Historical Fantasy
centres on the historical dimension of the plot. This subgenre of fantasy
takes a certain period in the history of mankind and develops a fantasy tale on this very basis.
Background information may all be correct and very elaborately woven in so as to resurrect
the past. The historical cast is partially or even completely invented or given new traits,
positions or attitudes. Frequently, important or well known characters from history are chosen
and paired with unknown ones. This combination facilitates a generation of new viewpoints
or revaluations of the past. Popular characters to figure in this subgenre are Arthur or Merlin,
whose mythical aurora allows much space for speculation and interpretation.
In historical fantasies, the sense of the past is evoked in two ways. Either a single,
independent level of past time is introduced on which the action takes place, or there is an
alternation between two time levels. Alternations occur between a remote and a more modern
time and/ or vice versa. If no unique period is chosen, then transitions between time levels
occur. In this case, authors can choose from a pool of options such as time-slips, dreams,
portals and time windows, magical artefacts or supernatural events. It is especially fantasies of
the Arthurian kind that are designed as a bildungsroman or at least show parallels to its
concept, applied to historical and/ or mythical figures. Novels of this kind are often hybrids
between historical and high fantasy. White’s The Once and Future King certainly falls under
this hybrid category. Other historical fantasies are for example Crossley-Holland’s Arthur
trilogy and Sutcliffe’s Roman novels,
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in which she revives Roman history with fictional
characters. Perhaps not pure historical fantasies, yet novels with ample historical dimensions
are Cooper’s The Dark is Rising sequence or Foreman’s Keepers and Seekers pentalogy.
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Compare Pringle, The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 23.
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The Eagle of the Ninth, The Silver Branch and The Lantern Bearers.
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