The Value of Fiction - The uses of fiction in bringing history to life

The Value of Fiction - The uses of fiction in bringing history to life We history buffs are a rare breed. Happy are the hours we spend poring through pages of dusty old books, wandering through museums full of armor and tapestries, and deciphering forgotten languages in primary sources. Those who have never been bitten by the history bug find it hard to understand what attracts us until they are bitten themselves. There are many different ways history lovers have been drawn into the fascinating world of the past, but perhaps the most common is through a good story. The moment we begin viewing history as stories about real human beings with human motivations instead of mere dates, places and statistics, history can take on a whole new luster. Period literature can help bring the past alive with an epic tale, and so can modern historical fiction. If you are a history buff hoping to get a friend to share your passion for the past, or if you are new to history as a hobby and are trying to understand what others see in it, the best introduction may very well be a historical novel or film. Entertainment has ways of opening the mind to ideas that even the friendliest or most erudite of straight historical texts can never hope to achieve. It helps, of course, when the book is well-written or the film well-directed, and unfortunately historical fiction, just like any other genre, has many more mediocre examples than it does splendid ones. Yet once you find a truly excellent piece of historical fiction, the results can be highly rewarding. However, the trouble with getting your history from fiction is that its, well, fiction. This may seem excruciatingly obvious, but its surprising how many intelligent, educated, well-read individuals take what they read in a historical novel or see in a period film as fact. The Trouble with Fiction When done really well, fiction leaves its audience thinking they know what the medieval world was really like. If the work is accurate, thats wonderful; but alas, novels and films have been known to present a skewed version of events and to perpetuate common misconceptions about the Middle Ages. Of course, most readers realize that much of the dialogue and the private moments of real historical figures that are captured in text or on film are only speculation. They may be aware on some level that events are open to interpretation, and that what they read or see is just one of many versions of what might have happened. Yet even readers who are acutely aware of these facets of historical fiction often ignore any question of accuracy concerning general historical background, settings and costumes, and the details of daily life, accepting as given that this much, at any rate, is authentic. This may be the most dangerous pitfall of using fiction as a doorway to the past. In order to enjoy the experience of fiction, we can (and should) suspend disbelief, and suspend as well any analysis of its veracity as history while reading the story or watching the film. But once you close the book or leave the theater, its time to think again. Even the most carefully-researched historical novel can contain errors of fact, and the sad truth is that many such novels arent carefully researched to begin with. Unlike a historian writing a scholarly treatise, novelists dont have to support every assertion with documentary, archaeological or even secondary evidence in order to get their work published;* they just have to write a good story. And films are so notorious for lacking accuracy that some moviegoers take particular delight in counting the mistakes. Furthermore, scholarly views of the medieval world are constantly evolving; what was considered a fairly accurate picture of the Middle Ages in, for example, the 1970s may be rendered much less authentic by the research and new evidence uncovered in the last few decades. You will sometimes find authors standing on the shoulders of earlier writers and passing along the erroneous or outdated details of their predecessors, with very few readers ever the wiser. Evaluating Fiction Fortunately, historical fiction doesnt always misrepresent the past. There is excellent fiction available, works that bring the Middle Ages to life in a wealth of accurate detail (and tell a good story, too). And more and more, modern historical novelists are making serious efforts to provide an accurate version of medieval times. But how do you know how much of whats presented in fiction is true to life? Do you take the word of the blurb on the back cover? Can film reviewers really tell you when a picture of the past is realistic? Theres only one way to know for sure: find out for yourself. Pick up a factual history book, visit some websites, go to a museum, join a discussion list, and start your journey into the fascinating world of historical discovery. If fiction is the trigger that launches you into the past, its value cannot be denied. Review a Medieval NovelShare your thoughts on a medieval-set historical novel good or bad at this review page. Note *Unfortunately, the same could be said of much popular history that gets published, as well. Guide Note: This feature was originally posted in May of 2000, and was updated in August of 2010.

