The Fictions of History: What Sebastian Barry’s American Trilogy Reveals About Storytelling

Sebastian Barry’s new novel, The Newer World, is the latest installment in his American trilogy. Following Days Without End and A Thousand Moons, it continues to redefine our understanding of America’s complex history through its characters’ personal struggles.

Historians often criticize fiction for getting facts wrong or embellishing events to suit artistic vision. However, Barry’s work reveals a more nuanced relationship between history and fiction. Rather than presenting a definitive account, he fills in the gaps left by historians with richly detailed characters and stories that humanize the past. By merging personal tragedies with national ones, he shows how individual lives are intertwined with historical events.

Barry’s earlier novels demonstrate this skill particularly well. In The Secret Scripture, he reimagines Irish history through fictional families like the Dunnes and McNultys, highlighting the silences in our collective memory – stories that were deliberately left out or forgotten. His American trilogy takes a similar approach but with different historical circumstances.

In Days Without End, Thomas McNulty flees Ireland’s famine for America, only to find himself complicit in the genocide of Native Americans. In A Thousand Moons, Winona’s story unfolds as she navigates her adopted family and their relationship with the land. These novels quietly make waves in literary circles but hold significant implications beyond fiction.

What does Barry’s work say about our collective memory, particularly when it comes to America’s complex history? Historians have long dominated the narrative, leaving out or glossing over stories of people who don’t fit into the grand tale of American exceptionalism. Barry’s work fills this gap, giving voice to those previously silenced.

The debate between historians and novelists is not new, but Barry’s work shows that fiction can be a more effective tool for understanding the past than traditional historical accounts. By humanizing history through its characters, he reminds us that individual lives are always intertwined with larger events.

As Hilary Mantel put it in her Reith Lectures, “history is what’s left in the sieve when the centuries have run through it.” Barry’s fiction fills this sieve, allowing us to glimpse people and stories previously lost. This approach suggests that fiction can be a more effective way to understand the past – by filling gaps and giving voice to those silenced.

The implications are significant: if we want to truly understand America’s history, we need to look beyond traditional historical accounts and engage with the stories that fiction provides. This means embracing complexities of individual experiences and acknowledging silences left behind by historians. By doing so, we can build a more nuanced understanding of our collective past.

In an era where fake news and alternative facts are increasingly prevalent, Sebastian Barry’s American trilogy offers a powerful counter-narrative – one that reminds us of the importance of storytelling in shaping our understanding of truth.