ABSTRACT
Brian McHale (1987) argues in his examination of postmodernist fi ction that although the representation of ‘material culture’ is customarily accurate, ‘few historical novels succeed in projecting the intellectual culture or ideology of a past period-its ethos, thought-styles, attitudes and tastes, and so on-without anachronism’ (88). My discussion of historical fi ction for young readers in the preceding fi ve chapters has been arguing unambiguously that such anachronism is typical of the genre and that the extent of anachronism creates a body of literature that is, as John Stephens (1992) has observed, ‘radically ideological’ (Language, 202). The humanistic metanarrative of positive progression is consistently invoked across all sub-genres identifi ed in my discussion of children’s historical fi ction. The Living history novel discussed in Chapter 1 positions the past to facilitate readers’ meditation upon the problems but ultimate superiority of the modern age. It was apparent that these novels
characteristically use a historical setting to trace the personal development of key characters and conclude with characters, and implied readers, facing forward toward a brighter future. The Joan of Arc literature, together with the novels discussed in Chapter 3 featuring agentic historical female heroines, highlight the relativity of truth and a historical discourse refl ecting the values of a modern reader. The Scholastic Press historical journal series and the novels mentioned in Chapter 5, which contribute to a culture’s shared recollection of the past, are all very much concerned with present values and attitudes, and in particular with contemporary conceptions of nationhood. What has emerged from this investigation is a body of historical fi ction unequivocally preoccupied with present social issues and belief systems.
