"Resourceful Reinvention": Speculative Biography as Public History?

Abstract

<p>What is speculative biography and how might it constitute a form of public history that enlivens the way we make histories in the twenty-first century? I am something of a hybrid-historian, trained by the academy but with roots that draw their sustenance from the subversive waters of literature. I am interested in writing, how we bring the past alive and make it enjoyable for general readers. For me, the answer lies in great stories that convey their arguments, as Peter Cochrane once suggested, in narrative,"by stealth"(Cochrane 2007, np). I am excited by the relatively new subgenre of speculative biography for a range of reasons, all of which relate directly to the imperative issued by Margaret Schlegal, the fictional heroine of Forster's <i>Howards End</i>.</p>