History at Play

History at Play: Historical Fiction or Fictional History?

The rise of nineteenth-century historical fiction paralleled that of the modern historical profession. In this essay, Brooks investigates extra-disciplinary historical and pseudo-historical creations, from great historical novels and detective stories to online games and the recent pseudo-historical HBO series Game of Thrones. He argues that all of these extra-disciplinary forms of historical expression have in common a shared interest in an equivocal, counterfactual, and playful imagining of alternative versions of the past.  He argues that these applications fall outside the discipline, but could not exist without a strong anchor within it.  He pays particular attention to the ways in which Russian writers from Tolstoy to Boris Akunin have used humor to address the most pressing dilemmas of their times, including the nature of the political and social order.  Brooks argues that extra-disciplinary applications of history in the fields of literature and entertainment complement the work of professional historians within the discipline and should be welcomed by those who love and value history.  He also argues that the prevalence of extra-disciplinary applications of history creates an opportunity and need to reflect rigorously on the boundaries between the discipline and its close and more popular relatives.