It may
sound contradictory but readers demand two things from their reading material:
to be taken away from their harsh realities and to be exposed to things that
seem realistic and identifiable to them.
Whether it is an autobiographical novel, historical fiction or roman á clef writers like to go for
fact-based plots. But does an author have the right to hoax the public into
believing that fictional accounts actually happened? Or to exaggerate literary
license to smear public figures and distort reality?
Writers are
advised to stick to what they know, to write about their environment and to base
their characters on real people. But
what are the limits when it comes to dealing with historical facts or depicting
well-known public figures and notorious crimes?
The reader may have a field day trying to guess who is who in a roman à clef (literally “a novel with
clues”) but the writer could be asking for a law suit.
Part of
historical fiction’s charm is that its characters actually existed and went
through the joys and ordeals portrayed in the novel. When Robert Graves tackled
the subject of Imperial Rome in I
Claudius, he adhered to the truth by following the lead of classical
historians like Tacitus and Suetonius. Precisely what the producers of HBO’s
“Rome” chose not to do, so they could have a free hand reinventing Roman history.
Lucky for them no emperor was around to
sue them.
On a
smaller scale, Philippa Gregory does the same in her so-called historical
novels, yet the licenses she takes in The
Other Boleyn Girl makes it more fictional than factual as any historians
could easily prove. The peak of historical distortion appears in works like Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter in which
the future president´s mother is slain by a blood-sucking creature aided by
plantation owners. So what is Honest Abe to do but chase after vampires,
becoming an abolitionist in the process? Should the real Lincoln, a revered historical figure,
be subject to such disrespect?
The
autobiographical novel is another misleading genre. Unlike a memoir,
autobiographical fiction will only touch the most transcendental aspects of the
protagonist´s life, will still have a central conflict that must be solved at
the end, and does not have to be entirely based on fact. Louisa May Alcott
modeled The March Family after her own family but in real life she never
married a German school teacher. Ernest Hemingway was in the Italian Army
during the Great War and had an affair with a nurse, but he didn´t get her
pregnant and run off with her to Switzerland as his alter ego Fredrik Henry
does in A Farewell to Arms.
When Nancy
Mitford published The Pursuit of Love in
1945, her sister phoned her and said: “You have no imagination so you must be
having an affair with a Frenchman.” Indeed, Nancy was having a romance that
would last until her death with Colonel Gaston Palewski, De Gaulle´s aid in
London. She also turned Palewski into a literary character in her novels, the grand
Fabrice de Sauveterre. Nancy Mitford’s books were loved in England, since most
of her characters were inspired by real members of the British high society,
including her own relatives who are the models for the delightfully
dysfunctional Radletts. But in real-life, the Mitford were darker and more dysfunctional
than the author would tell us.
 |
| Gaston Palewski, or "The Colonel" as Nancy Mitford called him. |
The roman à clef (was invented by Mademoiselle
de Scudery, one of the earliest novelists in history and was part of social
circle centered at La Marquise de Rambouillet´s salon. The people that gathered
at the Hotel de Rambouillet included writers, philosophers and even royalty. De
Scudery wanted to write about their affairs, but in the days of the Sun King,
offending royalty or aristocracy meant a ticket to La Bastille. Therefore, in
her novels, Mademoiselle turned important acquaintances into characters of
Greek mythology.
 |
| Madeleine de Scudery |
That was the birth of he Roman à clef, a novel
that deals with real events but changes
characters’ names in order to protect
the innocent, the guilty and, foremost, the writer. After all William Randolph
Hearts did threaten Orson Welles with a libel suit after recognizing himself in
“Citizen Kane”, Welles opus magna and film
à clef. When Lauren Weisberger published The Devil Wears Prada, everybody assumed it was an autobiographical
account of her days in Vogue, and the
heroine´s ruthless boss Miranda Priestly was obviously based on Anna Wintour, Vogue´s editor-in-chief.
Despite the
author´s denials, everybody in the designing world (and the media) rallied in
defense of the real “dragon lady.” The novel got mean critics from the Times Book Review that bordered in ad hominem reproaches targeting the author; Conde Nast publications
did not bother to review the book, and designers refused
to appear in the film afraid it would upset Wintour (who did show up at
the premiere …wearing Prada!) Writing about real people is a dangerous affair.
