History is cool-analytical

Will Lacy

ENGL 250

Mitchell-Buck

1/22/18

History and Fiction

Sometimes the line between history and fiction can be extraordinarily slim. A work of fiction is a piece that is not based on facts or events, but rather the imagination of the author. However, an author’s creative capabilities are influenced by people and events throughout history. Fiction cannot exist without history, and vice verses, because fiction is based off of history, which is why they seem so similar sometimes. The evidence is there, some works of fiction are so heavily influenced by historical affairs that the subgenre of “historical fiction” was created for works that are more closely influenced by history than other scripts. Historical fiction is a genre where the line between fact and fiction is the slimmest. It is nearly a hybrid of the two as these passages pull so much from the real world and the author’s mind. The greater the author’s free will is to alter historical fact in their work, the closer it becomes to being pure fiction. However, pure fiction is unattainable. For something to be purely fictional it would have to have no real world facts and would not pertain to the real world at all. Even science fiction works pull from historical sources for inspiration. The Star Wars series, for example, takes place in its own universe that contains technology and power that is unknown to this world. However the creator of this masterpiece drew his ideas from historical events in the world he lives in. Darth Vader’s stormtroopers were inspired by Hitler’s stormtroopers, and in this way George Lucas was able to use history to inspire his work of fiction. The historical inspiration for Lucas’ stormtroopers was obvious, and Lucas used this to his advantage to set the tone for the audience. In this way, authors are able to use historical references to shape their fiction, and help connect the audience to what’s going on even further. The more historical inspiration there is in a piece, the more relevant it becomes to the audience.