Sara Douglass, Speculative Fiction & Medieval History by Ian Irvine (Hobson)
Rated "G" by the Author.
Last
edited: Monday, January 2, 2023
Posted: Monday, April 6, 2015
Internationally acclaimed Australian Speculative Fiction/Fantasy author Sara Douglass knew and understood the world of Medieval Europe well due to years spent teaching history to university students. Although she 'made a lot of stuff up' (as indeed any fiction writer must!) she also did an immense amount of historical research. This THREE-PART article/intro discusses, among other things, the impact of her work as a history academic on her novels.
This piece belongs to Vol. 3 of The Collected Works of Ian Irvine (Hobson). (Nonfiction)
NOTE: Links previously embedded on this page will be updated shortly (Jan. 2023)
To read about the influence of her love of history on Sara's novels and peruse some of her lecture drafts (1993-1998) ...
Click here for Part One (includes an introduction by author and academic Dr Karen Brooks and myself) [posted early February 2015].
For Part Two of the Intro (posted early March) click here.
To read Part Three (posted April 6th 2015) click here.
Unfortunately, many people who read fiction and fantasy have a distorted view of history and think that real history is boring… A dead subject. Medieval history is one of those areas that is so misunderstood. I love history and find that real history is far more enlightening than romanticized history based on soap opera-ish plots imposed on grossly misunderstood historical backgrounds.
Kudos to Sara Douglass for writing fiction based on as much historical fact as possible.
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Kudos to Sara Douglass for writing fiction based on as much historical fact as possible.
Ron