The Woman's Historical Novel

British Women Writers, 1900-2000

D Wallace author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Palgrave Macmillan

Published:19th Nov '04

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The Woman's Historical Novel cover

The historical novel has been one of the most important forms of women's reading and writing in the twentieth century, yet it has been consistently under-rated and critically neglected. In the first major study of British women writers' use of the genre, Diana Wallace tracks its development across the century. She combines a comprehensive survey with detailed readings of key writers, including Naomi Mitchison, Georgette Heyer, Sylvia Townsend Warner, Margaret Irwin, Jean Plaidy, Mary Renault, Philippa Gregory and Pat Barker.

'Aware that many readers are likely to encounter several faces for the first time, Wallace adopts a style that remains conceptually dexterous yet approachable in its capacious exposition of material between periods an exposition in which countless women writers hitherto marginalized by neglect are retrieved as we shift nimbly between survey and textual analysis.' David James, Modernism/Modernity

'Wallace's nearly encyclopedic study contribute[s] to important feminist revisions of literary history.' Loretta Stec, Clio

'Diana Wallace's extremely useful and interesting new survey of twentieth-century historical fiction by women writers summarizes the relevant critical arguments and has broadened the picture considerably.' Maroula Joannou, Women: A Cultural Review

'[A] fascinating overview of the development of women's historical fiction in the twentieth century up to the present day... The lively but jargon-free tone of this book, coupled with an admirable ability to explain theoretical concepts clearly and concisely, will make this book attractive to students studying popular or contemporary fiction, but the focus on lesser-known writers and a forgotten genre also makes this an important work for researchers and scholars.' - Emma Liggins, The Year's Work in Critical and Cultural Theory

'Diana Wallace's extremely useful and interesting new survey of twentieth-century historical fiction by women writers summarizes the relevant critical arguments and has broadened the picture considerably.' - Women: A Cultural Review

'This timely, perceptive analysis gives a much-maligned genre its proper significance in the canon of English literature.' - Sarah Cuthbertson, Historical Novels Review

ISBN: 9780230223608

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: unknown

269 pages