Reenacting History

When I was growing up, I almost always heard the words "historical reenactment" in conjunction with the words "Civil War." What this meant was that a bunch of overly-enthusiastic history nerds were going to dress up in blue and gray uniforms, run around on a hillside, and then lie down and pretend to be dead. Nonplussed by this activity, I discounted historical reenactment as a silly game without much historical value.

When I went to college and took some history classes, I discovered that there were other kinds of historical reenactment that were not related to the Civil War. My professor had us read a book called The Brendan Voyage. In this book, the author Tim Severin used reenactment to see whether St. Brendan, an Irish monk from the sixth century, could actually have sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to America as one ancient manuscript claims. Using clues from the manuscript, Tim Severin constructed a small boat out of a wooden frame and tanned ox hides. Then he and a few companions set out in this tiny "curragh"  in a reenactment every bit as exciting as the real voyage in the St. Brendan story. The voyage Severin took gave him a great insight into the events of the ancient tale and offered new possibilities of interpretation that he would never have thought of if he had relegated himself to a more academic research approach.

Today I witnessed a completely different kind of historical reenactment. An organization called Messiah's Mansion was in town for a week showing off a full scale model of the Mosaic Tabernacle. The tour, which lasted a little over an hour, focused on the history behind the Tabernacle, the ways that it prefigured Christ's ministry, and how that applies to us today.

Although the whole thing was a little bit hokey (with a lot more painted plastic than acacia wood), I was surprised about how well I can now visualize the layout of the tabernacle. The description of the building in the book of Exodus, with all of its cubits and woven cloth and wood paneling and gold overlay, mushes together in the mind without creating a clear picture of the building. Even after looking at the floorplan provided by most study Bibles, it is difficult to imagine, or retain, a 3-D image of what the building looked like. Walking through the re-creation of the Tabernacle helped create a mental picture in a way that reading the text could not.

Reenactment can be very valuable for giving us insight into history, but like academic research, it has its pitfalls. Sometimes there is not enough source information to fully re-create the past. Sometimes preconceived--and ill-conceived--notions about a time period can cloud re-creations. Oftentimes, movies will reenact historical events with slipshod or inaccurate historical detail. Audiences will leave the theater assuming that they are now experts on the persons and the period when really all they have gained is a misleading or warped understanding.

To benefit the most from reenactment is is essential to keep word and image in close proximity. If you are not familiar with the book of Exodus, then you have no measuring stick to hold up to Messiah's Mansion. If you have never read the tale of St. Brendan, then you cannot judge the authenticity of Tim Severin's voyage.

What kinds of historical reenactment have you witnessed or participated in? How did they further (or detract from) your knowledge of history?

Our First Ever Giveaway

Kin·dle – verb 

1. to set fire to or ignite 

2. to excite; stir up or set going

3. to light up, illuminate, or make bright

 

Kin·dle – noun 

 1. an e-reader first put out by Amazon.com in 2007, now owned by over 2 million book-lovers

 

It's only been three years since Amazon first launched the Kindle, and already it has made a huge impact on traditional publishing. In July of this year the New York Times reported that Amazon was now selling almost twice as many Kindle copies as regular books, "180 digital books for every 100 hardcover copies."

 

For independent authors, the Kindle is a huge boon. To sell your work on Kindle, all you have to do is upload a cover picture and a formatted Word document. Easy peasy lemon squeezy. In the last two months Amazon has also made it possible for authors to receive a 70% royalty from Kindle sales, a far higher profit percentage than authors have ever received from the sales of hard copies.

 

In recent months, Kindle readers have been enthusiastic in their reception of I Serve, and a steady stream of electronic copies have been downloaded from Amazon's website onto the sleek e-readers of historical fiction lovers. Sales projections show that we will sell our 500th Kindle copy of I Serve sometime in the next two or three weeks.

To celebrate our ongoing success with Kindle sales, we are giving away a signed, paperback copy of I Serve (because, let's face it, the paperback is feeling a little left out with all of this hype about its electronic counterpart).


If you want to be entered in the giveaway for a paperback copy of I Serve, do any (or all) of the following:

• Comment on this post (include your e-mail address).
• Become a follower of this blog and tell me about it in a comment (include your e-mail address). If you are already a follower, you can still do this.
• Post about this giveaway on your own blog and give the link to your post in a comment (include your e-mail address).

This gives you the chance to submit up to three entries to win your own signed, paperback copy of I Serve.  Once the 500th Kindle copy of I Serve finds a home, this giveaway opportunity will end and I will contact the winner.

Fictional Friends

"Why Read?" is the question Peter Leithart asks in one of his latest articles for Credenda Agenda. His answer to that, and a rather unexpected answer, is that we read to make friends; and not just any friends, but especially the kind of friends that we can look up to as role models and guides.

Character is shaped by what I’ve called “pictures,” by the models that we strive to imitate and the worlds we attempt to bring into being.... All of us have been shaped by living role models, people we admire and seek to imitate, and knowing fictional characters and worlds adds to the store of models that we have, models to imitate and to avoid.

