The Forms of Historical Fiction: Sir Walter Scott and His Successors

by Harry E. Shaw

Harry Shaw's aim is to promote a fuller understanding of nineteenth-century historical fiction by revealing its formal possibilities and limitations. His wide-ranging book establishes a typology of the ways in which history was used in prose fiction during the nineteenth century, examining major works by Sir Walter Scott--the first modern historical novelist - and by Balzac, Hugo, Anatole France, Eliot, Thackeray, Dickens, and Tolstoy.

256 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1983

About the author

Dr. Harry E. Shaw lectures in English at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He concentrates on nineteenth-century British novels and narrative poetics.

Reviews

[Richard Klingensmith · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Successors: Not the TV series

This book was as delicious as 5 star pizza and as comfortable as a 5 star hotel.
I dislike that Jeanie Dean had to walk 500 miles to see the Queen to get a pardon for her sister so that she did not hang. I dislike that she had to walk 500 more to get back home. No car, no train, no bus, the good old days must have been rough. Harry Shaw explained things that had previously been confusing to me. Therefore promote him to 5 star general. I give this book FIVE STARS!