Epic, magnificent, spectacular, those are the adjetives that best describe these titles from pre-history to the XVI Century.

Jorge Luis Borges was always amused by the anecdote he would often quote in his interviews about literary realism and that realm of his which we call historical novel.  When Flaubert wrote 'Salambó', the obsessive Frenchman did meticulous research and even traveled to Carthage in order to experience the real “stage” where his novel about the Punic Wars took place.  There, he saw cacti, and thinking they were African, he included them in his novel, making a “historical anachronism,” since this plant originates in Mexico and it would have been imposible for it to grow in Africa during Hanibal’s time. Jorge Luis Borges, author of “The Aleph,” added that no matter how much we immerse ourselves in the past, we are members of our generation and every historical novel says more about our present than about the past that it theoretically deals with.

These are the titles according to El Confidencial:

1. El clan del oso cavernario by  Jean M. Auel (Maeva)

2. Sinuhé el egipcio by  Mika Waltari (Debolsillo)

3. Creación by Gore Vidal (Edhasa)

4. Yo, Claudio by Robert Graves (Alianza Editorial)

5. Memorias de Adriano by Marguerite Yourcenar (Pocket Edhasa)

6. El puente de Alcántara by Frank Baer (Pocket  Edhasa)

7. El nombre de la rosa by Umberto Eco (Debolsillo)

8. El hereje  by Miguel Delibes (Austral)

9. Q by Luther Blisset (Debolsillo)

10. En la corte del lobo by Hilary Mantel (Booket)

Read complete article here: El Confidencial