Question

Historical fiction is concerned with depicting historical figures and events in a new light. In this excerpt from Arthur Conan Doyle’s “The Contest,” which sentences most clearly describe historical elements?
Policles sprang readily to his feet at the challenge, and the great company making way for him to pass, he found himself a minute later standing in his unkempt garb, with his frayed and weather-beaten harp in his hand, before the expectant crowd.

A.He stood for a moment tightening a string here and slackening another there until his chords rang true.

B. Then, amid a murmur of laughter and jeers from the Roman benches immediately before him, he began to sing.

C.He had prepared no composition, but he had trained himself to improvise, singing out of his heart for the joy of the music.

He told of the land of Elis, beloved of Jupiter, in which they were gathered that day, of the great bare mountain slopes, of the swift shadows of the clouds, of the winding blue river, of the keen air of the uplands, of the chill of the evenings, and the beauties of earth and sky.

D.It was all simple and childlike, but it went to the hearts of the Olympians, for it spoke of the land which they knew and loved.

E.Yet when he at last dropped his hand, few of them dared to applaud, and their feeble voices were drowned by a storm of hisses and groans from his opponents.

He shrank back in horror from so unusual a reception, and in an instant his blue-clad rival was in his place. If he had sung badly before, his performance now was inconceivable. His screams, his grunts, his discords, and harsh jarring cacophonies were an outrage to the very name of music.

Answer 1

Historical fiction is a literary technique and style in which authors use historical events, personages or circumstances to write their fictional stories. In the case of "The Contest", by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, which was published in 1911 as a short story, the writer uses as his framework the history of Rome, Emperor Nero and his relationship with Greece, especially its musical tradition and contests, to tell the story of a fictional character called Policles, who is a shepherd known for three things: his incredible talent in music, his bad temper and his good looks. Because of this, Policles is isolated from his other Greek fellows and very seldomly does he come close to the city of Olympia, near his home. The story goes that Policles decides to invastigate a strange circumstance in the town, and without knowing, he steps on a musical contest in which he measures his talents against the irrascible and dangerous Roman Emperor, Nero. Saved from being executed for daring to insult the Emperor and his lack of talent, Policles returns home thanks to the intervention of his friend and is not sought by the Roman soldiers because in the end Nero is led to believe that he was tested by the Roman god Pan. In this excerpt from the story, the two choices that show historical fiction are B and D, because both mention the relation of the story to true historical facts (Nero and Olympia) and the story develops thanks to these facts and characters.

Answer 2

The answers are B and D, got them correct :)