Re: Senator Kennedy's first name

Jerry Friedman wrote:
On Aug 31, 11:48 am, LFS <la...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Steve Hayes wrote:
On Mon, 31 Aug 2009 17:25:18 +0100, "Peter Duncanson (BrE)"
<m...@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
I'm very uncomfortable with any historical fiction that has real-life
characters in it. Words and actions are attributed to individuals. The
imdividuals may never have said or done those things. The portrayal may
give the readers or audience a false idea of historical events and the
bahaviour and motivations of the people involved.
I recently read such a book, "An instance of the fingerpost" by Iain Pears. A
kind of Restoration whodunit. Not bad, but I share your unease at putting
imaginary dialogues in the mouths of real characters.
An interesting feature of that book, which I very much enjoyed, was that
the geography of Oxford was correctly represented. I get very irritated
by authors who set their books in places I know well but distort the
geography.

I find it interesting that you don't mind possibly (or even
definitely?) distorted depictions of historical characters, but do
mind distorted geography. Is it just that geography is more
objective?


Well, yes. I might not *know* whether a historical personage is accurately portrayed but I do *know* the road layout and position of famous buildings.

--
Laura
(emulate St. George for email)



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