Leithart goes on to point out that our own character is affected by the people we keep company with, and that "fiction is a kind of keeping company with other people." It is important then, to choose the right fictional characters to keep company with. It is important to choose the right friends. "If growing up with Southerners encourages us to speak Southern, growing up with Othello and Pip, Alyosha and Tom Sawyer will shape our speech, and our character, in enriching ways."

When we continually associate with the wrong kind of characters (e.g. anti-heroes, immoral protagonists) and live in the wrong kind of fictional worlds (where good is called evil and evil good), we run into as much danger as if we were hanging out with a "bad crowd" in our real lives.

None of us escapes the influence of fictional pictures or fictional friends.  Imagination is not something we can take or leave.  Our thoughts and actions, and our character, are always guided and shaped by some form of imagination.  The issue is always whether our imagination is richly or poorly stocked, whether it is shaped by nightmares or molded by dreams.  The issue is whether our imaginations are stuffed with pictures drawn from the M-TV or pictures drawn from Melville, whether we make fictional friends at the cinema or meet them in Shakespeare.

Instead of feeding ourselves a steady diet of pop literature (or pop cinema), Leithart makes the argument for reading more substantial books like the classics. There we can find the friends who ought to be influencing us, the strongly-molded characters who can strongly mold our own character into something better than it is.

Though Leithart's article asks the question "Why Read?" by implication it also poses a corollary question to authors: "Why Write?" In the twelfth century Gesta Tancredi, Ralph of Caen gives an answer that sorts well with Leithart's article.

It is a noble exercise to recount accurately the deeds of princes. To do so is to consider generously all that is subject to time, to celebrate the dead, to entertain the living, and to set out a past life as a model for later generations.

The medieval chroniclers agree with Leithart, that the purpose of portraying a character is to create character.
This is an awesome responsibility for every author, whether a writer of history or a writer of fiction. The characters we create are models for others to mold their character upon.

Thanks to Miss Pickwickian for pointing out this article on her blog The Erratic Muse.

Twins' Names Poll Results

In the last two weeks many of you have responded to the poll about what would be the WORST historical names we could inflict on our twin boys (due in November). The "winners" are Robespierre and Lafayette, with 40% of the vote, although Alaric and Attila were a close second with 38%. To set your mind at rest, let me assure that you that none of the names from this poll are in the running for the actual babies' names. Yes, we do have names picked out for them, and no, we're not telling what they are until the babies are born.

Check out our new poll about "Homeschooler History Obsessions" over on the right side of this page. Weigh in with your opinion on which period of history homeschoolers are most fascinated with.

Just the Facts, Ma'am...

Fiction or Nonfiction? What's the difference?

I picked up James Patterson's book The Murder of King Tut at the library the other day. Just in case you didn't know it, James Patterson (according to his website) is the best selling author in the world right now. In the past three years, he has reportedly sold more books than any other author, an estimated 170 million copies worldwide.

Now, James Patterson books aren't usually my thing--thrillers and mysteries that you buy at an airport book stall--but the cover of this book promised something special. "A Nonfiction Thriller," it proclaimed.

The Author's Note in the front of the book continued to promulgate what the cover had promised, that this was a work of nonfiction. Patterson asserts that his motto for this book was "Don't fake anything." He says he lost himself in books and online research while co-author Marty Dugard visited actual historical sites in London and Egypt.

We then combined our notes and began writing. One astounding fact about Egyptian history is that so much of it is still unknown. So when we came to a gap, we went back to the research for answers. Then we put forth our theory as to what happened. We constructed conversations and motives and rich scenes of palace life--all grounded in long hours of research.

Now, to me, this sounds exactly like what a historical fiction writer does. We research extensively, and then based on that research, endow our characters with words, thoughts, and descriptions. We fill in the gaps with plausible theories and construct motives for documented actions.

But Patterson, for some reason, does not want his book to fall into the genre of historical fiction. He claims it is history. "It's nothing new for histories to be speculative," he says, "but there's a difference between guessing and basing a theory on cold hard facts. We chose the facts."

I finished the Author's Note wondering if Patterson could perform what he had promised. Would he base this book on cold hard facts and live up to the name of nonfiction?

Chapter 12 - Thebes, 1347 BC

An even greater roar echoed through Thebes as the pharaoh's horses picked up speed.

High atop the reviewing stand, Nefertiti watched...Akhenaten...and tried to appear calm.

Meanwhile, two deep-set eyes leered at her. They belonged to her husband's royal scribe, a powerfully built man in his late thirties named Aye.

The populace was mesmerized by the horse-faced pharaoh galloping his favorite chariot, but Aye could have cared less. He was tantalized by the nervous young queen--and then aroused when she slipped her index finger into her mouth to bite her painted nail before remembering that thousands might witness her insecurity.

The royal scribe licked his lips. He could have almost any woman in Egypt, but she was the one he wanted. Aye studied her graceful neck and the rest of her, down to the gentle sway of her hips. She was much smarter than the pharaoh, who was a freak undeserving of her, Aye thought. Having served under his father, Aye knew how a pharaoh should look and behave--and Amenhotep was no such man.

But if not Amenhotep, then who should reign? Aye wondered.

He answered his own question: me.

Fiction or nonfiction? You be the judge.