Historical novels are novels written on the basis of historical facts as backgrounds to the story with the techniques borrowed from creative writing or imagined narratives. History, in its broadest sense, is the totality of all past events, although a more realistic definition would limit it to the known past. “Historiography or the study of history is the written record of what is known of human lives and societies in the past and how historians have attempted to understand them.”
The problem with these books was that they had not been reviewed by professional or academic writers who had the knowledge and training on how history should be written. Beharu Zewde, author of books on Ethiopian history and the history of the Ethiopian student movement, is of course a living example of an academic historian who devoted his entire academic life to studying and writing books on Ethiopian history. His is no doubt an expert or authority in Ethiopian history.
Writing authentic history of a period or an event has the potential to create consensus among the various stakeholders who are directly or indirectly involved in that history or event. Consensus is needed to bring about understanding and unity and a sober understanding of historical events. In order to create consensus there must be an authoritative voice or voices that write history objectively and in order to prevent conflicts and misunderstandings that may lead to serious challenges. This in turn requires seriousness and a sense of responsibility on the part of those who are writing the history of a country or a community.
In other words, history should be written with authenticity and honesty as well as integrity. One cannot write history without adequate academic or personal preparation, maturity, moral integrity and vision. This does not necessarily mean that anyone who is trying to write the history of a country or a community or an event should have a Ph.D. in historiography. The best historians in the world are not always the best-educated or with the highest academic achievements. Most of them have not visited universities or higher education. Yet, they were genuinely talented, hardworking, diligent and committed to research and eager to write the truth and only the truth. This requires a great deal of discipline and commitment if not dedication.
History is one of the most serious subjects in human learning and a serious commitment and discipline is required on the part of the researchers who are engaged in this endeavor. Sometimes, historians are required to read hundreds of books to conduct research around their subject matter at hand, do serious analysis, comparison and critical work before they even start to write the first drafts of their books.
By comparison, writing historical novels may not be as demanding as writing history. The most dominant talent required by historical novelists is imagination and creativity which may be acquired by nature or from education. Half of the job is already done when the historical novelist outlines his story and writes his first draft. The other half of the job is to write the actual narrative against the specific historical background or setting the author wants to place his novel.
Of course research is also needed in this particular area. As a matter of fact fiction writing in all its forms is not something that comes out of the imagination of the writer as ready-made materials. There are frequent moments in the course of the writing the historical when it is necessary and relevant to research the historical part of the novel for authenticity or plausibility.
One cannot write a good historical novel by giving the reader false historical accounts. That would be serious flaw that may diminish the acceptability and beauty of the novel. The imagined narrative depends on the imagination of the author but the historical fact should be based on true events that cannot be distorted for the sake of accommodating the imaginary part of the book.
Those authors who write history books may not often have the talent for creative writing or historical novels. The reverse is also true. Those who write historical novels may not have neither the taste nor the preparation for writing books on pure history. Yet, there are authors who are trying to link imaginative literature to history. “Many scholars have turned with sharpened interest to the theoretical foundations of historical knowledge and are reconsidering the relation between imaginative literature and history, with the possibility emerging that history may after all be the literary art that works upon scholarly material.”
The more fortunate or more talented among them may also be good at writing history books at the same time that they write historical novels. Historical novels are not new to Ethiopian literature in Amharic. There are also historical novels in English written by the some of the most prominent authors in this country. There are also history books written by professional or academic historians as well as amateur or non-historians. Ye’tewordros Enba (Theodore’s Tears), by Berhanu Zerihun in Amharic and “Warrior King” by Sahelsellassie Berhanemariam in English are only two examples. Ye’Ethiopia Tarik (History of Ethiopia) by Tekeletsadik Mekruia is considered a classic of Ethiopian history written in Amharic.
Since the 1990s, that is to say, after the fall of the military government in Ethiopia, there appeared many non-professional or self-proclaimed history writers who tried to wrote about the history of the rise and fall of the Derg government and about its military adventures. These authors were either military officers in the Derg army who witnessed history in the making or took part in the major battles. These books are allegedly written from a subjective point of view and lacked the objectivity or mental detachment required to write non-partisan history books or historical novels.
However, this does not mean all books of history suffer from objectivity or are partisan in their approach. There many historians in history who wrote excellent books of war histories without even taking part in those events. Greek historian Herodotus, who lived in 5th century B.C. was one of them. “In the 5th century B.C. Herodotus, who has been called the father of history, wrote his famous account of the Persian Wars. Shortly afterward, Thucydides wrote his classic study of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. These men recorded contemporary or near-contemporary events in prose narratives of striking style, depending as much as possible on eyewitness or other reliable testimony for evidence.”
There are also many fiction writers who wrote excellent novels on war such as German writer Rene Maria Remarque’s “All Quiet on the Western Front” which is a novel about war during the First World War. There is course, the classic “War and Peace” by Russian writer Leo Tolstoy. Theoretically speaking, writing historical novels gives the writers a certain degree of creative freedom and can handle their material relatively freely by using hard historical facts as backgrounds to their narratives.
The following short definition of what historical novel may be gives a synopsis of its meaning. A historical novel is “a novel having as its setting a period of history and usually introducing some historical personages and events.” What is history or what is historical? The well-known British historian E.H. Carr gives us another brief definition. According to Carr, “the facts of history are simply those which historians have selected for scrutiny.” In another instance Carr says that, “historians make history in and through their selection of which are the important facts.” Carr has written a famous book entitled, “What is History?” a book both controversial and influential.
Herodotus was the first Greek historian who has left behind a corpus or works that have transcended time and are still influential in our time. In the 5th century B.C Herodotus, who has been called the father of history, wrote his famous account of the Persian Wars. Shortly afterward, Thucydides wrote his classic study of the Peloponnesian War between Athens and Sparta. These men recorded contemporary or near-contemporary events in prose narratives of striking style, depending as much as possible on eyewitness or other reliable testimony for evidence. More recently still, Chinese writer Sun Tzu has given us the classic “Art of War” whose ideas about military strategy and philosophy is still relevant in our times.
A historical novel is different from the novel proper that fully depends on the imagination of the author. Here, the author has compete control of his materials while in historical novels or in the process of writing history what matter most is its truthfulness, the authenticity of its sources and the authority with which the writer is handling his material or his subject matter. Badly written historical books might turn out to be explosive or divisive materials that may distort reality and lead to division rather than understanding. That is why the responsibility of the author who should not only be good at putting words to paper but also works with integrity and responsibility.
BY MULUGETA GUDETA
The Ethiopian herald September 1/2024
