The relationship between history and fiction has always been contentious and sometimes turbulent, not least because the two have been seen as mutually exclusive opposites. In this thought-provoking and original study, Beverly Southgate investigates the truth behind fiction and the fact behind history and shows that the culmination of 20 years of historical theorising may well be that history meets fiction at a point where the two become indistinguishable.

History Meets Fiction provides a fascinating account of the relationship between history and fiction, a debate fast becoming central to the study of historical theory. It uses extracts and examples from well-known works of fiction to illustrate and reinforce points within the text, and Southgate is an engaging and accessible writer who has the rare ability to present this complex material with clarity.

Accessible and engaging study of the fine lines between history and fiction, and how the two are intrinsically related, this text is a must-read for any student of historiography.

About the Author
Reader Emeritus in the History of Ideas, University of Hertfordshire

Reviews

'This is a brilliantly illuminating and provocatively engaged study of those massively porous borderlands between history/fiction and fiction/history.'

Keith Jenkins, University of Chichester, UK

'A wide-ranging and insightful analysis of the richly controversial relationship between history and fiction, Southgate's study demonstrates again and again that historical novelists and dramatists have been far more adept at communicating issues of objectivity, memory, relativism and identity than ivory-tower historical theorists. Highly recommended.'

Jennifer Smyth, University of Warwick, UK

Book Information
ISBN 9781408220122
Author Beverley Southgate
Format Paperback
Page Count 240
Imprint Longman
Publisher Pearson Education Limited
Weight(grams) 390g
Dimensions(mm) 154mm * 233mm * 13mm