Bias and historical truth in Khalid Hosseini's and Deborah Rodriguez' War fiction : whose truth is it ?

Abstract EN

Bias in historical fiction has often aroused objection and disapproval.

The paper argues that the value of historical fiction doesn't reside in the historical truth it imparts but in the possibilities of interpretation it opens.

It draws evidence from Khalid Hosseini's A thousand splendid suns(2007) and Deborah Rodriguez Kabul beauty school (2007) to explain how biased narratives add to the richness of historical fiction by presenting a multi-dimensional picture of events.

The paper comes to the conclusion that bias can be an aspect of richness as it offers multiple perspectives and represents the triumph of literary diversity over political adversity.