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Among English writers who produced works of prose fiction during the years between 1830 and 1848# close to two-thirds published at least one historical novel. Of 75 authors listed in the New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature as having published novels between 1830 and 1848, 47 published at least one historical novel. Among novels reviewed by English periodicals during these years, one-third to one-half were historical fictions; and among general critical essays on fictional forms appearing in major periodicals of the period, at least twenty analyzed the historical novel as a genre. — Monika Brown
Victorian Criticism of Historical Fiction
- How did Victorian critics define the historical novel?
- Not historical enough? or Victorian problems classifying major Victorian novels
- Criticism of Harrison Ainsworth’s Language, Plots, and Historical Accuracy
- Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1890 Blackwood’s Edinburgh Magazine)
- “Badly Assimilated Memoirs of the Period, Unnecessary Dialogue, & Moral Reflections Masquerading as a Novel” — The Historical Fiction of G.P.R. James
Bibliographies
- Theoretical Discussions of Historical Fiction in English Criticism, 1830-70
- Historical Novels Noted in the British Press, 1830-1870 (approximately 800 titles)
- Recent Books on Historical Fiction
Historical novels about specific periods, events, or subjects
- The Ancient World: Egypt, Greece, and Rome
- Jews, Judaism, and Old Testament Times
- British India and South Asia
- James I, Cromwell, the Civil War, and the Restoration
- Ireland and the Irish
- Scotland
- The French Revolution
- Renaissance Italy
- Nineteenth-Century Italy and the Risorgimento
- Pirates, Buccaneers, and Privateers
Last modified 1 December 2023