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historical novel, a novel that has as its setting a period of history and that attempts to convey the spirit, manners, and social conditions of a past age with realistic detail and fidelity (which is in some cases only apparent fidelity) to historical fact. The work may deal with actual historical personages, as does Robert Graves’s I, Claudius (1934), or it may contain a mixture of fictional and historical characters. It may focus on a single historic event, as does Franz Werfel’s Forty Days of Musa Dagh (1934), which dramatizes the defense of an Armenian stronghold. More often it attempts to portray a broader view of a past society in which great events are reflected by their impact on the private lives of fictional individuals. Since the appearance of the first historical novel, Sir Walter Scott’s Waverley (1814), this type of fiction has remained popular. Though some historical novels, such as Leo Tolstoy’s War and Peace (1865–69), are of the highest artistic quality, many of them are written to mediocre standards. One type of historical novel is the purely escapist costume romance, which, making no pretense to historicity, uses a setting in the past to lend credence to improbable characters and adventures. Key People: Winston Churchill Victor Hugo Xenophon Aleksandr Pushkin Sir Walter Scott Related Topics: genre The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica This article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn. Home Literature Novels & Short Stories Novelists A-K Thomas B. Costain American writer Alternate titles: Thomas Bertram Costain By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History Thomas B. Costain, in full Thomas Bertram Costain, (born May 8, 1885, Brantford, Ontario, Canada—died October 8, 1965, New York, New York, U.S.), Canadian-born American historical novelist. Costain, Thomas B. Costain, Thomas B. See all media Born: May 8, 1885 Brantford Canada Died: October 8, 1965 (aged 80) New York City New York Notable Works: “For My Great Folly ” “The Black Rose ” “The Silver Chalice ” A journalist for many years on Canadian newspapers and a Saturday Evening Post editor (1920–34), Costain was 57 when he published his first romance, For My Great Folly (1942), dealing with the 17th-century rivalry between England and Spain. An immediate success, it was followed almost yearly by historical adventure tales, the best known of which are The Black Rose (1945), whose medieval English hero ranges as far as Kublai Khan’s China, and The Silver Chalice (1952), about the early Christians in Rome. Stack of books, pile of books, literature, reading. Hompepage blog 2009, arts and entertainment, history and society. BRITANNICA QUIZ Literary Favorites: Fact or Fiction? Love literature? This quiz sorts out the truth about beloved authors and stories, old and new. This article was most recently revised and updated by Amy Tikkanen. fashionable novel Home Literature Novels & Short Stories fashionable novel literary subgenre Alternate titles: “silver-fork” novel By The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica • Edit History fashionable novel, early 19th-century subgenre of the comedy of manners portraying the English upper class, usually by members of that class. One author particularly known for his fashionable novels was Theodore Hook. Related Topics: novel comedy of manners