And if they aren't dead, where are they?

Who are "they?"

"They" are the figures of history with which writers of historical fiction sometimes pepper their novels. Over the years I have read any number of historical novels in which various personages of the time in which the story is set make an appearance. Or, sometimes these personages are referred to by the fictional characters in the stories without making a personal appearance. And entirely too often, the authors of these stories treat these once-real-life personages in much the same way that many of us today treat "has-been" celebrities.

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