16th-century ''[[Journey to the West]]'' concerns the 7th-century Buddhist pilgrim [[Xuanzang]].<ref>Andrew H. Plaks, ''Four Masterworks of the Ming Novel'' (Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press, 1987)</ref> In addition to those, there was a wealth of historical novels that became popular in the literary circles during the Ming and Qing periods in Chinese history; they include [[Feng Menglong]]'s ''[[Dongzhou Lieguo Zhi]]'' (''Chronicles of the Eastern Zhou Kingdoms''), [[:zh:褚人穫|Chu Renhuo]]'s ''[[:zh:隋唐演義|Sui Tang yanyi]]'' (''Romance of the Sui and Tang dynasties''), [[:zh:熊大木|Xiong Damu]]'s ''[[The Generals of the Yang Family#Ming/Qing Dynasty novels: 16th to 19th centuries|Liang Song Nanbei Zhizhuan]]'' (''Records of the Two Songs, South and North'') and ''[[:zh:全漢志傳|Quan han zhi zhuan]]'', [[:zh:楊爾曾|Yang Erzeng]]'s ''[[:zh:東西晉演義|Dong Xi Jin yan yi]]'' (''Romance of the Eastern and Western Jin dynasties''), and Qian Cai's ''[[General Yue Fei|The General Yue Fei]]'', etc.

[[Classical Greek]] novelists were also "very fond of writing novels about people and places of the past".<ref>Margaret Anne Doody, ''The True Story of the Novel''. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press, 1996, p. 27.</ref> ''[[The Iliad]]'' has been described as historic fiction, since it treats historic events, although its genre is generally considered [[epic poetry]].<ref name="BrayfieldSprott2013">{{cite book|author1=Celia Brayfield| author2=Duncan Sprott|title=Writing Historical Fiction: A Writers' and Artists' Companion| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iGmJAgAAQBAJ&pg=PA63|date=5 December 2013|publisher=A&C Black|isbn=978-1-78093-838-7|page=63}}</ref> [[Pierre Vidal-Naquet]] has suggested that [[Plato]] laid the foundations for the historical novel through the myth of [[Atlantis]] contained in his dialogues ''[[Timaeus (dialogue)|Timaeus]]'' and ''[[Critias (dialogue)|Critias]]''.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Vidal-Naquet |first1=Pierre |author-link1=Pierre Vidal-Naquet|date=Winter 1992 |title=Atlantis and the Nations |journal=[[Critical Inquiry]] |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=300–326|jstor=1343786|doi=10.1086/448634 |s2cid=162246164 }}</ref> ''[[The Tale of Genji]]'' (written before 1021) is a fictionalized account of Japanese court life about a century prior and its author asserted that her work could present a "fuller and therefore 'truer{{' "}} version of history.<ref name="Starrs2013">{{cite book|author=Roy Starrs|title=Asian Nationalism in an Age of Globalization |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XcS1AQAAQBAJ&pg=PT646|date=23 October 2013|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-134-27869-5|page=646}}</ref>

One of the early examples of the historical novel in Europe is ''[[La Princesse de Clèves]]'', a French novel published anonymously in March 1678. It is regarded by many as the beginning of the modern tradition of the [[psychological fiction|psychological novel]] and as a great work. Its author generally is held to be [[Madame de La Fayette]]. The action takes place between October 1558 and November 1559 at the royal court of Henry II of France. The novel recreates that era with remarkable precision. Nearly every character – except the heroine – is a historical figure. Events and intrigues unfold with great faithfulness to documentary records. In the United Kingdom, the historical novel "appears to have developed" from ''La Princesse de Clèves'', "and then via the [[Gothic novel]]".<ref>J. A. Cuddon ''The Penguin Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory''. Penguin Books: London, 1999, p.383.</ref> Another early example is ''[[The Unfortunate Traveller]]'' by [[Thomas Nashe]], published in 1594 and set during the reign of [[Henry VIII of England|King Henry VIII]].<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MJAdBQAAQBAJ&q=%22the+Unfortunate+Traveller%22+%22historical+fiction%22&pg=PA151|title=Sidney to Milton, 1580-1660|isbn=9781403937926|last1=Wynne-Davies|first1=Marion|date=25 November 2002|publisher=Palgrave Macmillan}}{{Dead link|date=August 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>