Episode 5: Fiction and Reality

Sometimes fiction depicts reality and sometimes it can change it. This episode I look at several fiction stories which have change the world. I also look at the way fiction can distill reality into a story which is even more true.

Quote Origin: Truth Is Stranger than Fiction, But It Is Because Fiction Is Obliged to Stick to Possibilities; Truth Isn’t – Quote Investigator®. (2015, July 15). https://quoteinvestigator.com/2015/07/15/truth-stranger/

Quote Origin: A Lie Can Travel Halfway Around the World While the Truth Is Putting On Its Shoes – Quote Investigator®. (2014, July 13). https://quoteinvestigator.com/2014/07/13/truth/

Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens

The Jungle by Upton Sinclair 

Lady Chatterley’s Lover by D H Lawrence

Books that Changed the World: The 50 most influential books in human history, Andrew Taylor, Quercus

The 100 stories that shaped the world. (n.d.). Retrieved 24 April 2025, from https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20180521-the-100-stories-that-shaped-the-world

Wasowski, R. P. (n.d.). The Tenets of Sinclair’s Socialism. Retrieved 21 April 2025, from https://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/j/the-jungle/critical-essays/the-tenets-of-sinclairs-socialism

Bachelder, C. (n.d.). The Jungle at 100. Mother Jones. Retrieved 24 April 2025, from https://www.motherjones.com/media/2006/01/jungle-100/

The Jungle and the Progressive Era | Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History. (n.d.). Retrieved 24 April 2025, from https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/essays/jungle-and-progressive-era

Young, J. H. (1985). THE PIG THAT FELL UNTO THE PRIVY: UPTON SINCLAIR’S “THE JUNGLE” AND THE MEAT INSPECTION AMENDMENTS OF 1906. Bulletin of the History of Medicine, 59(4), 467–480. http://www.jstor.org/stable/44441902

https://www.msn.com/en-us/food-and-drink/beverages/fda-pauses-milk-quality-tests-amid-trump-workforce-cuts/ar-AA1DrAGO

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/usda-withdraws-rule-salmonella-levels-raw-poultry/ 

Did Charles Dickens really save poor children and clean up the slums? (2012, February 6). BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-16907648

Davidson, L. (2022). The Trial of Lady Chatterley’s Lover and How It Changed Obscenity Laws. History Hit. Retrieved 27 April 2025, from https://www.historyhit.com/culture/the-trial-of-lady-chatterleys-lover-and-how-it-changed-obscenity-laws/

Get in touch on OurStoriesAndOurSelves@gmail.com or @ourstories.bsky.social

Music from https://pixabay.com/users/good_b_music-22836301/