Medievalists Writing Fiction about the Middle Ages: Perspectives from Authors and Scholars
Sponsoring Organization(s)
Special Session
Organizer Name
Debra E. Best; Trish Ward
Organizer Affiliation
California State Univ.-Dominguez Hills; College of Charleston
Presider Name
Alison Gulley
Presider Affiliation
Appalachian State Univ.
Paper Title 1
A Matter of Multiple Audiences: Fictionalizing the Middle Ages
Presenter 1 Name
Rebecca Barnhouse
Presenter 1 Affiliation
Youngstown State Univ.
Paper Title 2
Retelling Chaucer's Canterbury Tales with Modern American Teenagers
Presenter 2 Name
Kim Zarins
Presenter 2 Affiliation
California State Univ.-Sacramento
Paper Title 3
Justice as Women's Work in the Novels of Candace Robb
Presenter 3 Name
Teresa Marie Hooper
Presenter 3 Affiliation
Maryville College
Paper Title 4
Fiction and the Art of Research
Presenter 4 Name
Bruce Holsinger
Presenter 4 Affiliation
Univ. of Virginia
Start Date
11-5-2018 10:00 AM
Session Location
Schneider 1360
Description
Knowing too much about a topic can be an impediment—especially for authors of historical fiction. Facts can have an annoying tendency to get in the way of a writer’s need to craft a compelling story. Yet this hasn’t stopped medievalists from drawing on their scholarly backgrounds to write fiction set in the Middle Ages. Recent publications encompass a variety of genres: historical novels such as Lucy Pick’s Pilgrimage; mysteries, including Bruce Holsinger’s A Burnable Book; fantasy such as Susan Signe Morrison’s Grendel’s Mother; and children’s books, including Katy Beebe’s Brother Hugo and the Bear. These types of books raise a number of questions: How do authors negotiate the tension between what their research tells them and the needs of the story? Does their scholarly background hamper their storytelling abilities? In what circumstances do non-scholars do a better job of portraying the Middle Ages? What can fiction uncover about the Middle Ages that academic writing doesn’t reveal, and in what ways does writing fiction change scholars as medievalists? This session, continuing the conversation begun at a well attended session from the 2017 Congress, invites medievalists—those who write fiction and those who don’t—to reflect on what it means to have scholars fictionalizing the Middle Ages.
Debra Best
Medievalists Writing Fiction about the Middle Ages: Perspectives from Authors and Scholars
Schneider 1360
Knowing too much about a topic can be an impediment—especially for authors of historical fiction. Facts can have an annoying tendency to get in the way of a writer’s need to craft a compelling story. Yet this hasn’t stopped medievalists from drawing on their scholarly backgrounds to write fiction set in the Middle Ages. Recent publications encompass a variety of genres: historical novels such as Lucy Pick’s Pilgrimage; mysteries, including Bruce Holsinger’s A Burnable Book; fantasy such as Susan Signe Morrison’s Grendel’s Mother; and children’s books, including Katy Beebe’s Brother Hugo and the Bear. These types of books raise a number of questions: How do authors negotiate the tension between what their research tells them and the needs of the story? Does their scholarly background hamper their storytelling abilities? In what circumstances do non-scholars do a better job of portraying the Middle Ages? What can fiction uncover about the Middle Ages that academic writing doesn’t reveal, and in what ways does writing fiction change scholars as medievalists? This session, continuing the conversation begun at a well attended session from the 2017 Congress, invites medievalists—those who write fiction and those who don’t—to reflect on what it means to have scholars fictionalizing the Middle Ages.
Debra Best