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RE: National Book Award Winner and Nominees -- ONE CRAZY SUMMER
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From: Burgess, Francesca <F.Burgess_at_BrooklynPublicLibrary.org>
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:42:13 -0500
Hi Marc,
Thank you for your response. Your comments about plausibility in historical fiction were very helpful and helped clarify things for me.
Although, I am concerned about the historical implausibility of the use of the name Afua during that time period, I agree with you that Cecile is depicted as a character who defies social conventions, and thus it's conceivable that she could have used the name.
Francesca Burgess
Francesca Burgess Children's Materials Selector Office of Materials Selection Brooklyn Public Library 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY 11238 Phone: 718.230.2748 Fax: 718. 230-2097 f.burgess_at_brooklynpubliclibrary.org
________________________________
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 7:43 PM To: Burgess, Francesca; schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
National Book Award Winner and Nominees -- ONE CRAZY SUMMER
Francesca raises an issue of historical plausibility.As a general trend she is surely correct -- the broader pattern of changing "slave names" came later. And yet Malcolm X changed his name in 1952 (at least that is what I see on one site) and Cassius Clay changed his in 1964, While they were Muslims as is not the case in One Crazy Summer, their actions might quite easily have inspired an angry, determined, young poet. The larger question is what obligations historical fiction has to history -- and that is far from clear to me. Plausibility in historical fiction is at some crossing point between a vividly drawn and imagined personal reality and a social historical context. I think it is fair to call historical fiction implausible if a character is out of step with her plausible context -- even as we must also recognize that human beings are individual and are not always defined by the general social norms. It seems to me that Cecile is a plausible individual of her time, even if she is not a typical one. She
passes the test that we can ask of historical fiction: if a character is out of step with the norms of her age the author must show us how and why she is so unusual. Rita does that.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 24 Nov 2010 09:42:13 AM CST
Date: Wed, 24 Nov 2010 09:42:13 -0500
Hi Marc,
Thank you for your response. Your comments about plausibility in historical fiction were very helpful and helped clarify things for me.
Although, I am concerned about the historical implausibility of the use of the name Afua during that time period, I agree with you that Cecile is depicted as a character who defies social conventions, and thus it's conceivable that she could have used the name.
Francesca Burgess
Francesca Burgess Children's Materials Selector Office of Materials Selection Brooklyn Public Library 10 Grand Army Plaza Brooklyn, NY 11238 Phone: 718.230.2748 Fax: 718. 230-2097 f.burgess_at_brooklynpubliclibrary.org
________________________________
From: bookmarch_at_aol.com
Sent: Tuesday, November 23, 2010 7:43 PM To: Burgess, Francesca; schliesman_at_education.wisc.edu; ccbc-net@lists.wisc.edu Subject: Re:
National Book Award Winner and Nominees -- ONE CRAZY SUMMER
Francesca raises an issue of historical plausibility.As a general trend she is surely correct -- the broader pattern of changing "slave names" came later. And yet Malcolm X changed his name in 1952 (at least that is what I see on one site) and Cassius Clay changed his in 1964, While they were Muslims as is not the case in One Crazy Summer, their actions might quite easily have inspired an angry, determined, young poet. The larger question is what obligations historical fiction has to history -- and that is far from clear to me. Plausibility in historical fiction is at some crossing point between a vividly drawn and imagined personal reality and a social historical context. I think it is fair to call historical fiction implausible if a character is out of step with her plausible context -- even as we must also recognize that human beings are individual and are not always defined by the general social norms. It seems to me that Cecile is a plausible individual of her time, even if she is not a typical one. She
passes the test that we can ask of historical fiction: if a character is out of step with the norms of her age the author must show us how and why she is so unusual. Rita does that.
Marc Aronson
Received on Wed 24 Nov 2010 09:42:13 AM CST
