Reality or Verasimilitude?

One of my English profs in college often spoke about verasimilitude. I've wondered how I came to remember that phrase. I suppose because it struck me as rather significant. The Free Dictionary defines the word as

1.  the appearance or semblance of truth or reality; quality of seeming true
2. something that merely seems to be true or real, such as a doubtful statement [from Latin vērisimilitūdō, from vērus true + similitūdō similitude]

That's what I try to do with my historical novels., give them the appearance or semblance of truth or reality. I try to give them verasimilitude.


In the nineteenth century German historian Leopold von Ranke attempted to go beyond verasimilitude in writing about history. Impressed by the great leaps in science, he urged historians to write wie es eigentlich gewessen ist, how it actually has been. This phrase has been the source of much wrangling. What does it mean? Can a writer ever portray all that happened and why?  


We historical story tellers are not bound by such restrictions. One current example is the script for the movie Valkyrie. This story has the appearance or semblance of truth. It actually has many things that are true, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story. Many background parts of the story were left out. This was not wie es eigentlich gewessen ist. Why do I say that?

Well, for one thing, the movie fails to tell the part that Dietrich Bonhoeffer and his family played in the plot to assasinate Hitler. Bonhoeffer was a Lutheran pastor, hanged by the Nazis for the part he played, but also for helping some Jews to escape Germany. If you know nothing about him, please follow the links above, as well as the many others available online and elsewhere.

There were sinister forces, dark, unseen forces, at work behind the human events of WW II. In my novel, Freya's Child, I attempt to demonstrate that reality. When you read the novel you'll have to decide for yourself whether or not this was wie es eigentlich gewessen ist or merely verasimilitude.