Just like a historian, a writer can recreate the appearance and events of the past, although their artistic reproduction, of course, differs from the scientific one. The author, relying on historical data, also includes creative fiction in his works - he depicts what could have been, and not just what was in reality.
The best works of the historical genre have not only aesthetic value, but also historical and educational. Fiction can portray the past era as a whole, reveal ideology, social activities, the psyche, life in living images. The historical and everyday genres are closely related, since life is a part of history. Consider the history of the formation of historical genres in literature.
Historical adventures
Not every work describing the events of the past seeks to recreate them as they really were. Sometimes this is just material for colorful paintings, a sharp plot, special coloring - exotic, sublime, etc. This characterizes historical adventures (for example, the works of A. Dumas "Ascanio", "Herminia", "Black", "Count of Monte Cristo", "Corsican Brothers" and others). Their main task is to create an entertaining plot.
The emergence of the historical genre
Historical fiction began to take shape at the turn of the 18-19th century. At this time, a historical novel is being created - a special genre that sets the goal of directly depicting the life of past eras. He (like the later historical drama) is fundamentally different from the works devoted to the events of previous eras. Fiction historical literature begins to take shape in connection with a significant turning point in historical knowledge, that is, the process of its becoming as a science. It is thanks to this that these types of genres appear.
The first authors to create new genres
The first writer to start creating works of a subject of interest to us is W. Scott. Prior to this, I. Goethe and F. Schiller, the great German writers, contributed to the formation of literature . In the work of the first, a historical drama is represented by the works Egmont (1788) and Getz von Berlichingen (1773). The second created Wallenstein (1798-1799), Wilhelm Tell in 1804, and Mary Stuart in 1801. However, Walter Scott, who is considered the founder of the historical novel genre, was the real frontier.
He owns a series of works depicting the period of the Crusades ("Richard the Lionheart", "Ivanhoe", "Robert, Count of Paris"), as well as the time of the formation of national monarchies in Europe (Quentin Dorward), the bourgeois revolution in England (" Woodstock "," Puritans "), the collapse of the clan system in Scotland (" Rob Roy "," Waverley "), etc. For the first time in his works, the recreation of the past by the writer’s pen is based on the study of historical sources (while earlier the artist was mainly limited to reproducing general course of events and the most characteristic features of the figures of the past). The work of this writer influenced the further development that various types of genres underwent.
Many classic writers turn to historical subjects. These include V. Hugo, who wrote various books. Historical novels created by this author - "Cromwell", "Ninety-third year", "Notre Dame Cathedral" and others.
This topic was of interest to A. de Vigny (Saint-Mar), Manzoni, who created the Betrothed in 1827, as well as F. Cooper, M. Zagoskin, I. Lazhechnikov and others.
Features of works created by romantics
The historical genre, represented by the works of romantics, does not always have historical value. This is hindered by the subjective interpretation of events, and the replacement of real social conflicts by the struggle between good and evil. Most often, the main characters of the novels are only the embodiment of the ideal of the writer (for example, Esmeralda in the work of Hugo), and not specific historical types. Political convictions of the creator also affect in many respects. Thus, A. de Vigny, who sympathized with the aristocracy, made the representative of the so-called feudal frond the program hero of his work.
Realistic direction
But do not evaluate the merits of these works by the degree of historical authenticity. For example, Hugo's novels have tremendous emotional power of influence. However, an important stage in the further development of the historical genre in 19th century literature was associated with the victory of realistic principles in it. Realistic works began to depict social characters, the role of the people in the historical process, the penetration into the difficult process of the struggle of the various forces involved in it. These aesthetic moments were largely prepared by the school of Walter Scott ("Jacquerie" Merimee, "Shuana" Balzac). The historical genre in realistic refraction in Russia won the work of Alexander Sergeyevich Pushkin ("Arap of Peter the Great", "Boris Godunov", "Captain's Daughter").
Deepening Psychological Analysis
In the 19th century, in the 30s and 40s, a deepening in the works of psychological analysis became new (for example, the image of Waterloo in the work "Stairs of Parma" by Stendhal). The pinnacle of the historical genre in the 19th century is the epic “War and Peace” by Tolstoy L. N. In this work, historicism is manifested in the creation of various historical types, large-scale awareness of the course of history, and also in the accurate transmission of the everyday, social, linguistic, psychological and ideological features of the depicted time.
Historical genre in the middle of the 19th century
In the middle of the 19th century, after numerous achievements of the realistic school, the most outstanding of which on the historical material raised questions of the fate of the nation and national life, there was a regression in the further development of historical fiction. This is mainly due to the general tendency of bourgeois ideology to strengthen reactionaryism in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, as well as with an increasingly strong departure from the historicism of social thought. Authors of various historical novels modernize history. For example, A. France, in his 1912 work “The Gods Crave," dedicated to the period of the French Revolution, holds the idea that humanity in its development is marking time.
The so-called symbolic literature, which sometimes claims to have a deep understanding of the historical process, but in fact creates only subjective constructions that have a mystical character, is widely spread. Examples are as follows: the work “Beatrice's Veil”, created in 1901 by A. Schnitzler, in 1908 by Merezhkovsky, “Paul I” and “Alexander I”.
Historical genre in the East
In some countries of Eastern Europe, on the contrary, at that time the genre of history gained great publicity and significance. This is due to the fact that during this period the liberation struggle began in these states. Sometimes historical literature takes on a romantic character. For example, in the works of G. Senkevich, a Polish novelist: "Flood", "Fire and Sword", "Kamo Gryadyshi", "Pan Volodyevsky", "Crusaders".
In many countries of the East, the national liberation movement was the basis for the formation of a historical novel. In India, for example, its creator is B.Ch. Chottopadhai.
The development of the genre after the October Revolution
In Western Europe, after the October Revolution, a new round of development of a historical realistic novel begins. She allowed the realists of the West to write a number of works that are outstanding examples of fiction historical literature. A reference to the past was connected with the need to protect traditions and cultural heritage, and with speeches against the fascists of humanist writers. For example, this is T. Mann’s novel "Lotta in Weimar" written in 1939, and numerous Feuchtwanger novels. These works, which are distinguished by their democratic, humanistic orientation and are closely related to modernity, are characterized at the same time by the painstaking work of the author on various historical sources. But even in them sometimes there is an imprint of concepts characteristic of historical bourgeois science. For example, Feuchtwanger sometimes has an idea of the progress of history as a struggle of inertness and reason, the role of the people is underestimated in it, and sometimes subjectivity is manifested.
Socialist realism
A new stage is connected with socialist realism, in which the historical genre in literature enters. His philosophy claimed that historical being is the collective creativity of the people, therefore literature at that time had all the conditions for development, based on the principles of historicism. On this path, she achieved outstanding results. The most important topics were the image of significant, crucial eras. Characteristic of the historical literature of that time was the desire for great generalizations, epicism. An example is the novel "Peter I" by A. N. Tolstoy, depicting the image of this ruler, but at the same time narrating the fate of the people of our country at a turning point in development.
The most important topics of Soviet literature were the struggle against the monarchy, the fate of advanced culture in tsarist Russia, as well as the period of preparation for the revolution and its description. Historical literature to a large extent belongs to the work “The Life of Klim Samgin” by M. Gorky, M. A Sholokhov - “The Quiet Don”, A.N. Tolstoy - "Going through the agony" and others.
Today, a historical detective story is becoming very popular - a genre represented in the works of Boris Akunin, Umberto Eco, Agatha Christie, Alexander Bushkov and other authors.