Historical Fictions Research Conference 2026: “Feelings and Emotions”

The 10th annual conference of the Historical Fictions Research Network will take place at the Kollegienhaus in Erlangen (Universitätsstraße 15) from 19 to 20 February 2026. It is organised by Dr. Dennis Henneböhl, Dr. Isabel Kalous (both FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg), and Dr. des Alina Aulbur (University of Siegen).

The Historical Fictions Research Network aims to create a place for the discussion of all aspects of the construction of the historical narrative. The focus of the conference is the way we construct history, the narratives and fictions people assemble and how. We welcome both academic and practitioner presentations. The Network addresses a wide variety of disciplines, including Archaeology, Architecture, Art History, Cartography, Cultural Studies, Film Studies, Gaming, Gender, Geography, History, Larping, Linguistics, Literature, Media Studies, Memory Studies, Museum Studies, Musicology, Politics, Queer Studies, Race, Reception Studies, Re-enactment, Transformative Works.

For the 2026 conference, the HFRN will engage in scholarly discussions on the topic of feelings and emotions in historical fictions. It includes a keynote by Prof. Dr. Heike Paul (FAU Erlangen-Nürnberg) as well as a reading and discussion with Dr. Christine Lehnen (University of Hamburg). The programme can be found here. The conference is open to all FAU members. In order to register, please contact Dr. Dennis Henneböhl (dennis.henneboehl@fau.de) by 01 February 2026.

Original Call for Papers

As the genre’s original name ‘historical romance’ suggests, emotions have been central to historical fiction since its inception. Thus, the study of historical fictions makes significant contributions to the history of emotions, which, as Ute Frevert puts it, is primarily concerned with analysing “what emotions do in and to history” (31). Hilary Mantel, for instance, remarked that working as a historical novelist requires her to “unfreeze antique feeling, unlock the emotion stored and packed tight in paper, brick and stone”. Instead of straightforwardly recording or giving an account of past feelings, historical fictions are also significantly influenced by present emotions, both on the side of its producers and consumers. Analysing feelings and emotions in historical fictions thus involves focussing both on the aesthetic modes and emotional repertoires that are employed in representing the past as well as on the potential effects they produce in the reception process, for instance with regards to feelings of pleasure, anger, nostalgia, or empathy.

The political dimensions of emotions are equally significant, as they “shape the ‘surfaces’ of individual and collective bodies” (Ahmed 1), impacting power relations and social identities. Emotions function strategically in political contexts – they are deployed to unify or divide, to legitimise authority or contest injustice, and to construct narratives of belonging or otherness. Historical fictions, by engaging with these affective dynamics, open a critical space to interrogate how emotions operate within and across nations, communities, and temporalities. In addressing themes such as colonialism and racism, historical fictions reveal how feelings like nostalgia can both obscure and challenge histories of domination and displacement, while also enabling postcolonial reflections on memory and identity. Similarly, grief and mourning, increasingly recognised in environmental humanities, resonate in historical narratives that engage with ecological emergencies and invite reflections on loss and responsibility that bridge past and present. Encompassing a broad spectrum of cultural texts, historical fictions mediate the interplay of personal and collective emotions, exploring how they shape political discourses, influence public opinion, and inform responses to crises, both historical and contemporary.

A further highly relevant aspect of historical fiction’s engagement with emotions is the question of mediality, even intermediality. A fruitful field of research in connection with historical fictions in general, this bears special attention when focusing on emotions. The type of emotions evoked and the way in which they are created and/or enhanced can depend heavily on media-specific methods and conventions. Vincent M. Gaine points to the inherent potential of historical film for working with emotions to create a closer engagement with the past: “Emotion connects viewers to individuals, and films direct the viewer’s attention through narrative, cinematography, editing, performance, and indeed the presence of certain performers” (56). The varying shapes historical fictions can take, the emotions different types of media work with, and the different levels of ambiguity between emotions of the past and present thus open up important discussions on the interplay between history and emotions.

References

Ahmed, Sara. The Cultural Politics of Emotion. 2^nd Ed. (Edinburgh University Press, 2014)

Frevert, Ute. Writing the History of Emotions: Concepts and Practices, Economies and Politics (Routledge, 2019).

Gaine, Vincent M. “Last (White) Man Standing: The Philosophy of Racial Responsibility in The Last of the Mohicans and The Last Samurai.” In: Bringing History to Life Through Film: The Art of Cinematic Storytelling, edited by Kathryn Anne Morey (Rowman & Littlefield, 2013).

Mantel, Hilary. “Author, Author: Unfreezing Antique Feeling.” The Guardian, 15 Aug. 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/15/hilary-mantel.