In its Greek origins, historia meant inquiry, and from Thucydides onwards, the past has been studied to understand its connections with the present.
Simon SchamaRead
The challenge for a nonfiction writer is to achieve a poetic precision using the documents of truth but somehow to make people and places spring to life as if the reader was in their presence.
Interpretation
What this quote means
Nonfiction writers strive to blend factual writing with a vivid, poetic style that brings stories and characters to life for readers.
In this quote, Simon Schama emphasizes the unique challenge that nonfiction writers face: they must maintain the accuracy of truth while crafting prose that is so engaging and immersive that it feels as if readers are experiencing the events and characters firsthand. This requires a delicate balance of artistry and factual integrity, highlighting the importance of artistry in storytelling even when grounded in reality.
Themes
NonfictionWritingArtistryPoetryTruth
In practice
Example use cases
In a writing workshop focused on crafting narratives, this quote can inspire students to bring life to their factual accounts.
More from Simon Schama
All quotes →Jewish history turns out not to be an either/or story - as in, either pure Judaism detached from its surroundings or else assimilation - but rather, for the vast majority, the adventure of living in between.
Simon SchamaRead
I understood when I was quite small that there were two special things about the Jews. That we'd endured for over 3,000 years despite everything that had been thrown at us, and that we had an extraordinarily dramatic story to tell.
Simon SchamaRead
History is admirably dangerous. It is not the soft option. Teachers need to be grown up and brave. Sensitivity is fine, but it stops at the door of honest narrative.
Simon SchamaRead
History gives you insight of the same quality of truth as poetry or philosophy or a novel.
Simon SchamaRead
From the very beginning, history wasn't content simply to be nostalgic fairytales; it wanted to make you think.
Simon SchamaRead
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