Where fiction and history overlap… A Guest Post by Douglas Skopp

I recently spoke with a woman who, just minutes before, finished reading Stieg Larssen’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo:

“What a wonderful, gripping book,” she said.

“Yes,” I said, “so I’ve heard. I’ve not read it.”

“Oh, but you must. It’s wonderful.” Her enthusiasm was all over her face.

“Why is it so wonderful?” I asked.

“It’s so real. So gripping.”

“Really. I’ve just written a book based on my research,” I said, hoping to persuade her to read my novel, Shadows Walking. “Everything in it either happened, or could have happened. Some of the characters and the dialogue, of course, are fictional. But the historical setting in which they make their choices and the consequences of those choices—I didn’t invent any of that. It’s as ‘real’ as I could write it.”

“What’s it about?” she asked.

“Nazi Germany. How a well-meaning, intelligent doctor decides to join the Nazi Party, then does what Nazi doctors did, and finally tries to understand why he made those awful choices.”

“Oh, no. I won’t read anything like that,” she said with a shudder.

“Why not?” I could not resist asking.

“Because it’s true. It’s too real. It really happened.”

“But you just told me, Larssen’s book is wonderful because it is so real.”

“That’s different. It’s fiction. It didn’t happen.”

That conversation set me to thinking. People, myself included, sometimes read a fictional work because it is “so real,” but we know it’s really not “real.” I love to read fantasy, magic realism, contra-factual histories, science fiction, fairy tales, and more. I love the imagination so many authors bring to their subjects: their vivid creation of these alternate realities becomes as real as this world’s. Those who bring this off are praiseworthy in great measure just because their works are so real. Reading them gives me another way of seeing, not only the world they create for my pleasure, but the world in which I really exist. Escaping reality is fun in itself, and can be cathartic when we return to our real world. I am sure Larssen’s works do this, too.

Still, I am an historian, devoted to telling, to the best of my ability, what “really” happened. But no human being can tell what really happened. The past is too intricate, too tightly knotted. Evidence is either missing, or so vast that no one can comprehend it all. Instead, historians must be content to tell stories about the past—hoping, of course, that what they tell is as true as they can make it. In other words, history is not what happened, but what historians say happened. It’s not supposed to be fiction, of course. A good historian cannot violate what is known to be a fact. But the story about those facts—seeing a pattern among them, saying one or another caused a subsequent fact, emphasizing some and leaving others out—that’s what makes an historian like a novelist. Both are eager to tell their stories. Good history and good fiction overlap.

So why is my telling of a story, as true as I can make it historically, but organized around fictional characters making choices within fictional plot, not as appealing to some readers as a story that is praiseworthy because it is so “real” but wasn’t real at all?

In graduate school, I had a history professor who said, often many times during the course of a lecture, “What you must realize is…” He meant, of course, “what you must make real” in studying history, what we needed to do to leap into the era he was describing and actually see it, smell it, feel it, fully sense the reality of it. Larssen apparently does that with brilliance in his novels. Violence, pain, anguish, revenge and whatever else the reader encounters in his work is as believable as it needs to be, in order for a willing reader to actually sense reality. That’s exactly what I wanted to achieve in Shadows Walking—both as an historian and as a novelist.

The violence in Stieg Larssen’s novels did not happen, but he succeeds in making his readers think that it did. Just because this violence appears to be real, but is not, he offers us an escape from a reality that is all too real. Fine enough. As I say, I know how satisfying it is to enjoy fantasies, to escape reality. And I know, my novel is not enjoyable in this sense. In another sense, though, I do hope it is worthwhile.

