Voices From the Twelfth-Century Steppe

By Bryn Hammond

A historical novelist explores the Secret History of the Mongols.

If the Secret History is a communal memoir, who told its secrets? Did Temujin -- Chinggis Khan -- tell his own story? Whose voices are heard within the text?

Voices from the Twelfth-Century Steppe has two strands. It practices interpretation of the Secret History of the Mongols from an oral and written arts standpoint ('literary') -- how does this differ from historical investigation? It exhibits ways a historical novelist engages with a primary source -- how does this tend to differ from a historian?

'Voices' is a case study in close source work by a creative writer. Entangled with this, a case is made for arts criticism of the Secret History. Its artistry is integral to its sense.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Bryn Hammond
• Release date: Apr 16, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370558926

Bryn Hammond

Writer, Australia, ex-UK.I've been quietly at work on my historical fiction about 12th and 13th-century Mongols since 2003. It's my main occupation/obsession.Before that, I spent years on a creative translation of Beowulf (unfinished) and wrote science fiction.Keen on: walks by the sea, where I live. Baroque opera, Shostakovich, David Bowie. Books, old and a few new. Doctor Who and Star Trek: Discovery.

Book preview

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