ITS FICTION IS THE GREATEST GIFT OF EVERY GENERATION

Teddy Roosevelt portrayed in the TV-series The Alienist

Not the facts, but our fantasies count most in the future

I was watching a new TV-series called The Alienist. It is set in New York the late 19th century, the era of the Robber Barons, with J.P. Morgan as their Zeus at the pinnacle. The Catholic Church is involved intimately. The series offer an excellent representation of the rich and the poor, the vicious and the righteous. Teddy Roosevelt is portrayed as the New York commissioner of police, a position he never held. But he is pictured as a hero of a kind, so the American sentiments about him are fully satisfied.

There is much to say for history to be explained with fiction. The TV-series present a very credible view of the world of the late 1890’s in America. And yes, much government effort went into stemming the tide of corruption. As a president Teddy Roosevelt in fact succeeded in crushing the Robber Baron monopolies.  It is what the civilized world has always done, to pass its greatest fiction, myths and legends, alongside its history, and sometimes intermingled, from generation to generation.

And then there is fiction elevated to become history. The genesis of Christianity is the great example. The four Gospels are an effort in deliberately historicizing fiction that already floated for many decades. Our era is based on the birth date of someone who never existed. The life of Jesus was created as the people’s most desired fiction of God’s love and personal sacrifice but also as a mighty vehicle to command the historical process thereafter. Thus the powerful fantasy of one religion became the historical backbone of our entire civilization.

In fact, most civilizations have some historicized fantasy at their heart. Similarly quite a few myths are the heart of national histories. Think of King Arthur and his Camelot, or Homer’s Odyssey.

Given the vast and detailed historical records of our time, it is far less likely for our fiction to become historicized in a similar way. Even so, the day may come when people are led to believe that Superman really existed. Or it may be the the reverse: history being turned into legend. This may be the case, for instance, with the story of Anne Frank or the life and times of John F. Kennedy and his Camelot.

Otherwise, even without becoming historicized much of the fiction of our generation has the potential to far outlive our history. Think of the many epic movies we pass on, both of fiction and fictionalized history. Who will know, many thousands of years from now, which one was true and which one wasn’t? In the end the truth of it all doesn’t really matter. It is what we wish to believe.