Australian historical fiction, while often captivating, can sometimes present a misleading or inaccurate portrayal of the past. One prominent example is the case of Norma Khouri’s Forbidden Love, which was marketed as a non-fiction account of a murder in Jordan but later revealed to be largely fabricated. Another example involves Wanda Koolmatrie’s My Own Sweet Time, which was initially published as the work of an Indigenous author but was later discovered to be a hoax. These cases highlight how historical fiction, even when purporting to be factual, can be misused or misrepresent the truth.
Furthermore, even when not outright fabricated, historical fiction can still subtly mislead readers through its creative license. For example, Kate Grenville’s A Room Made of Leavesdelves into the life of Elizabeth Macarthur, but it is important to remember that the novel is a fictionalized interpretation of historical events, not a definitive biography. Similarly, Joan Lindsay‘s Picnic at Hanging Rock is a work of fiction, and while it captures the atmosphere of colonial Australia, its narrative of missing schoolgirls is not based on historical fact.
The key takeaway is that while historical fiction can offer engaging narratives and insights into the past, it is crucial to approach such works with a critical eye, recognizing that they are interpretations of history rather than objective accounts. It is also important to be aware of instances where historical fiction is deliberately presented as factual or exploits cultural narratives for commercial gain, as demonstrated by the cases of Khouri and Koolmatrie.
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Let’s look at three recent Australian literary scandals. One is white male author Leon Cameron whose supposedly autobiographical novel, My own sweet time, was published in 1994 by indigenous publisher, Magabala Books. He presented himself as Wanda Koolmatrie, a Pitjantjatjara woman of the Stolen Generation, and he won the Dobbie Literary Award. The truth didn’t come out until he tried to sell his sequel and the publisher asked to meet him. And then all hell broke loose.
Another is Norma Khouri‘s Forbidden Love which was published by Random House in 2003 as a non-fiction account of the honour killing of her best friend in Jordan. It was a best-seller, but after being exposed by Sydney Morning Herald literary editor, Malcolm Knox, she admitted – eventually – that she had taken “literary licence”. For a work marketed as non-fiction, this was a bit of an understatement!
Then there’s Helen Demidenko, whom I mentioned in the opening paragraph. Her novel The hand that signed the paper won the Vogel award for unpublished manuscript in 1993 and then the prestigious Miles Franklin award in 1994. Helen Demidenko was a pseudonym for Helen Darville. On its own, that doesn’t seem like a huge crime, but the controversy came about because she presented her novel as being based on the experiences of her Ukrainian family. She said that the events that she wrote about in the book “actually happened”. Well, they may have, but not to her or her family. This book became the subject of a longstanding literary debate*.