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John McWilliams has written the first, much needed account of the
ways the promise and threat of political revolution have informed
masterpieces of the historical novel. The jolting sense of
historical change caused by the French Revolution led to an immense
readership for a new kind of fiction, centered on revolution,
counter-revolution and warfare, which soon came to be called "the
historical novel." During the turbulent wake of The Declaration of
the Rights of Man, promptly followed by the phenomenon of Napoleon
Bonaparte, the historical novel thus served as a literary hybrid in
the most positive sense of that often-dismissive term. It enabled
readers to project personal hopes and anxieties about revolutionary
change back into national history. While immersed in the fictive
lives of genteel, often privileged heroes, readers could measure
their own political convictions against the wavering loyalties of
their counterparts in a previous but still familiar time.
McWilliams provides close readings of some twenty historical
novels, from Scott and Cooper through Tolstoy, Zola and Hugo, to
Pasternak and Lampedusa, and ultimately to Marquez and Hilary
Mantel, but with continuing regard to historical contexts past and
present. He traces the transformation of the literary conventions
established by Scott's Waverley novels, showing both the
continuities and the changes needed to meet contemporary times and
perspectives. Although the progressive hopes imbedded in Scott's
narrative form proved no longer adaptable to twentieth century
carnage and the rise of totalitarianism, the meaning of any single
novel emerges through comparison to the tradition of its
predecessors. A foreword and epilogue explore the indebtedness of
McWilliams's perspective to the Marxist scholarly tradition of
Georg Lukacs and Frederic Jameson, while defining his differences
from them. This is a scholarly work of no small ambition and
achievement.
John McWilliams has written the first, much needed account of the
ways the promise and threat of political revolution have informed
masterpieces of the historical novel. The jolting sense of
historical change caused by the French Revolution led to an immense
readership for a new kind of fiction, centered on revolution,
counter-revolution and warfare, which soon came to be called "the
historical novel." During the turbulent wake of The Declaration of
the Rights of Man, promptly followed by the phenomenon of Napoleon
Bonaparte, the historical novel thus served as a literary hybrid in
the most positive sense of that often-dismissive term. It enabled
readers to project personal hopes and anxieties about revolutionary
change back into national history. While immersed in the fictive
lives of genteel, often privileged heroes, readers could measure
their own political convictions against the wavering loyalties of
their counterparts in a previous but still familiar time.
McWilliams provides close readings of some twenty historical
novels, from Scott and Cooper through Tolstoy, Zola and Hugo, to
Pasternak and Lampedusa, and ultimately to Marquez and Hilary
Mantel, but with continuing regard to historical contexts past and
present. He traces the transformation of the literary conventions
established by Scott's Waverley novels, showing both the
continuities and the changes needed to meet contemporary times and
perspectives. Although the progressive hopes imbedded in Scott's
narrative form proved no longer adaptable to twentieth century
carnage and the rise of totalitarianism, the meaning of any single
novel emerges through comparison to the tradition of its
predecessors. A foreword and epilogue explore the indebtedness of
McWilliams's perspective to the Marxist scholarly tradition of
Georg Lukacs and Frederic Jameson, while defining his differences
from them. This is a scholarly work of no small ambition and
achievement.
The second of Cooper's five Leatherstocking Tales, this is the one
which has consistently captured the imagination of generations
since it was first published in 1826. It's success lies partly in
the historical role Cooper gives to his Indian characters, against
the grain of accumulated racial hostility, and partly in his
evocation of the wild beautiful landscapes of North America which
the French and the British fought to control throughout the
eighteenth century. At the center of the novel is the celebrated
Massacre' of British troops and their families by Indian allies of
the French at Fort William Henry in 1757. Around this historical
event, Cooper built a romantic fiction of captivity, sexuality, and
heroism, in which the destiny of the Mohicans Chingachgook and his
son Uncas is inseparable from the lives of Alice and Cora Munro and
of Hawkeye the frontier scout. The controlled, elaborate writing
gives natural pace to the violence of the novel's action: like the
nature whose plundering Copper laments, the books placid surfaces
conceal inexplicable and deathly forces.
About the Series: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has
made available the broadest spectrum of literature from around the
globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to
scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of
other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading
authorities, voluminous notes to clarify the text, up-to-date
bibliographies for further study, and much more.
In this magisterial study, John McWilliams traces the development
of New England's influential cultural identity. Through written
responses to historical crises from early New England through the
pre-Civil War period, McWilliams argues that the meaning of 'New
England' despite claims for its consistency was continuously
reformulated. The significance of past crises was forever being
reinterpreted for the purpose of meeting succeeding crises. The
crises he examines include starvation, the Indian wars, the Salem
witch trials, the revolution of 1775-76 and slavery. Integrating
history, literature, politics and religion this is one of the most
comprehensive studies of the meaning of 'New England' to appear in
print. McWilliams considers a range of writing including George
Bancroft's History of the United States, the political essays of
Samuel Adams, the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the poetry of
Robert Lowell. This compelling book is essential reading for
historians and literary critics of New England.
In this magisterial study, John McWilliams traces the development
of New England's influential cultural identity. Through written
responses to historical crises from early New England through the
pre-Civil War period, McWilliams argues that the meaning of 'New
England' despite claims for its consistency was continuously
reformulated. The significance of past crises was forever being
reinterpreted for the purpose of meeting succeeding crises. The
crises he examines include starvation, the Indian wars, the Salem
witch trials, the revolution of 1775-76 and slavery. Integrating
history, literature, politics and religion this is one of the most
comprehensive studies of the meaning of 'New England' to appear in
print. McWilliams considers a range of writing including George
Bancroft's History of the United States, the political essays of
Samuel Adams, the fiction of Nathaniel Hawthorne and the poetry of
Robert Lowell. This compelling book is essential reading for
historians and literary critics of New England.
This book considers the portrayal of the American national
character in the writings of Nathaniel Hawthorne and Herman
Melville. It examines Hawthorne's abiding concern with the
development of New England from colony to province to republic, and
analyses Melville's changing evocation of 'the new American', and
the difficulties he faced in sustaining his heady nationalistic
faith.
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