Title
In Defence of “the Lesser Cousin of History”: An Interview with Rohan Wilson
Department
English
Document Type
Article
Publication Source
ariel: A Review of International English Literature
Publication Date
2014-10
Volume
45
Issue
4
First Page
133
Last Page
150
Abstract
Few branches of postcolonial literature are as contested as the historical fiction of settler societies. This interview with the Australian historical novelist Rohan Wilson, author of The Roving Party (2011) and To Name Those Lost (2014), explores the intersections between truth, accuracy, and existential authenticity in his fictional accounts of nineteenth-century Tasmania. Wilson offers a nuanced yet robust defence of fiction’s role in narrating colonial history. He explains his intentions in writing two linked yet distinctive novels of the frontier—one that focuses on the “Black War” of the 1820s and 1830s, and another that explores how racial violence is refracted by capitalism in subsequent decades.
Keywords
historical fiction, history and fiction, history wars, Australian literature, settler colonialism, frontier violence, Rohan Wilson
DOI
10.1353/ari.2014.0032
Recommended Citation
Dalley H., & Wilson, R. (2014). In Defence of “the Lesser Cousin of History”: An Interview with Rohan Wilson. ariel: A Review of International English Literature, 45(4), 133-150. https://doi.org/10.1353/ari.2014.0032
https://muse.jhu.edu/article/576075/summary