Historical fictions create stories about events and individuals that once existed. Anxiety around... more Historical fictions create stories about events and individuals that once existed. Anxiety around the truth of such fictions is common and ‘authenticity’ and ‘accuracy’ are familiar terms in such discourse. However, this language is often used interchangeably with both terms typically referencing a text’s perceived truthfulness. This article argues for a distinction between accuracy and authenticity in historical fictions, proposing definitions for both terms. Accuracy denotes the extent to which a text’s representation is consistent with available evidence. It is concerned with historical veracity and whether specific aspects of an historical fiction can be considered factual. Authenticity, however, refers to an impression of accuracy and the extent to which readers believe that a representation captures the past. Appraisals of authenticity are subjective and are shaped by the prior representations of the past that have been encountered by an individual reader. Such perceptions might be informed by historical research, yet they are not necessarily so. Authentic representations need not be accurate. Using textual analyses of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Peter Morgan’s The Crown, the article demonstrates how accuracy and authenticity allow for discussion of the complex relations between fiction, evidence, truth, and culture in our reading of historical fiction.
Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a... more Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a royal mistress to both Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England. Hence she has predominately been represented in terms of deviant sexual behaviours, with many historians concluding that she is of limited historical importance. The publication of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in 2001 instigated renewed interest in Boleyn and questioned such representations of her character. By presenting Mary as a legitimate subject of historical inquiry and asserting that her novel was an accurate representation, Gregory became the focus of debate concerning accuracy and authenticity in historical fiction. This paper offers a postmodern comparative study of representations of Boleyn's sexuality in The Other Boleyn Girl, David Loades' The Boleyns, Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore' and Josephine Wilkinson's Mary Boleyn: The True Story of ...
Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a... more Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a royal mistress to both Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England. Hence she has predominately been represented in terms of deviant sexual behaviours, with many historians concluding that she is of limited historical importance. The publication of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in 2001 instigated renewed interest in Boleyn and questioned such representations of her character. By presenting Mary as a legitimate subject of historical inquiry and asserting that her novel was an accurate representation, Gregory became the focus of debate concerning accuracy and authenticity in historical fiction. This paper offers a postmodern comparative study of representations of Boleyn's sexuality in The Other Boleyn Girl, David Loades' The Boleyns, Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore' and Josephine Wilkinson's Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress. Limited evidence concerning Boleyn means that, in spite of individual assurances of authenticity, each of these authors relies on speculation, inference and imagination to construct their narratives, and thus blurs distinctions between history and fiction.
Philippa Gregory has critiqued gendered representations of Elizabeth Woodville and has stated tha... more Philippa Gregory has critiqued gendered representations of Elizabeth Woodville and has stated that her 2009 novel The White Queen fictionalises Woodville’s history with the aim of challenging such depictions. The reimagining of Elizabeth’s affect drives her narrative and is integral to reconsidering this past, yet these emotions do not differ from those characterisations that Gregory has criticised; lust and love are key motivators for Elizabeth who is vengeful and proud, and she is defined in terms of her familial relationships. Utilising a postmodern perspective, this paper will analyse the characterisation of Elizabeth Woodville in Philippa Gregory’s novel The White Queen and argue that the novel does not diverge significantly from contemporaneous accounts of Woodville’s life. In suggesting that the novel resembles rather than challenges representations found in texts contemporaneous to Gregory’s own, the paper will contextualise Gregory’s characterisation using two biographical accounts published shortly before the release of The White Queen: Arlene Okerlund’s Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen, and David Loades’ ‘The Queen As Lover: Elizabeth Woodville’ in The Tudor Queens Of England.
Historical fictions create stories about events and individuals that once existed. Anxiety around... more Historical fictions create stories about events and individuals that once existed. Anxiety around the truth of such fictions is common and ‘authenticity’ and ‘accuracy’ are familiar terms in such discourse. However, this language is often used interchangeably with both terms typically referencing a text’s perceived truthfulness. This article argues for a distinction between accuracy and authenticity in historical fictions, proposing definitions for both terms. Accuracy denotes the extent to which a text’s representation is consistent with available evidence. It is concerned with historical veracity and whether specific aspects of an historical fiction can be considered factual. Authenticity, however, refers to an impression of accuracy and the extent to which readers believe that a representation captures the past. Appraisals of authenticity are subjective and are shaped by the prior representations of the past that have been encountered by an individual reader. Such perceptions might be informed by historical research, yet they are not necessarily so. Authentic representations need not be accurate. Using textual analyses of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Peter Morgan’s The Crown, the article demonstrates how accuracy and authenticity allow for discussion of the complex relations between fiction, evidence, truth, and culture in our reading of historical fiction.
Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a... more Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a royal mistress to both Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England. Hence she has predominately been represented in terms of deviant sexual behaviours, with many historians concluding that she is of limited historical importance. The publication of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in 2001 instigated renewed interest in Boleyn and questioned such representations of her character. By presenting Mary as a legitimate subject of historical inquiry and asserting that her novel was an accurate representation, Gregory became the focus of debate concerning accuracy and authenticity in historical fiction. This paper offers a postmodern comparative study of representations of Boleyn's sexuality in The Other Boleyn Girl, David Loades' The Boleyns, Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore' and Josephine Wilkinson's Mary Boleyn: The True Story of ...
Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a... more Characterisations of Mary Boleyn, the sister of Anne, have long been defined by her position as a royal mistress to both Francis I of France and Henry VIII of England. Hence she has predominately been represented in terms of deviant sexual behaviours, with many historians concluding that she is of limited historical importance. The publication of Philippa Gregory's The Other Boleyn Girl in 2001 instigated renewed interest in Boleyn and questioned such representations of her character. By presenting Mary as a legitimate subject of historical inquiry and asserting that her novel was an accurate representation, Gregory became the focus of debate concerning accuracy and authenticity in historical fiction. This paper offers a postmodern comparative study of representations of Boleyn's sexuality in The Other Boleyn Girl, David Loades' The Boleyns, Alison Weir's Mary Boleyn: 'The Great and Infamous Whore' and Josephine Wilkinson's Mary Boleyn: The True Story of Henry VIII's Favourite Mistress. Limited evidence concerning Boleyn means that, in spite of individual assurances of authenticity, each of these authors relies on speculation, inference and imagination to construct their narratives, and thus blurs distinctions between history and fiction.
Philippa Gregory has critiqued gendered representations of Elizabeth Woodville and has stated tha... more Philippa Gregory has critiqued gendered representations of Elizabeth Woodville and has stated that her 2009 novel The White Queen fictionalises Woodville’s history with the aim of challenging such depictions. The reimagining of Elizabeth’s affect drives her narrative and is integral to reconsidering this past, yet these emotions do not differ from those characterisations that Gregory has criticised; lust and love are key motivators for Elizabeth who is vengeful and proud, and she is defined in terms of her familial relationships. Utilising a postmodern perspective, this paper will analyse the characterisation of Elizabeth Woodville in Philippa Gregory’s novel The White Queen and argue that the novel does not diverge significantly from contemporaneous accounts of Woodville’s life. In suggesting that the novel resembles rather than challenges representations found in texts contemporaneous to Gregory’s own, the paper will contextualise Gregory’s characterisation using two biographical accounts published shortly before the release of The White Queen: Arlene Okerlund’s Elizabeth Wydeville: The Slandered Queen, and David Loades’ ‘The Queen As Lover: Elizabeth Woodville’ in The Tudor Queens Of England.
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