Fact and the unexplained

    From last month's Historical Novel Society London conference, here is the very interesting discussion Fact and the Unexplained: Myths, Fairy Tales, and the Gothic, chaired by Kate Forsyth with Prof. Diana Wallace, Essie Fox, Jessie Burton and Deborah Harkness*. (I loved Kate Forsyth's description of historical fiction as "history set to music".)

*I recently re-read A Discovery of Witches, the first volume in Deborah Harkness' All Souls trilogy, and enjoyed it just as much as the first time - it's a lot of fun. If you want to know more, watch this edition of Book Lust with Nancy Pearl.

Comments

[Carol S]

WELL, thank you!
The best hour I've spent today, it's involved me so deeply that all other plans have been dropped. I even restarted watching it once or twice, and now must send the link to all my writer friends.
Apart from the absorbing content of the discussion the panels' body language contains the kernel of a short story.
I've almost finished reading the third of Deborah Harkness' novels, rich clever work. And mostly I can't stand fantasy. Must try the others' here now.
Thank you Cornflower again

[LizF]

I have to echo Carol's comments! Thank you so much for posting this fascinating video!
I have read fiction by all the featured authors (currently in the middle of The Miniaturist which is brilliant!)so it was particularly interesting to hear from the writers themselves.
I was amused by Jessie Burton's comments about the possibility of Wolf Hall being included on the history syllabus in schools as a lot of my revision for A Level History was in the form of historical fiction as I found a lot of the text books very boring indeed!

It certainly might help to enthuse students about the subject because from what I can see from my own children, the current standard and style of teaching of History in state schools seems more likely to put them off!

[Anji]

Thank you for the link. It was a great way to spend a hour listening to a panel of fascinating women.

[Erika]

I am re-reading the first two Deborah Harkness books also, before going on to number 3, as I have partly forgotten who is who.

I want to alert you to the Two Nerdy History Girls blog if you don't know it as the most recent entry has a set of very early (1840s) photographs of Edinburgh.

[Lory @ Emerald City Book Review]

Oh my, I have to carve out an hour for this. Thanks for referencing Nancy Pearl--I love her interviews.