Re: [silk] On the Road

[John Sundman]

> On Sep 14, 2015, at 3:42 PM, Bruce A. Metcalf  wrote:
> 
> I'm curious to know how the list feels about the junction of fiction and 
> history. Your thoughts?


I’m working on a novella in which the 1975 Asilomar DNA conference is 
prominently featured. Several key scenes in the story are set there. 

I’m putting (my) fictional characters into a quite-real historical setting. 
This kind of thing is done all the time in fiction, of course. But some of the 
interactions in the book are between my fictional characters and some quite 
real people, people who are very much alive today (although some are in their 
90’s now.) I’m having a hard time figuring out how much to fictionalize. For 
some characters it’s possible to create fictional cyphers or composites.  But 
James Watson of Watson & Crick fame is hard to make into a fictional character. 
You can’t say “Bobby Smith, who along with his collaborator Francis Crick, 
determined the double-helical structure of DNA.”

Or I guess you can do that, but sometimes it just seems too strained.

On the other hand, it wouldn’t do to put my words in James Watson’s mouth. I 
don’t think he would appreciate that. 

Hrmm. . . 

I remember watching the TV show Manahttan, about the Manhattan Project and 
being confused. The real Robert Oppenheimer is a character in the series, and 
Neils Bohr shows up, and so forth, but most of the main characters are pure 
fiction. There’s no Leslie Groves, but there is another colonel who appears to 
be in charge of the place. The young smarter-than-anybody just-married Jew is a 
made up character. For the first episode or two I figured he was supposed to be 
a stand-in for Richard Feynman. And I thought the Brit was a stand-in for 
Freeman Dyson. But I was wrong. Certainly many real-world people of the 
Manhattan Project are kind of hinted at or alluded to; they kind of “inform” 
the characters. But the characters and plot are made up.

Which was fine with me, once I got used to the idea. I thought it was supposed 
to be a show about the actual Manhattan Project. But it’s more along the lines 
of “inspired by the Manhattan Project.”

I’m still not sure how I’m going to handle this dynamic in my book.

jrs

Re: [silk] On the Road

[Udhay Shankar N]

On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 1:12 AM, Bruce A. Metcalf 
wrote:

I'm curious to know how the list feels about the junction of fiction and
> history. Your thoughts?


​There are two kinds of fiction (I know of) that play with this junction,
from opposite ends: The Roman à clef​ [1] and the secret history [1]. While
the former is a fictionalised account of actual events, the latter is more
interesting to me, being a fiction presented as reality which was until now
hidden from the public.

I am especially fond of Tim Powers' novels, all of them being in some sense
secret histories. In this context, I especially recommend _Declare_ [3].

Udhay

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_%C3%A0_clef
[2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secret_history
​[3] http://www.amazon.com/dp/0062221388​



-- 

((Udhay Shankar N)) ((udhay @ pobox.com)) ((www.digeratus.com))

Re: [silk] On the Road

[Bruce A. Metcalf]

Udhay Shankar N wrote:


Bruce Metcalf wrote:


I'm curious to know how the list feels about the junction of fiction and
history. Your thoughts?


​There are two kinds of fiction (I know of) that play with this junction,
from opposite ends: The Roman à clef​ [1] and the secret history [1]. While
the former is a fictionalised account of actual events, the latter is more
interesting to me, being a fiction presented as reality which was until now
hidden from the public.


Not that I disagree with this, but...

I wanted to see how people here felt about the thought that history -- 
the stuff presented as facts -- is more often a fiction assembled from 
the scraps of evidence left by the past, with the gaps and motivations 
filled in by the historian.


Is this the general opinion of what history is and what historians do, 
or were you thinking of something different?


Just curious

Cheers,
Bruce

Re: [silk] On the Road

[Mahesh Murthy]

Reminds me of the premise of Stranger in a strange land.

On Tue, Sep 15, 2015 at 8:01 AM, Bruce A. Metcalf 
wrote:

> Udhay Shankar N wrote:
>
> Bruce Metcalf wrote:
>>
>> I'm curious to know how the list feels about the junction of fiction and
>>> history. Your thoughts?
>>>
>>
>> ​There are two kinds of fiction (I know of) that play with this junction,
>> from opposite ends: The Roman à clef​ [1] and the secret history [1].
>> While
>> the former is a fictionalised account of actual events, the latter is more
>> interesting to me, being a fiction presented as reality which was until
>> now
>> hidden from the public.
>>
>
> Not that I disagree with this, but...
>
> I wanted to see how people here felt about the thought that history -- the
> stuff presented as facts -- is more often a fiction assembled from the
> scraps of evidence left by the past, with the gaps and motivations filled
> in by the historian.
>
> Is this the general opinion of what history is and what historians do, or
> were you thinking of something different?
>
> Just curious
>
> Cheers,
> Bruce
>
>

Re: [silk] On the Road

[Bruce A. Metcalf]

Sharat Satyanarayana wrote:


Loved visualising that road trip story. Photos along side would've been
awesome.


Yes, but I find I can write better and clearer images than I can shoot.

I can't find who said it, but I believe the saying, "Radio is just like 
television, only with better pictures."




Hope the next unplanned road trip brings out more amazing stories. :)


I'm a historian by training and occupation, so I'm basically a 
storyteller at heart. As such, I don't always need facts to get me 
started ... or to bring a story to a satisfactory conclusion. Nice if 
they fit in though.


I've shocked more than a few historians with this attitude, but it comes 
down to whether I want to write "truth" or "Truth". Small t truth is a 
recitation of what's been proven. Valuable, but not always inspiring. 
Large T Truth, on the other hand, looks beyond the facts into the realty 
behind them, which I often find more compelling.


Besides, fiction has to make sense, so for that reason alone it makes 
for a better read.


I'm curious to know how the list feels about the junction of fiction and 
history. Your thoughts?


Cheers,
Bruce

PS: I'm also working on a long story about cats and psychopathy, but 
must withhold the details until the perpetrators are in custody.

Re: [silk] On the Road

[Sharat Satyanarayana]

Bruce,

Loved visualising that road trip story. Photos along side would've been
awesome.
Hope the next unplanned road trip brings out more amazing stories. :)



Bruce wrote:
>>>
>>> >> Now I need to go find something constructive to post. I don't
> >> suppose anyone cares for a trip report of ... 8500 miles across
> >> America by car?
>
>>
>> The road trip, sure!
>>
>