Fülszöveg
The Penguin I ff aJEnglish Library
WILLIAM THACKERAY
THE HISTORY OF
HENRY ESMOND
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOHN SUTHERLAND
'No man is a hero to his valet' well expresses the
historical philosophy which underlies Henry Esmond.
When the book appeared in 1852, noted writers and
critics of the time quickly rated it the best historical
novel ever written. It is a pity that fashion and
prejudice have since devalued this splendid work.
Set in the reign of Queen Anne, the story follows the
troubled progress of a gentleman and an officer in
Marlborough's army, as he painfully wrestles with an
emotional allegiance to the old Tory-Catholic England
until disillusioned, he comes to terms of a kind with
the Whiggish-Protestant future. This change entails,
too, what proved to the Victorians a very uncomfort-
able switch in his affections.
Without imitating Scott, Thackeray solved the evident
problems of historical fiction in his own way. In
Henry Esmond the love story is...
Tovább
Fülszöveg
The Penguin I ff aJEnglish Library
WILLIAM THACKERAY
THE HISTORY OF
HENRY ESMOND
WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
JOHN SUTHERLAND
'No man is a hero to his valet' well expresses the
historical philosophy which underlies Henry Esmond.
When the book appeared in 1852, noted writers and
critics of the time quickly rated it the best historical
novel ever written. It is a pity that fashion and
prejudice have since devalued this splendid work.
Set in the reign of Queen Anne, the story follows the
troubled progress of a gentleman and an officer in
Marlborough's army, as he painfully wrestles with an
emotional allegiance to the old Tory-Catholic England
until disillusioned, he comes to terms of a kind with
the Whiggish-Protestant future. This change entails,
too, what proved to the Victorians a very uncomfort-
able switch in his affections.
Without imitating Scott, Thackeray solved the evident
problems of historical fiction in his own way. In
Henry Esmond the love story is charged with sombre,
unconscious emotions, yet neatly embedded into
historical events which are convincing but never too
prominent.
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