Signed, Mata Hari by Yannick Murphy5/13/2023 The adoption of such literary techniques in examining history need not be confined to the 18th century. In its novelistic impulses, John Adams is the exception that proves the rule. The intimate details they provide about the couple’s marriage, as well as the direct window they allow into the former President’s thoughts, enhance the narrative in a way much non-fiction cannot. Though a work of non-fiction, David McCullough’s John Adams, the source material for the current HBO miniseries, makes great use of letters between John and Abigail Adams that were not available to earlier historians. But there is a growing trend away from this sort of thinking. It’s an argument one would never make about movies, both due to commercial considerations and the obvious differences in what documentaries and biopics are able to accomplish. Why, one might ask, fictionalize the life of real person when a straightforward biography would serve at least as well? I suspect this is principally the result of a larger bias against fiction in favor of non-fiction. Historical novels are widely accepted, but those that focus on individual personalities are often met with bemusement. Fiction centered on historical figures occupies an odd place in the literary landscape.
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