The experienced writer says to the anguished novice: 'Just do it; get something, anything, on to the screen or page, just establish a flow of words, and criticise them later.' You give this advice but can't always take it.
Hilary MantelRead
Wolf Hall attempts to duplicate not the historian's chronology but the way memory works: in leaps, loops, flashes.
Interpretation
What this quote means
The quote suggests that historical narratives should reflect the fragmented and non-linear nature of human memory rather than a strict timeline.
In this quote, Hilary Mantel emphasizes the idea that traditional historical accounts often fail to capture the complexity and fluidity of human memory, which operates through non-linear associations and emotional resonances. By advocating for a narrative style that mirrors how people actually remember events—through flashes and leaps—she argues for a more authentic representation of the past that honors the subjective experience of memory.
Themes
MemoryHistoryNarrativeHuman ExperienceSubjectivity
In practice
Example use cases
In a discussion about historical novels, one might cite this quote to emphasize the importance of capturing the essence of human memory.
More from Hilary Mantel
All quotes →History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it.
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Why are we so attached to the severities of the past? Why are we so proud of having endured our fathers and our mothers, the fireless days and the meatless days, the cold winters and the sharp tongues? It's not as if we had a choice.
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He is careful to deny responsibility for September, but he does not, you notice, condemn the killings. He also refrains from killing words, sparing Roland and Buzot, as if they were beneath his notice. August 10 was illegal, he says; so too was the taking of the Bastille. What account can we take of that, in revolution? It is the nature of revolutions to break laws. We are not justices of the peace; we are legislators to a new world.
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It is the absence of facts that frightens people: the gap you open, into which they pour their fears, fantasies, desires.
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History offers us vicarious experience. It allows the youngest student to possess the ground equally with his elders; without a knowledge of history to give him a context for present events, he is at the mercy of every social misdiagnosis handed to him.
Hilary MantelRead
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