Popular History and Fiction

Madeleine Brook is Departmental Lecturer in Early Modern German at the University of Oxford.

This book addresses the function of fiction in the creation of an historical myth and the uses of myth over time. The subject of the case study is the popular image of August the Strong (1670-1733), Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, a figure who has frequently been portrayed as possessing extraordinary sexual prowess and ruling over a magnificent, but frivolous, court in Dresden. The author locates the origins of this myth in the art and literature of the late seventeenth and early eighteenth century and traces its development up to the twenty-first century in German historiography, fiction, art and media.
The study identifies the long-lasting effects of the cultural dominance of Prussia on Saxon historiography in the nineteenth century and the privileged status of particular historical sources over others. It thus sheds light on the challenges facing historians since the early twentieth century when they rely on popular media in recounting and interpreting history. Conversely, it reveals how writers of popular historical fiction employ the methodologies of the historian to bring historical knowledge and self-identity together for the reader.

This books traces the myth of August the Strong (1670-1733), a figure of great wealth, power and sexual prowess, from the late seventeenth to the twenty-first century in German historiography, fiction, art and media. The author reveals the challenges facing historians in interpreting historical myths and popular media.

Contents: History versus fiction and August the Strong - Fabricating the image of August the Strong at the Saxon court - August the Strong the eighteenth-century gallant archetype - The eighteenth century through nineteenth-century eyes - August the Strong on stage and screen, 1900-1949 - August the Strong and cultural politics in the GDR - August the Strong in post-Wende writing and television to 2010.