After all, history is a type of fantasy. For all the primary source research, in the end, the past world the historian builds is as weird and remote from our own as Middle Earth or Narnia, yet oddly familiar.

Ysabeau S. Wilce
About This Quote

The writer of the quote, a historian named Robert Alter, was commenting on the way history can seem far removed from our own lives. History, he said, is a type of fantasy – a kind of imaginary world that we invent as we try to understand the past. In other words, without help from books and movies or TV shows, how could we ever understand the past?

Source: Flora Fyrdraaca

Some Similar Quotes
  1. When is a monster not a monster? Oh, when you love it. - Caitlyn Siehl
  2. Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality. It's a way of understanding it. - Lloyd Alexander
  3. If you want to write a fantasy story with Norse gods, sentient robots, and telepathic dinosaurs, you can do just that. Want to throw in a vampire and a lesbian unicorn while you're at it? Go ahead. Nothing's off limits. But the endless possibility of... - Patrick Rothfuss
  4. The treacherous are ever distrustful. - J.r.r. Tolkien
  5. I ended my first book with the words 'no answer.' I know now, Lord, why you utter no answer. You are yourself the answer. Before your face questions die away. What other answer would suffice? Only words, words; to be led out to battle against... - C.s. Lewis
More Quotes By Ysabeau S. Wilce
  1. People keep asking "Jacob or Edward?" when the really important question is "Diamond Dave or Sammy?
  2. After all, history is a type of fantasy. For all the primary source research, in the end, the past world the historian builds is as weird and remote from our own as Middle Earth or Narnia, yet oddly familiar.
Related Topics