The painful events in Shadows Walking—the larger events, in which my characters are enmeshed—are true. Telling them, making them as real as I can, is important to me. I believe that we must attempt to “realize” in our minds what it actually meant to suffer the horrors of the Nazi era, and not just from the perspective of its victims. If we can, we should also try to “make real” why the perpetrators did what they did. After all, those perpetrators were human beings. Some, like Hitler, Himmler, Eichmann, Mengele and too many more, were motivated by grotesque brutality and indifference to their victims. Others, like Johann Brenner, my protagonist in Shadows Walking, made choices that brought them to the edge of a slippery slope. They were human beings of “good will” and the best intentions, “normal” (whatever that means) and very much like you and me, ultimately doing great harm to other human beings also very much like you and me, for reasons that at the time seemed compelling, but with hindsight, we know, were indefensible. My novel describes how Johann Brenner made his choices and became a Nazi doctor. In learning about him, I believe we can learn about ourselves. Doing so, we might, we just might be able to stop ourselves from future genocides. At the very least, I hope, we will find more reasons to be compassionate and merciful toward one another. This is the reality—the overlapping of fiction and historical fact—that I seek, and the purpose I had in writing Shadows Walking.
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Douglas R. Skopp is the author of Shadows Walking. You can read Kelly (Kailana's) review of the book here. Douglas does stop by and answer comments, so feel free to communicate with him here.

Shadows Walking by Douglas R. Skopp

Shadows Walking by Douglas R. Skopp

Completion Date: May 26, 2012
Reason for Reading: Anna, of Diary of an Eccentric, mentioned to the author I might like the book and he sent me a copy. Thanks Anna!

Johann Brenner, an idealistic physician and ardent German nationalist, has joined the Nazi Party and willingly participated in its "crimes against humanity." His Jewish childhood friend, Philipp Stein, has also become a doctor. Their lives inevitably intersect until their last, fateful meeting. After the war, Brenner, with stolen papers and a new name, has become a janitor in the courthouse where the Nuremberg Trials are being held. Hoping to "heal himself" and begin a new life with his estranged wife, he decides that he must write her a letter telling what he has done--and why.

Over the years I have battled with myself over what my favourite reads of the year are come the end. This year, though, I have not had a hard time at all picking my favourites. I am not sure what it is, but I could rattle them off to you right now with no problems. They just stand very high above the rest this year. Shadows Rising by Douglas R. Skopp is one such book. I will start the review off by saying that I thought this book was fantastic and that everyone needs to read it. The problem with really good books is that I have a hard time doing the book justice. I think I put too much pressure on myself; so a lot of times I don't review them at all and then I regret it. This is me attempting to do justice to a book that will be on my best of list for the year.

One of my favourite aspects of historical fiction is World War II. If you took a close look at the history I have on my shelves you would find a lot of books that cover this time period. This book, though, was different than my normal selections. It is about a Nazi doctor before, during, and after the events of WWII. After the war has ended he has decided to write a letter to his wife about the horrors he has witnessed and participated in. It was the first time I have ever read a WWII book from this viewpoint. It was horrifying at times. I have heard countless times what it was like to live through the war, especially if you are Jewish, but this is the first time I have seen it through the eyes of the ones committing the atrocities. I really felt Skopp did an excellent job getting in the minds of his characters and show the reader the horrors of the Second World War. I especially liked watching the progression from just a regular doctor living in Germany to an SS doctor working in concentration camps. It seemed entirely believable to me.

The novel follows Johann Brennar. It is after the war and he is actually writing a letter to his wife telling her what he did during the years when he did not see her at all. He thought he was doing the right thing and quickly got in over his head. Now that the war has ended, and even during it at some points, he knew he was in the wrong and feels guilty for the things that he has done. Let me tell you, there are some rather graphic descriptions of the things he did. This was the sort of book that had my jaw dropping and me rattling off what happened to the guy. Skopp does not hold back. In some moments Johann is made to seem human, but there are other times where you can't help looking upon everything as a monstrous turn of events. I am now playing over some of the scenes in my mind and am horrified all over again.

As an interesting contrast the book also talks about Philipp Stein. He is Johann's friend when they are children and also becomes a doctor. He is Jewish, though. His life heads in a completely different direction than Johann's. And, things get complicated for their friendship. The story rotates between the two and includes moments when they are together. It gets more and more complicated as the word escalates and offers a fascinating two-sided view to something I have never really explored in fiction.

This review has been very hard to put into words. All I can say is it is one of my favourite reads of the year and I recommend that if you get a chance you read it for yourself. And, I will point out it is something you have to talk about. I rattled on about this book the whole time I was reading it. There were moments where it was just so appalling. I knew these things happened, but to witness them through the eyes of the characters horrified me. I cannot believe that people were capable of these acts and Skopp does a good job of pointing out that at their core they were only human. So, yes, just read the book and then you will understand just how compelling it all is.

5/5