Historical novel
A historical novel is a form of fiction set in a past era, often characterized by the inclusion of historical figures and events within its narrative. This genre originated in Europe during the late eighteenth century, coinciding with the Romantic movement, which emphasized personal experience over rationalism. Sir Walter Scott is credited with establishing the genre through works like "Waverley," which explored nationalistic themes in a historical context. Over time, the genre has diversified into subgenres such as historical romance and historical mystery, enriching the landscape of fiction. Prominent historical novels have engaged with significant historical periods and figures, providing readers with both entertainment and insights into historical realities. Authors like Anya Seton and Mika Waltari have produced influential works that resonate with themes of love, power, and identity, often leading to film adaptations. The genre continues to evolve, with contemporary writers employing innovative techniques to challenge traditional narratives and explore the complexities of historical interpretation. Historical novels play a crucial role in shaping collective memory and understanding of the past.
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Historical novel
A historical novel is a structured work of fiction set in a historical era, often one that predates the author’s lifetime. Some historical novels feature historical figures and events in their plots. The historical novel has evolved with the genre of fiction. The romantic era in Europe brought about interest in nationalist history, and during the nineteenth century, the historical novel emerged. Although some have referred to Jane Austen’s historical works as historical novels, most were written with an understanding of contemporary events and not intended to set the characters within historical contexts. Leo Tolstoy’s epic novel War and Peace (1869) is considered one of the finest historical novels ever written. During the twentieth century subgenres emerged such as historical mystery, historical romance, time travel stories with historical settings, and nautical fiction.
Background
Historical novels in the Western tradition emerged out of a late-eighteenth-century cultural movement; the proponents of romanticism valued the individual, personal experience, and intuition over classicism’s rationality and order. In literature, authors sought to express more in their writing as an inclusive art form with which they could use history to create complex emotional meaning. Sir Walter Scott (1771–1832), discerning the value of a fictional treatment of nationalistic history for storytelling in a distinct cultural setting, virtually invented the genre known as historical novels with Waverley (published anonymously in 1814), set during the Jacobite uprising of 1745. Scott followed this with Rob Roy (1817) and Ivanhoe (1819), both entertaining histories filled with adventure. Likewise, The Green Mountain Boys (1839), by New England writer Daniel Pierce Thompson (1795–1868), takes place in Vermont during the American Revolution. Captain Frederick Marryat (1792–1848) set his The Children of the New Forest (1847), about orphans who find refuge with a forester who teaches them about survival, in Restoration England.
Some historical novels were first presented in serial form, which created dramatic, “stay tuned” interest among readers. Scottish writer Robert Lewis Stevenson (1850–94) published The Black Arrow (1888) and Treasure Island (1883), and American writer Mark Twain (1835–1910) published both Prince and the Pauper (1881), about young Edward Tudor of England, and A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court (1889) in serial form.
A natural outgrowth of realistic fiction, Daniel Defoe’s fictionalized depiction of a marooned sailor in Robinson Crusoe (1719) was inspired by a travelogue account of the adventures of a Scottish sailor named Alexander Selkirk (1676–1721). News accounts have sometimes inspired historical research that led to the development of historical novels. Scott O’Dell (1898–1989), a descendent of Sir Walter Scott, took a newspaper account of an American Indian woman who lived alone for about eighteen years on a San Nicolas Island off the coast of Santa Barbara, California, and created Island of the Blue Dolphins (1960).
Overview
Historical novels are an important element of historical memory; they contain an author’s selected memories or impressions of historical events, and if compellingly presented in fictional form, they sometimes remain within the collective consciousness, shaping remembrances in more enduring ways than scholarly histories. By 1900, historical novels were increasingly written for juvenile readers.
Historical novels set in Europe during the Middle Ages, with the era’s striking social polarization between the nobility and serfs, and men and women, provided great fodder for writers. Women who were documented because of their connection to famous men were also profiled in epic historical novels. Anya Seton (ca. 1904–90), who wrote ten best-selling historical novels, brought the world of Geoffrey Chaucer to life with her spectacular love epic of John of Gaunt (1340–99) and Katherine (also spelled Catherine) Swynford (1350–1403) with a feminist slant in Katherine (1954).
Historical novels have provided stories that have been subsequently translated into film. Finnish writer Mika Waltari (1908–79), who wrote political propaganda during World War II, picked up on postwar nihilism when he spotlighted corruption inherent in a materialist world with his Sinuhe Egyptilāinen (1945; The Egyptian, 1949), set during the reign of Akhenaten during the Eighteenth Dynasty. Based on Waltari’s novel, the film version of The Egyptian was released in 1954. Austrian novelist Annemarie Selinko (1914–86) wrote a best-selling historical novel called Désirée (1951) that chronicled the life of Napoleon’s first love, who went on to become the queen of Sweden. Selinko’s novel became the basis of the 1954 film of the same title, starring Marlon Brando and Jean Simmons. Ross Lockridge Jr. (1914–48) used a literary device of telling a story of a single epic day (July 4, 1892) embedded with flashbacks in Raintree County (1947) to create a mythic tale that delved into the psyche of a nation divided by slavery even after the Civil War. The film version opened in 1957 and featured Montgomery Cliff, Elizabeth Taylor, and Eva Marie Saint.
Scott placed characters from the middle classes in historical frames in order to develop stories that explored societal conflict. Postmodernism has brought innovation to historical novels and is characterized by works that refer to their own fictionality. Contemporary postmodernism in historical fiction becomes powerful in its attitude toward the past. For example, the novel Foe (1986), by J. M. Coetzee, reimagined Robinson Crusoe in light of postmodernism and other literary theories, questioning the portrayal of history and the process of gathering and presenting historical knowledge.
Bibliography
Brayfield, Celia, and Duncan Sprott. Writing Historical Fiction: A Writers’ and Artists’ Companion. New York: Bloomsbury, 2014. Print.
Calvo-Pascual, Mónica. “Mastering the Art: The Historical Novel and Local Color.” Costerus (New Series) 188 (2011): 19–38. Print.
Crowley, Rebecca. “The Female Figure in Contemporary Historical Fiction.” Contemporary Women’s Writing 8.1 (2014): 110–11. Print.
De Groot, Jerome. The Historical Novel. London: Routledge, 2010. Digital file.
Kutzer, M. Daphne, and Emmanuel S. Nelson. Writers of Multicultural Fiction for Young Adults: A Bio-Critical Sourcebook. Westport: Greenwood, 1996. Print.
Martin, Rhona. Writing Historical Fiction. 2nd ed. London: Black, 1995. Print.
Moore, Steven. The Novel: An Alternative History: Beginnings to 1600. New York: Continuum, 2010. Print.
Moore, Steven. The Novel: An Alternative History, 1600 to 1800. New York: Bloomsbury, 2013. Print.
Thom, James Alexander. The Art and Craft of Writing Historical Fiction. Cincinnati: Writer’s Digest, 2010. Print.
Van Dijk, Yra. “Amateurs Online: Creativity in Community.” Poetics 43 (2014): 86–101. Print.
Wesseling, Elisabeth. Writing as a Prophet: Postmodernist Innovations in the Historical Novel. Philadelphia: Benjamin, 1991. Print.