The Excavation and Animation of Historical Fiction

Of historical fiction, author Sabina Murray writes, “I know what a historical fiction writer is until I am asked. I do not feel that I easily occupy that place—half-archeologist, half-Doctor Frankenstein—excavating and animating in the name of literature.” What kinds of resources (archives, oral histories, documents) can we excavate in order to animate our work? In this course, we'll examine the methodologies of writers of historical fiction (W.G. Sebald, Min Jin Lee) to incorporate these techniques into our own work.