ABSTRACT
This is most obviously true o f the historical novel, if only because so many o f the greatest novels o f the nineteenth century fell into that category. Yet dull and conventional practitioners have endangered the critical validity o f the genre. M ost historical novels are tripe, sentimental fantasies which offer no challenge to any reader. Conversely, therefore, the writing o f a historical novel offers a peculiar challenge to the novelist for he or she is required to liberate the form from the easy assumptions with which it has become encrusted. At the same time its attractions are obvious: it allows the writer to consider permanent qualities o f mind and character simply by setting a distance o f time between the novelist and his material; it frees him from the tyranny o f the here and now.
