I’m not sure if this concept is even possible with modern editing and publishing houses, but I was curious whether there are any historical fiction books published semi-recently (say, last 50 years or so) where characters speak like people from the past actually would have.
Pretty much every historical fiction I’ve read (or really, any piece of historical fiction I’ve consumed, period) have characters who still speak to each other in a relatively modern way. *Maybe* there’ll be an archaic word or two, or characters refer to each other as “sir” or “madam,” etc., but overall the style of speech seems anachronistic and doesn’t feel like it belongs in that setting. I’m wondering if there are any books where the author has fully committed to period-accurate syntax, grammar, vocabulary, etc. for the time period their story takes place in. For example, a book taking place in the 1700s might have characters retain thee/thou and ye/you distinction, use contractions like th’art, ’twas, and ‘twon’t, and might favour long flowery sentences over snappy, direct dialogue.
Alternatively, it would be interesting to see a character from the past be Steve Rogers’d into the present, where that character speaks in a noticeably archaic way compared to everyone else.
Do such books exist? I imagine this probably wouldn’t fly with modern publishers because it would be “inaccessible” to many readers, but it would be pretty cool to see.
by ExquisiteKeiran
3 Comments
I want a list of these books too! What you’ve described – too modern dialogue or even too modern character traits for the historical setting – is a huge pet peeve of mine and it will instantly turn me off to a book. So I’m always on the hunt for books that are able to get the writing and dialogue style right for the period.
I have to say Sarah Waters writes so well for the time periods she sets her stories in. Not just the dialogue, but the narrative as well. Her novels take place typically within Victorian Era – post WWII. She’s probably my favorite writer currently, and I am getting so impatient for her to publish another book!
Susanna Clarke’s Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell is like, basically perfectly written in the style of the early 1800s. I can’t believe she could do this so well. Highly recommend. (If you liked this book, her short story collection The Ladies of Grace Adieu will also appeal.)
Also, I have not read this yet, but just flipping through a few early pages of Eleanor Catton’s The Luminaries has me thinking it is also one of these books. Looking forward to reading that one.
Patrick O’Brian’s [Aubrey-Maturin series](https://www.goodreads.com/series/40333-aubrey-maturin) does an exceptionally good job of this. In fact the entire books are written to sound like the style of the period. The first book is around 55 years old, so it’s just slightly outside the range you mentioned, but they’re fantastic historical fiction set during the Napoleonic wars.
Dr Mirabilis by James Blish fits the bill. It’s about the very early days of scientific enquiry and that strange time where natural philosophy began to become systematised into the scientific method. So you still have archaic beliefs about demons and spirits and alchemy beginning to bleed over into the early stages of the Enlightenment. And yes, Blish fully commits to the time period, with the narration and dialogue all being as period-accurate as he could make it. Not always easy to read, but an interesting book nonetheless.