Historical fiction is a great way to understand the past. While traveling recently, I read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, a wonderful murder mystery set in a fourteenth century monastery. Not only does the novel have a gripping plot, but Eco interweaves biblical debates and fourteenth century politics in such a way to make the reader as though they've lived through it themselves. I'll never be a literary expert, but I also enjoyed the postmodern idea that "books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told". Given the need to publish or perish, I sometimes wonder whether we (as scholars) are not simply replicating, perhaps in a different language and using different tools, what's been said (and thought!) before. There are no definite answers, only interpretations.
History is not only black and white
History is not only black and white
History is not only black and white
Historical fiction is a great way to understand the past. While traveling recently, I read The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, a wonderful murder mystery set in a fourteenth century monastery. Not only does the novel have a gripping plot, but Eco interweaves biblical debates and fourteenth century politics in such a way to make the reader as though they've lived through it themselves. I'll never be a literary expert, but I also enjoyed the postmodern idea that "books always speak of other books, and every story tells a story that has already been told". Given the need to publish or perish, I sometimes wonder whether we (as scholars) are not simply replicating, perhaps in a different language and using different tools, what's been said (and thought!) before. There are no definite answers, only interpretations.