How To Resolve a Debate Amongst Library Assistants: Are Mythological Retellings Fantasy or Historical Fiction?
I was processing new fiction books at the library, and a book by an author I know - Aphrodite by Phoenicia Rogerson - crosses my desk. As I’m preparing the book to go on our shelves, I notice it’s categorised under Fantasy, which is odd because the author’s first Greek mythological retelling, Herc, had been put under Historical Fiction. Now, I’m of the believer that a key purpose of categorising books in libraries is to make the books easier to find, so splitting up Phoenicia’s two books didn’t sit well with me. On the day - given I was processing Aphrodite at the time - I switched the new book’s genre so that it could sit next to Herc in Historical Fiction. But it got me thinking: which genre do mythological retellings belong in? Fantasy or Historical Fiction?
My instinct was to put these books into Historical Fiction - or at least I had no initial worry to do so with Aphrodite – and some of the friends and colleagues I spoke to felt the same way. Mythological retellings are old stories after all that do, in a way, transport us back to ancient times. Almost like these books are Historical Fiction, not by the usual definition, but as stories told by people of the past that often influenced and interweaved with the “true” history we know.
But when we look at the content of these stories – immortal beings, magical powers, fictional places – it sounds like a description of a fantasy book. So maybe, these books are less Historical Fiction and more retellings of some of the OG Fantasy stories.
None of this was clear cut, and looking around at our library shelves for other examples was deeply unhelpful, too, given most retellings are in the Teen or LGBT+ sections for non-genre-related reasons.
Thinking this through without any structure was just leading me round in circles, so the next step was to actually define each genre. To do so I did a bunch of research to find popular definitions before coming up with my own. I looked to organisations, such as the Historical Novel Society, as well as consuming Bookish content, going to bookstores, and searching the library catalogues I had available to me. And I think I’ve encompassed most of all of that in these definitions here…
Historical Fiction – Stories written to immerse us in a period of human history which the author themselves didn’t live through. They can be about real historical people or events, or be more speculative by suggesting alternate histories or exaggerating parts of past culture.
Fantasy – Stories containing imaginative elements that go against our laws of science – magic, magical creatures, the paranormal etc. – and therefore could not occur in the real world. Fantasy books often include a lot of world-building to establish these fictional places and/or magic systems.
Even with these definitions, however, I felt mythological retellings and re-imaginings still blur the lines between genres. It became clear that I was not going to come to a satisfying conclusion on my own. Luckily, I had tickets to one of Phoenicia Rogerson’s Waterstones book events for Aphrodite, and so I went along and asked the author herself to give us an answer once and for all.
Firstly, she said that her books have been categorised in various genres – Fantasy, Historical Fiction, and even Science Fiction. She also talked about how mythological retellings have become big enough to be a category of their own – which I completely agree with – but we understand that libraries have limiting cataloguing systems, and so if she had to choose…
Phoenicia said she would approach writing books set in real historical settings quite differently from Herc and Aphrodite. That it would involve a different research process and she would choose not to have the same humorous writing style when tackling real historical events and themes.
So, Fantasy it is!
I want to finish by saying that going to hear Phoenicia speak and seeing her enthusiasm in person was such a delight! And I also really appreciate her properly considering my question and giving me such a detailed answer on the spot! She has resolved this debate amongst library assistants, and I will be moving our library copies of her two incredible books to the Fantasy shelf at the earliest opportunity.