A much older genre than is often thought, the historical novel has played a vital role in the development of the novel overall. It began in seventeenth-century France as a distinctive way of combining historical chronologies with fictive narratives. In Romantic Scotland, historical fiction underwent a further transformation, inspired by both antiquarian scholarship and crisis-oriented journalism. The first comprehensive study of its subject for many years, The Historical Novel in Europe highlights both the French invention and Scottish re-invention of historical fiction, showing how these two events prepared the genre's broad popularity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Europe, as well as in the Americas, the historical novel became as much a way of reading and a set of expectations as a memorable collection of books. The main authors discussed include Madame de Lafayette, the abbé Prévost, Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert and Mark Twain.
| ISBN: | 9780521519670 |
| Publication date: | 14th May 2009 |
| Author: | Richard Maxwell |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 323 pages |
| Genres: |
Literary studies: general Biography, Literature and Literary studies Literature: history and criticism European history |
A much older genre than is often thought, the historical novel has played a vital role in the development of the novel overall. It began in seventeenth-century France as a distinctive way of combining historical chronologies with fictive narratives. In Romantic Scotland, historical fiction underwent a further transformation, inspired by both antiquarian scholarship and crisis-oriented journalism. The first comprehensive study of its subject for many years, The Historical Novel in Europe highlights both the French invention and Scottish re-invention of historical fiction, showing how these two events prepared the genre's broad popularity during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. In Europe, as well as in the Americas, the historical novel became as much a way of reading and a set of expectations as a memorable collection of books. The main authors discussed include Madame de Lafayette, the abbé Prévost, Walter Scott, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, Gustave Flaubert and Mark Twain.
The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650-1950 features in the following genres: Literary studies: general, Biography, Literature and Literary studies, Literature: history and criticism, European history
The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650-1950 is available in Hardback
The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650-1950 was written by Richard Maxwell and published by Cambridge University Press
The Historical Novel in Europe, 1650-1950 has 323 pages