“I only became a novelist because I thought I had missed my chance to become a historian.” ChanceNovelistsHistorian Author:Hilary Mantel
“For historians, creative writers provide a kind of pornography.” KindCreativeHistorianPornographyCreative Writers Author:Hilary Mantel
“For me, it is about using everything that is there and using the gaps in the record, figuring out why the gaps might be there. And then when you move on to the level of what historians said, laying the interpretations side by side. You also have to look back at the documents and make your own judgments. What the record says and what people say about it. A novelist can fill the gaps in a way that a biographer cannot.” PeopleWayLooksSaidMightMovingSidesLevelsRecordsJudgmentNovelistsInterpretationGapsHistorianDocumentsBiographers Author:Hilary Mantel
“I am not a historian. I don't see what I do as being a rival to biography.” HistorianBiographiesRivals Author:Hilary Mantel
“Like a historian, I interpret, select, discard, shape, simplify. Unlike a historian, I make up people's thoughts.” PeopleShapesHistorianSelectSimplify Author:Hilary Mantel
“Wolf Hall attempts to duplicate not the historian's chronology but the way memory works: in leaps, loops, flashes.” WayMemoriesHallsLeapHistorianFlashLoopsDuplicateChronology Author:Hilary Mantel
