Several weeks ago, I talked about being a nomad reader roving the range of historical fiction. To me "historical fiction" is such a broad category that it should be not be considered a genre at all. I view all stories set in the past as historical fiction. And for me, the "past" means stories set before I was born, i.e. before 1950.
This is not strictly speaking its proper definition. In a recent post on historical fiction by Audrey Driscoll, HERE, she defined it thus;
"Historical fiction must be set in the past, at least twenty-five years before the writer’s present, but some say it should be fifty or more. Novels from past decades or centuries that were contemporary at the time they were written are not historical fiction."
Her definition is similar to one of the Wikipedia definitions, however, the article does mention that some people read novels written in the past as historical novels. People like me.
"Historical fiction" being such an open description, I see no need to make a further distinctions. All stories set in the past, including those written as contemporary accounts of the life at the time. They have evolved into historical fiction with the passage of time. And indeed, they're likely more authentic than contemporary writers' accounts of those times by nature of their familiarity with world they are writing about. I realize, however, that many contemporary stories are idealized representations of their world, and so they can not be taken at face value. Still, they get the everyday details right as well as the contemporary attitude of the author and/or characters, and thus, more likely the authentic.
As broadly as I define historical fiction, I do make one distinction; fiction written in the 20th century vs stories written in the 21st. I find several characteristics of 21st century fiction that do not appeal to me. Though having said that, my favorite series of the year is a 21st century written historical fiction/fantasy series. It is an exception to my experiences with modern historical fiction.
One of the things that, well, annoy me about modern historical fiction is many historical fiction writers seem to settle for doing their research online, mostly, it seems by using Wikipedia. They're content just to work in the nuggets of information they found online into the story, just to make it seem historical. Plus they often feel the need to include explanations of the artifacts of the time that are no longer familiar to modern readers. This might be because these authors are considerably younger than me, and so the pre-cell phone, pre-internet world feels far, far more distant to them than it does to me, and so the need to explain this remote world to the reader.
However, because they don't immerse themselves in the period, you get "historical fiction" that has little to no historical flavor to it. The history is just window dressing for a modern story. Indeed, I once came across a mystery story set in the 1930's England, where the author had the characters look at the "screen" of a hotel registry!
Another trend I have noticed is the desire to teach us about the evils of the past. I recently read a historical fantasy novel where the author essentially paused telling the story to turned to the audience to give mini-lectures on the injustices of the society she wanted to educate the reader about. We, the reader, were told about the importance of ABC Tea Rooms for women of the Victorian age, or how little agency women had, illustrated by the fact that women could be shipped off and confined for treatment for a perceived mental condition and held without their consent. (I see that review is coming up this Saturday. Stay tuned.)
All in all, I've found that historical fiction written prior to the 21st century is usually not only better written, but far more thoroughly researched. Writers prior to the internet needed to work harder to research the period they were writing about, and perhaps because of that, they became more immersed in it, becoming experts in the period. From having read many and a variety of contemporary accounts, those authors picked up more than the facts, they picked up the spirit of the age, the way characters would think, speak, and act. As a result, those books offer a greater sense of the age than most modern historical fiction.
As I said at the top, my view of historical fiction includes all fiction set and/or written in the past. The Cadfael medieval mysteries set in the twelfth century are historical fiction. The Aubrey and Maturin nautical stories set in the early 19th century are also historical fiction. Georgette Heyer's Regency Romances are not only romances, but historical fiction. As are westerns, most war stories, sea stories, Regency Romances, many spy stories, and even historical fantasies that have been written in the last 100 plus years.
Up to now, I've talked about mostly works by 20th & 21st century authors writing about their past. But there is that second aspect of historical fiction, stories originally set in contemporary tines that have become historical by lasting. Most popular fiction goes out of print and is forgotten, but some endure, and remain in print. For example, D E Stevenson's or Miss Read's domestic stories set in Britain. Sherlock Holmes, of course, Sax Rohmer's Fu Manchu, Agatha Christie's and her contemporary mystery writers' stories can still be found in print. You can still find Compton's Monarch of the Glen set in the highlands of the 1930's. and a number of H Rider Haggard adventure stories set in distant lands, as well as Kipling's stories of India under the British Rah, just to name a few more that spring to mind. And as I said, being written as contemporary fiction, they bring that forgotten contemporary life back to life. And while they may include many unfamiliar things, social norms, and attitudes, that only adds to their authenticity.
And, of course, we can not forget all the writers of now classic literature, Jane Austen, Charles Dickens, Tolstoy, and all the rest who wrote stories set in the world of their times; historical fiction several layers deep.
I have thousands of historical stories remaining to be explored, though the less famous may need a visit to a used book store or the Gutenberg Project to be discovered. With this vast range, to wander, I expect to find many more entertaining books without ever leaving my historical fiction range behind. As I said in the first post, historical fiction is a wide, wide, range to roam over. Some readers find a home on that range, but I have a feeling I'll just keep roaming.
Sorry; I really need to learn how to write clearly and concisely. I've edited this piece down for the last several days and it's still too long and rambling.