ABSTRACT
Historical fi ction poses a particular problem for authors who wish to provide their stories with compelling female leads, in that women-and girls especially-of preceding centuries have enjoyed considerably less independence of mind and body than their equivalent in the modern age. In the preceding chapter the issue of perception was critical to readers’ understanding of the truth of the story of Joan of Arc. An examination of the literature of the Joan of Arc story revealed that despite the historical Joan’s contextual agency, authors could not help but reveal a preference for modernity by superimposing values and attitudes germane to the author’s present but framed as transhistorical beliefs and principles. The ideological positioning of the author indubitably infl uenced the nature of the text produced.
