hellegennes
Group: Members
Posts: 22
Joined: Jan. 2017 |
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Posted: Feb. 25 2017, 17:45 |
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No. Uncle Tom's Cabin is a story that was very relevant when it was first published. The time in which the story takes place is completely irrelevant. Same for the Iliad. Homer describes a glorious past in a post-glorious Greece. It's known as the Greek Dark Ages, a major collapse of Bronze Age Greek civilization. Also, mind that Homer writes about Bronze Age Greece and Greeks as if they lived in the Dark Ages, akin to the way Geoffrey of Monmouth recounted Arthur's story as if it happened in the Middle Ages.
That is, I am not saying that writing historic fiction is ridiculous. This is not the issue I am describing.
It's not even the story itself that matters that much; it's the structure, the style, the language. If you try to mimic Shakespeare's style and language, it will come off as stilted, pompous, verbose and self-important. The other thing that matters are the underlying issues you highlight in your story. If it is just for fun, you may as well create any story. But writing about slavery, or women's right to vote in Europe is not relevant today and if you're writing serious fiction about it, it will seem ridiculous.
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