Among historians, there is an understandable fear of ending up in the revolving door between fiction and fact. Yet, historical fiction has a potential in a scientific context. It does not necessarily mean dirty tricks on a defenseless past. Instead, historical fiction unfolds interesting dimensions of the past, presents new angles and perspectives, leads into new ways of thinking, points to sense-making frameworks and introduces interpretations. In my presentation I will indicate that all these aspects may be of relevance in a scientific context. The historian is not necessarily or by definition more skilled than the author to interpret past events or phenomena. 

Kim Salomon is professor at the Department of History at University of Lund