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On Histories And Stories: EssaysEditions
Review
Byatt’s main preoccupation in this collection is with what she perceives to be a flowering of historical fiction in recent years – in the teeth of predictions which declared the historical novel dead, and the only fit subject for a novelist being contemporary reality (viz her sister, Margaret Drabble, whom she quotes at the start). In particular, she discusses ‘Darwinian’ novels and Second World War novels. Byatt, as a historical novelist, has a vested interest in asserting the significance of historical novels of course, but she argues the case with zest and a wide frame of reference – Burgess, Bowen, Golding, but also Penelope Fitzgerald, Barnes, Swift, Pat Barker, John Fuller and numerous others. There is an essay on the revival of interest in myth and fairy tales in European fiction, and some interesting discussion of Hans Christian Andersen and George Eliot. The only bit that I found mildly disappointing was the essay on the relation between historiacl fact and fiction as applied to her own work – but this was probably because I am not familiar with the Victorian spiritualism – Tennyson, Swedenborg etc – which she uses. In general, these essays are a thoroughly refreshing look at modern fiction: provocative, wise, illuminating and generous. - review by Johnny de Falbe |
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John Sandoe [Books] Ltd |
Anybody with a serious interest in modern fiction will find these essays engrossing. Bedsides being a novelist of great distinction herself, Byatt is also an acute critic and – above all – an energetic, curious reader. Her success as a novelist seems to grant her an independence few critics achieve. She is seeking no reputation by these essays. They are peddling no particular critical, psychological or socio-political theories: they are just (!) what she thinks.
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