One of the things I’ve long found delightful about reading books is how much history they contain.
I don’t mean that in reading history books one learns history — though of course, one does — but rather that, in reading any book one can learn something about the time in which it was written. This is true of nonfiction and educational books in many ways, in that – especially where scientific and anthropological information is concerned – you can see *exactly* when an idea or a discovery or a theory was NEW if you read a book related to the concept at its inception. (Darwin, anyone?) But it is also true of fiction.
I do not, by ‘fiction’, mean ‘historical fiction’. Historical Fiction is fiction that is written in the present day and is about, or takes place in, a previous time. I like this kind of fiction, don’t get me wrong. Steve Berry in particular is adept at spinning tales that combine historical events with current happenings and creating an adventure for his characters involving both.
But what I *mean* about reading fiction in a historical sense is that by reading a fiction book that was published in the 1920s (or 1850s or 1790s), one can get a pretty clear picture of the typical (or, sometimes, radical) thoughts and actions and general ideals and lifestyles of the people who lived during that time. Last year (2022) for instance, I read The Ancient Highway, by James Oliver Curwood1 (published 1924). And it was fascinating. Probably without knowing he was doing so, Curwood very much established what the common attitudes were at the time — towards courtship, about individualism and independence, and about what would later come to be known as ‘urbanization’ — while also {knowingly and intentionally} espousing ideas that were somewhat radical for the time period, especially where tribal rights of indigenous peoples and stewardship of forested lands (which at the time were being razed at an alarming rate in the US and Canada for lumber) were concerned.
Being that Adventure is not really my genre, these things perhaps stood out to me in the above example more than they would for someone who indulges in that particular form of reading more often. But I was also struck, while reading that book, by how expectations have changed in terms of who is expected to write what. Because The Ancient Highway is an adventure, yes. But it is also, largely, a romance. And quite frankly, most male-authored books these days are NOT. If is an adventure written by a man it might include sex. And if it is an adventure written by a man it’s probably billed as ‘Thriller’ or shelved with ‘Mystery’. (Though if it’s a female-authored thriller or mystery that happens to contain sex, it’s billed as ‘Romance’.2) But the only male author of romance novels I know to sell well in modern times is Nicholas Sparks.
Yet, in its time, The Ancient Highway – though at the time, I believe, was marketed to be just ‘a novel’, one without genre – very much represented its time, and what ‘adventure’ meant at the time. It also represented who was writing what at that time.
The Rules of the Game (published 1910) by Stewart Edward White (another author you’re probably unfamiliar with) is another such novel.
Victory (published in 1915) by Joseph Conrad (an author you know, I hope), likewise.
This list goes on, and it includes ‘arty’ books and detective fiction, children’s stories and fantasy stories, poetry, and even (yes) romance. Try reading Alice in Wonderland (published in 1865) as an adult, and see what you can glean from it about the time in which it was written. Or open up Whose Body? by Dorothy Sayers, published soon after the end of the first world war, and allow yourself to be stricken by both the horrific-ness of the crime depicted and the accuracy of the PTSD3 behaviors characterized by the sleuth.
For me, noticing these kinds of things (and putting those fiction-representing-reality ideas together with what I know, factually, about the time in which the book was written) and mulling them as I progress from introduction to climax to conclusion… It’s one of the things that makes reading so much fun.
How about you?
Have you ever noticed how much history is in books written in previous time periods?
Are there books or authors that, as a result, have taught you something new?
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1James Oliver Curwood may not be a name you recognize but he was once a celebrity writer in America and is still famous where I grew up. I’ve long known of the man; I’ve seen the place he once lived. But I never read anything by him until 114 years after he published his first novel (The Wolf Hunters, 1908) at the age of 30.
2Sandra Brown has long fought against this, with some success. Linda Howard, however, has turned out some excellent mysteries/thrillers in her time (read Cry No More and see for yourself) and they are inevitably shelved with ‘Romance’.