Another hook
for reality lovers is a story “straight from the headlines,” one that is based on
a recent scandal or crime. In 1827, Antoine Berthet shot Madame Michoud, his
former employee, at a Grenoble church. Bethet blamed Madame Michoud, who had
been his mistress, for interfering with his romance with Mademoiselle de
Cordon, daughter of his new employer. Berthet was convicted of murder and
guillotined. Stendhal would take this red chronicle tidbit and turned it into
his masterpiece Le Rouge et le Noir.
 |
| Ewan McGregor an Rachel Weisz in the TV adaptation of Le Rouge et Le Noir. |
Crime
stories are excellent basis for stories to please a public hungry for
sensationalism. Patrick Hamilton based his play “Rope” on the Leopold-Loeb
murders; Norman Mailer used Gary Gilmore’s execution for his The Executioners’ Song and the homicide of
Jonny Stompanato, perpetrated by Lana Turner´s daughter motivated Harold
Robbins to write Where Love Has Gone.
Before my
bodice-ripper years, I was hooked on Harold Robbins’ romans a clef. Next to
Jacqueline Susann, he was the most prolific chronicler of scandals involving
global jet set members and Hollywood stars. It was incredible fun to guess who
was behind his characters. Soon I knew
that Nora in Where Love Has Gone was
Lana Turner; Jonas Cord in The
Carpetbaggers was Howard Hughes, Dax in The
Adventurers was inspired by Dominican playboy Porfirio Rubirosa and The Lonely Lady was a thinly disguised
portrait of Jacqueline Susann.
 |
| Lana Turner, her daughter Cheryl, and Stompanato |
Prior to
Jackie Collins, Jacqueline Susann was the expert in the business of Hollywood romans a clef. So good was she at turning
movie stars into fictional characters that sometimes not only the readers were
confused. In Once is not Enough,
Susann tells the tragic story behind a reclusive Hollywood diva named Karla. After
her retirement, the Polish actress just “vants to be alone”, but several lovers
of either sex are bent in discovering her secrets. One of those secrets is the mentally-challenged
daughter she keeps hidden in London.
A couple for
years after the novel hit the bestseller’s list, a Swedish magazine leaked the
news that they had discovered that Greta Garbo had a hidden daughter named Liv
Gustaffson. The rumor soon died out because,
aside from wishful thinking, there were no facts supporting their claim. Greta Garbo,
unlike her fictional clone, never had a child, and the disturbed daughter was a
reflection of Susann’s own autistic son that she always kept away from the
public eye.
Sometimes
authors purposely play with their readers. In 1967, Lady Joan Lindsay published
Picnic at Hanging Rock the enigmatic
story of the vanishing of three schoolgirls in the Australian Outback.
Following her publisher´s advice, and to boost the suspense, Lindsay hacked off
the last chapter where the mystery was explained.
The novel
became an instant hit in Australia and abroad, originating a fandom that
despaired over finding solutions to the great enigma of what really happened at
that St. Valentine picnic. Readers
believed the novel was based on actual facts. After Lady Joan´s passing the end
chapter was published, but people preferred to continue on conjecturing and I
have read books (and Internet sites) on UFO’s abductions where the events at
Hanging Rock are described as factual.
Humans love
to find supernatural solutions to the unexplained. Even in this skeptical age
there is nothing as titillating as the idea of real mysteries dressed as
fiction. The most terrifying aspect behind “The Blair Witch Project” was its reality
show aura, the concept that it was a real project about a real dangerous sorceress.
Dan Brown’s novels might, according to its followers, debunked “ancient myths”,
but he has also created new legends. I know many Dan Brown fans who truly
believe in the existence of The Illuminati and The Priory of Zion or that Jesus
fathered a daughter named Sara.
How
legitimate is to present fiction as facts? Is there a limit for literary or historical
licenses when it comes to real people? How autobiographical are your novels? Do
you include real characters and historical events in your books? How do you
deal with them?
