' s ▁ 1 4 th - century ▁Water ▁Mar gin ▁concerns ▁ 1 2 th - century ▁out la ws ; ▁Lu o ▁Gu anz h ong ' s ▁ 1 4 th - century ▁Rom ance ▁of ▁the ▁Three ▁Kingdom s ▁concerns ▁the ▁ 3 rd - century ▁wars ▁which ▁ended ▁the ▁Han ▁D ynast y ; ▁Wu ▁Ch eng ' en ' s ▁ 1 6 th - century ▁J our ney ▁to ▁the ▁West ▁concerns ▁the ▁ 7 th - century ▁Buddh ist ▁pil gr im ▁X u anz ang . ▁ ▁Class ical ▁Greek ▁novel ists ▁were ▁also ▁" very ▁fond ▁of ▁writing ▁nov els ▁about ▁people ▁and ▁places ▁of ▁the ▁past ". ▁The ▁I li ad ▁has ▁been ▁described ▁as ▁historic ▁fiction , ▁since ▁it ▁tre ats ▁historic ▁events , ▁although ▁its ▁genre ▁is ▁generally ▁considered ▁ep ic ▁poetry . ▁Pierre ▁Vid al - Na quet ▁has ▁suggested ▁that ▁Pl ato ▁laid ▁the ▁found ations ▁for ▁the ▁historical ▁novel ▁through ▁the ▁myth ▁of ▁Atl ant is ▁contained ▁in ▁his ▁dialog ues ▁T ima eus ▁and ▁Crit ias . ▁The ▁T ale ▁of ▁Gen ji ▁( written ▁before ▁ 1 0 2 1 ) ▁is ▁a ▁fict ional ized ▁account ▁of ▁Japanese ▁court ▁life ▁about ▁a ▁century ▁prior ▁and ▁its ▁author ▁assert ed ▁that ▁her ▁work ▁could ▁present ▁a ▁" full er ▁and ▁therefore ▁' tr uer '" ▁ ▁version ▁of ▁history . ▁ ▁One ▁of ▁the ▁earliest ▁examples ▁of ▁the ▁historical ▁novel ▁in ▁Europe ▁is ▁La ▁Prin