3PTSD did not come to be called PTSD until 1980, but the symptoms of it — formerly called ‘shell shock’ and ‘war neurosis’ — were very real in survivors of WWI, and Sayers does an amazing job (and somewhat of a scandalous job, at the time, because of course we don’t talk about these things!) of portraying those symptoms in the character of Peter Wimsey.
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I must get into some old books. I read modern novels almost exclusively but agree about getting a feeling for the beliefs of the time.
I remember when a series of children’s books I loved was altered and reissued because they displayed the prejudices of the time. Now that world around 1910 is changed to reflect modern values. A valuable history lesson is lost.
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Yes, the “cleaning up” of old attitudes is one of my bugbears. I much prefer the approach the British Library crime publications takes: they issue a statement in their books that feature authors of yore to the effect that some of the language, attitudes, and stereotypes portrayed in said publications may be offensive to modern readers and state that they have not edited these things out because “it is not possible to separate these stories from the history of their writing.”
Here, here!
I’ve read a lot of books either written back in the day or modern authors reference historical facts and events and much of it is pretty interesting especially when you read an old book and you can see how the author perceived the future – and, sometimes, accurately.
Before Trump became president – and I mean years before he did – I’d read science fiction that would talk about “history” and, in this, how messed up the US and, sometimes, the Earth itself got screwed because, inexplicably, he became president… and then he really did. Still, I’ve felt that it’s “easy” to take history and twist it to make it fit the context of the story but, It’s pretty cool to read those old books and see how the author saw the world around them and how they thought the future would be like.
Retro futurism is fun, I agree. What “the future” of 2020 would be, back in 1980 or 1950, how it was envisioned… It’s fascinating.
Also — not a book, but a TV show — things like Star Trek gadgets that actually have come true, 60+ years later.
What a great query that has kept me pondering. I agree with you that the in-the-moment historical perspective is hugely valuable and interesting, and I definitely approve of discouraging revisionist editing. I like the idea of making it clear, though, that we have, at least in some cases, evolved our thinking and behavior. By labeling, as you mention the British Library crime publications do, it at least opens the door to conversation, contemplation, and evaluation of where such attitudes might still need stewarding into more enlightened iterations. I think Virgina Woolfe and D. H. Lawrence had a large impact on me in developing an interest in history, as we’re talking about in this context. But it’s become clear to me that my perspective is too American/English, so this year, I’ve committed to adding at least a couple of older books from other cultures to my reading list.
That’s a laudable goal. If there are titles you’d recommend, I’d love to hear!
For the last couple of years, I’ve been reading Agatha Christie novels on the 100th anniversary of their publications. It’s been an interesting way to explore what things were like a century ago.
I was going to make this a whole big project, but Agatha Christie had a very long career and I started too late in my life. I’d have to live to be 111 to read and review all her books on their 100th anniversary.
She had an amazing career. 🙂
It is the incidental information in fiction that makes them so interesting. It also indicates how well-read such authors are.
I agree, revisionist editing is deplorable, in all forms of art.
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Yes. The in-time cultural references are interesting to see in retrospect, especially.
I can’t say I’ve read many (any) books written long ago. But I do enjoy the Steve Berry type of fiction – written today to fit into an older time. I think I shall read one of his books next. It’s been a while since I picked one up.
I have a couple of his books on my TBR shelf right now. Most recently I read The Malta Exchange. I think my favorite of his thus far has been The Alexandria Link.
I find the same to be true about art. Nothing exists in a vacuum, and all human expressions retain the flavor of the time they were created.
(As an aside, and as you know, I write “spanking fiction” and actually wrote one piece that was historical fiction (about William Carlos Williams) and then attempted to write a Gothic horror spanking story in a Victorian style. Both were different experiments in bringing a different flavor to the stories. I was pleased that readers felt the horror piece did indeed come across as something written in a different time.)
It takes a special skill to make those atmospheric details of past times ring true.