Constructing a World

Martha Tuck Rozett

Description

Taking its title from Umberto Eco's postscript to The Name of the Rose, the novel that inaugurated the New Historical Fiction in the early 1980s, Constructing the World provides a guide to the genre's defining characteristics. It also serves as a lively account of the way Shakespeare, Marlowe, Raleigh, Queen Elizabeth I, and their contemporaries have been depicted by such writers as Anthony Burgess, George Garrett, Patricia Finney, Barry Unsworth, and Rosalind Miles. Innovative historical novels written during the past two or three decades have transformed the genre, producing some extraordinary bestsellers as well as less widely read serious fiction. Shakespearean scholar Martha Tuck Rozett engages in an ongoing conversation about the genre of historical fiction, drawing attention to the metacommentary contained in "Afterwords" or "Historical Notes"; the imaginative reconstruction of the diction and mentality of the past; the way Shakespearean phrases, names, and themes are appropriated; and the counterfactual scenarios writers invent as they reinvent the past.
Acknowledgments

1. Introduction: Historical Fiction Old and New

2. Of Narrators; or How the Teller Tells the Tale

3. Historical Novelists at Work: George Garrett and Anthony Burgess

4. Barry Unsworth's Morality Play and the Origins of English Secular Drama

5. Fictional Queen Elizabeths and Women-Centered Historical Fiction

6. Rewriting Shakespeare: The Henriad with and without Falstaff

7. Teaching Shakespeare's England through Historical Fiction

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Sujets

• Shakespeare
• Literary theory
• Historiography
• William Shakespeare

Informations

• Publié par: State University of New York Press
• Date de parution: 01 février 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9780791487730
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

CONSTRUCTING A WORLD

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Constructing A World

Martha Tuck Rozett

Shakespeare’s

England and the

New Historical

 _______________ _______________

Fiction

STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS

Published by State University of New York Press, Albany

© 2003 State University of New York

All rights reserved

Printed in the United States of America

No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission. No part of this book may be stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means including electronic, electrostatic, magnetic tape, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the prior permission in writing of the publisher.

For information, address State University of New York Press, 90 State Street, Suite 700, Albany, NY 12207

Production by Marilyn P. Semerad Marketing by Michael Campochiaro

Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data

Rozett, Martha Tuck, 1946– Constructing a world : Shakespeare’s England and the new historical fiction / Martha Tuck Rozett. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0–7914–5551–3 (acid-free paper) — ISBN 0–7914–5552–1 (pbk. : acid-free paper) 1. Historical fiction, English—History and criticism. 2. Great Britain—History—Elizabeth, 1558–1603—Historiography. 3. Elizabeth I, Queen of England, 1533–1603—In literature. 4. American fiction—20th century—History and criticism. 5. English fiction—20th century—History and criticism. 6. Historical fiction, American—History and criticism. 7. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—In literature. 8. Shakespeare, William, 1564–1616—Adaptations. 9. England—In literature. I. Title.

PR888.H5 R69 2002 823´.0810903—dc21

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

2002024049

In Memoriam: Eugene Tuck 1909–2000

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Acknowledgments

Chapter 1.

Chapter 2.

Chapter 3.

Chapter 4.

Chapter 5.

Chapter 6.

Chapter 7.

Notes

Works Cited

Index

Contents

Introduction: Historical Fiction Old and New

Of Narrators; or How the Teller Tells the Tale

Historical Novelists at Work: George Garrett and Anthony Burgess

Barry Unsworth’sMorality Playand the Origins of English Secular Drama

Fictional Queen Elizabeths and Women-Centered Historical Fiction

Rewriting Shakespeare: The Henriad with and without Falstaff

Teaching Shakespeare’s England through Historical Fiction

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4

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3

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Acknowledgments

arts of chapters 1 and 2 originally appeared as “Constructing a P World: How the Postmodern Historical Fiction Reimagines the Past” inClio: A Journal of Literature, History and the Philosophy of History(25.2, Winter 1996); part of chapter 7 originally appeared as “Creating a Context for Shakespeare with Historical Fiction” inShakespeare Quarterly(46.2, Summer 1995); and the Marlowe Society of America kindly invited me to present part of chapter 4 at the meeting of the Modern Language Associa- tion in December 2000. I would like to thank the many friends and students who have talked with me about historical fiction over the years and referred me to books and articles I might not otherwise have encountered. I am espe- cially grateful to Cynthia Mahamdi, Candace Murray, Jeffrey Gibson, Carey Cummings, Monica Bishop, David Birch, and Helene Scheck. I would also like to thank the novelists George Garrett and Barry Unsworth for their will- ingness to discuss the historical novelist’s craft. My friends and colleagues Judith Barlow, Randall Craig, and Jennifer Fleischner, and my brother, Jonathan Tuck, read early drafts of the manuscript or parts thereof; I have tried to follow their wise counsel. The staff at the State University of New York Press provided invaluable editorial assistance and, as always, my hus- band John Rozett was a generous and forbearing resource on technical mat- ters.

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