Historical Fiction Writers Check This Out

I’ve just finished watching a great video of a program held at the Getty Villa in Los Angeles featuring the historical fiction writers Steven Saylor and Steven Pressfield. Titled “Writing Historical Fiction: The Ancient World in Modern Literature,” the program was moderated by journalist Patt Morrison. In the introduction, Morrison makes a great observation about the role of objects (and museum collections in general) in today’s world.

“Objects are a way of channeling the past,” Morrison says.

They also often serve as markers in history. Saylor makes reference to the invention of the stirrup, which didn’t exist in ancient Greece and Rome, and how he’d made the mistake of including it in an early novel. He took the reference out of the second printing, but nonetheless makes a point about knowing what objects are key to the time period and place you are writing about. Since the stirrup revolutionized horsemanship and warfare, it’s a pretty pivotal object (possibly even a topic for another post–I did write about it as part of my undergrad thesis). The other point that Saylor and Pressfield make throughout the program is how important it has been for them to read the ancient sources–and how their research varies dramatically depending on the time period about which they are writing. 

All in all, it’s a lively and enlightening 84 minutes. If you don’t have the time to watch, you can also download the audio file and listen to it while you’re enroute to Rome (or work).

Check it out at: 

http://www.getty.edu/museum/programs/historical_fiction_panel.html

And if you want to check out the Getty collection of antiquities and other art, go to www.getty.edu in the Museum/Explore Art section. It’s a fantastic online collection (although you won’t find any stirrups).