Students will be introduced to the role that historical fiction 
has played in the Western tradition, from the birth of the 
historical novel and its association with nationalism and 
romanticism in the nineteenth century to its shift during the 
twentieth century to a critique of social realism. Students 
will become familiar with how cultural attitudes towards 
fiction within historiography have shifted at different moments 
in history, from ancient Greek philosophy to Ranke’s positivism 
and recent poststructural challenges to concepts of narrative 
and truth. 

In addition to evaluating historical fiction as a potential 
form of historical evidence, students will improve their skills 
in textual interpretation by comparing the conventions, themes, 
and goals of history and literature. As well as developing 
their expository skills through different types of written 
assignments, students will exercise their oral and 
communication skills through class presentations and group 
projects.

The course will begin with selections from Herodotus’ Histories 
and Aristotle’s Poetics to discuss the place of myth and 
fiction in early classifications of history. It will briefly 
detour through the epic tradition before focusing on the birth 
of the historical novel in nineteenth-century Europe and its 
subsequent export to the Americas. In addition to reading 
several key texts (listed below), students will be introduced 
to some twentieth-century theories from both disciplines about 
the possibilities and the limitations of historical 
imagination, including Georg Lukacs, R.G. Collingwood, E.H. 
Carr, Hayden White, and Linda Hutcheon. The latter part of the 
course will examine how recent examples have stressed inclusion 
of feminist viewpoints and minority group representation, as 
well as how some historians have effectively utilized literary 
techniques.

The following is a sample syllabus of readings for a single 
semester:
Sir Walter Scott. Waverly 
James Fennimore Cooper. The Last of the Mohicans
Leo Tolstoy. War and Peace (excerpts)
George Eliot. Middlemarch
Virginia Woolf. Orlando
E.L. Doctorow. Ragtime
Toni Morrison. Beloved
Julia Alvarez. In the Time of the Butterflies
Simon Schama. Dead Uncertainties

My syllabus contains the following clause in its section on 
course policies: “Any type of academic dishonesty or 
plagiarism on any of the assignments will result in an 
automatic “F” grade for the course and will be reported to the 
Dean’s Office." Questions related to course assignments and 
the academic honesty policy should be directed to the 
instructor before an assignment is submitted. As a University 
of Georgia student, you have agreed to abide by the 
University’s academic honesty policy, “A Culture of Honesty,” 
and the Student Honor Code. All academic work must meet the 
standards described in “A Culture of Honesty” found at: 
https://ovpi.uga.edu/academic-honesty/academic-honesty-policy. 
Lack of knowledge of the academic honesty policy is not a 
reasonable explanation for a violation.