Cultural Identity Essay Make Your Motherland Known

Cultural Identity Essay Make Your Motherland Known Cultural Identity Essay: Share Your Emotions about Your Motherland â€Å"Despite the fact I was living in the United States for over five years already, I feel I belong to Chinese culture and its traditions.† This line is the part of a cultural identity essay that can sometimes look like a sentence from a philosophical essay. In case you’ve never dealt with this kind of essay paper, here you will find enough useful tips and guides to help you perform an excellent cultural identity essay. This article is aimed at revealing the main secrets of completing a cultural identity essay, its organization moments, and proper formatting. If you want to get extra useful tips, you can contact an expert writing service online. Cultural Identity Essay: Main Purposes and Definition It is important to find out what the exact meaning of the cultural identity essay is before starting to perform a paper. This type of essay is an exceptional writing piece aimed at expressing personal feelings and experience of belonging to a particular nationality. It is preferable to write down how this nationality has influenced your life choices, the process of becoming an adult, and the way you take your decisions. This paper shows how the person develops with a certain nationality background and reveals its personality traits, customs, and traditions. Cultural identity essay mostly focuses on the following elements: Religion; Location; Native Language; Nationality; Gender; The structure of the essay is similar to the most popular essay types. Thus it is easy to figure out how to organize the main elements of the paper. The main difference between this type of essay and other ones is the need to use the first person when performing a paper. Since in the essay you reveal your personal experiences, feelings, and knowledge, there is no need to provide any sources. There is no need for research work either. You simply have to be good at performing the papers according to the assigned formatting style. For example, MLA style, which is mostly used in this kind of essays, can be easily followed once checking its guidelines and standards. It is great to use famous writers’ quotes in your final paper. In such a case, you need to provide a source of the quote in the reference list. Cultural Identity Essay: Top Ideas to Reveal Choose a concise topic for your essay, and better avoid too broad issues. Use the following five top things to discuss when selecting a topic for an essay: The issue of your own imagination; The real-life experience; Personal memories and memorable events; An authoritative person; Memorable places and traditions. It is great when you have a lot of personal experience, for example working in voluntary groups or helping other people. This can be a great topic to reveal. In case you have no such experience, you can always write about national traditions and customs, and the way you follow them nowadays. You can write an essay about your favorite place in your Motherland or about the people who inspire you the most. You can write about both good and bad experience in your life since even the worst situations can eventually become valuable life lessons. Besides, you can help people to deal with their problems once revealing your own bad situations and their solutions. The cultural identity essay can also be written about people who have influenced your way of thinking and the way you make your life decisions. Show how greatly national traditions and customs inspired you. Reveal other exceptional things, which made you the person you are now. Cultural Identity Essay: How to Start It Properly The best start is the selection of the proper topic for an essay paper. With a good topic, first, write an outline to make the entire writing process more organized. You must present your ideas and personal experience in a simple and clear language. You will be telling a story to people of other nationalities, thus make your story really useful and informative. You can conduct research if you want to describe some people or events in more details. Expert Advice: â€Å"First you must decide on the exact topic of your essay paper. Only after dealing with the topic selection, start to organize your ideas. This is the right order for performing a great final paper. Brainstorming will be very useful in the first stages of the writing process. You need to list every interesting idea. Make sure to perform a paper for a certain target audience. Provide a powerful introduction and a strong thesis statement.† You can use a broad thesis statement for a cultural identity essay. For example: â€Å"The cultural identity influences the way we take the life decisions, and the way we see ourselves in the world.† The body paragraphs need to provide a detailed meaning of the main thesis statements. Cultural Identity Essay Body Paragraphs It is preferable to provide a standard essay of five paragraphs. Therefore, write a powerful introduction, three detailed main body paragraphs, and a practical conclusion. Make the body paragraphs of the same length. The outline will help you to organize the entire writing process. Use the list of your interesting ideas and experiences. The following guides will help you to deal with writing process successfully: Use unified arguments to start every new paragraph. Use real-life experience once providing evidence. Use transitions to connect the interesting ideas in one piece. Try to organize the writing process properly and you will get a perfect essay paper eventually. Essay Example Extract of a Cultural Identity Essay â€Å"My mother is Indian, and she belongs to a very educated Indian family. My mother’s religion is Hinduism. My dad is Spanish who has been living in the US for the biggest part of his life. My mother and my dad met in India. Their decision to move to the United States was mostly based on the importance of my dad’s work in the US. In spite of the fact that my dad is an atheist, my parents rarely have conflicts on their religions. It is great they let me become a part of any religion, or remain an atheist as my dad is. I adore their cultural differences since they both give me exceptional experience and knowledge I can use in my own life.† Using this essay example, you can realize better how to perform your cultural identity essay. Yes, it will not be easy to write an inspiring essay. If you want to get a brilliant cultural identity essay, you can order a paper at an expert writing service. This way you will get your essay written by the best writers who know and appreciate the exceptional academic writing.