I think the history was followed accurately enough, but it is obviously from only the viewpoint of people who were not the main sufferers under the Japanese rule. The author wrote only from the perspective of the wealthy and semi-wealthy. I still think she did a great job. If she were to try to include every Korean point of view, the novel would be 4 times as long!
Has the author portrayed the history accurately?
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Re: Has the author portrayed the history accurately?
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I absolutely agree with you. I once read that history is written by the winners so everything must be always then with a grain of salt since it is never impartial.raluca_mihaila wrote: ↑12 Jan 2021, 15:21 Accurate is not a word to be used about history. Every country has an entirely different record for the same event. It is based on the subjective description of the people who wrote history, and they tend to present the facts in some direction or other. However, the book follows the main direction as presented in most history books.
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This is a historical fiction, so it is the author's responsibility to keep along with the general historical lines. The resistance part can be author's own imagination, but the acts of the Japanese should be historically correct since that part has abundant sources to refercristinaro wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 07:43 From what I already knew and from the things I have researched about King Gojong and Queen Min, I think the author closely followed the line of the historical information available about the time period. I'm not so sure about the details concerning the resistance movement. My guess is the author supplemented the missing pieces of historical evidence with abundant imagination.
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I strongly believe that historical fiction should contain accurate information. The author can include his own imagination into those facts, but the original facts should remain intact. The cultural background of this story keeps in line with the culture of the era that the story has taken placecd20 wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 19:09 As this is a fiction piece, the author did not have to closely follow historical details, but seems to. Since we were not there, it is hard to know exactly what is truth and what she has embellished. With her treatment of women she kept to the time period, and with having been born in Korea herself, I imagine she knows quite a bit about that time period, probably having grown up with relatives that lived during that time.
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I agree, it should continue accurate information, I didn't say that it didn't. I only said that she did not have to completely hold to facts. I also said that the cultural background did stay inline with the time period.Sushan wrote: ↑24 Jan 2021, 12:35I strongly believe that historical fiction should contain accurate information. The author can include his own imagination into those facts, but the original facts should remain intact. The cultural background of this story keeps in line with the culture of the era that the story has taken placecd20 wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 19:09 As this is a fiction piece, the author did not have to closely follow historical details, but seems to. Since we were not there, it is hard to know exactly what is truth and what she has embellished. With her treatment of women she kept to the time period, and with having been born in Korea herself, I imagine she knows quite a bit about that time period, probably having grown up with relatives that lived during that time.
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I agree with you. I recently began to research the Min dynasty and read about Korean history so I was quite delighted to see that I recognized a lot of the historical content the author depicted in the book. While there were some parts I do not recognize I am no expert so I would simply say that the author depicted it quite accurately to be honest.cristinaro wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 07:43 From what I already knew and from the things I have researched about King Gojong and Queen Min, I think the author closely followed the line of the historical information available about the time period. I'm not so sure about the details concerning the resistance movement. My guess is the author supplemented the missing pieces of historical evidence with abundant imagination.
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Yes, I would say that the author has a certain advantage over us as she is of Korean descent and as such is sure to be privy to more details of a historical nature than most people. I would say that the book was wonderfully written and the author depicted the timelines very accurately lending the book an air of authenticity.cd20 wrote: ↑02 Jan 2021, 19:09 As this is a fiction piece, the author did not have to closely follow historical details, but seems to. Since we were not there, it is hard to know exactly what is truth and what she has embellished. With her treatment of women she kept to the time period, and with having been born in Korea herself, I imagine she knows quite a bit about that time period, probably having grown up with relatives that lived during that time.
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