Recreating the Past: How to Write Fiction with an Historian’s Eye


Using fiction and primary source documents, this course will explore how authors have offered historical interpretation through fiction, deftly drawing worlds sensitive to their chosen time period. We will look closely at how the context is imagined and drawn, how voice is an echo of an age, and how just a few details can sketch a relevant backdrop.  Examples might include selections from serious literary fiction (like Toni Morrison’s Beloved, and Colum McCann’s Let the Great World Spin), to more mainstream popular literature (like Tom Perrota’s Bad Haircut and Sue Monk Kidd’s The Secret Life of Bees), to historical romance (Lavyrle Spencer’s Morning Glory).  We will draw from primary sources from the Civil War era in the United States and the Regency period in England to practice the kinds of research necessary for establishing an historical context. Reading and writing will intertwine, as writers build to rendering their own stories with historical settings of their choosing.

Each meeting will include close reading of selections and prompts for student writing.

Cost: $660 for 11 classes

*No class on November 23rd

Event Location and Ticket Information

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Wrexham Living Room
Sarah Lawrence College
Bronxville, New York 10708
Handicap Accessible? Yes

Date: Monday, November 9, 2015
Times: 10:00 am - 12:00 pm

Ticket pricing:
Free event

Presenter: The Writing Institute, Sarah Lawrence College
Presenter Phone: 914-395-2412
Presenter Website: https://www.sarahlawrence.edu/ce/writing-institute/