The Counterfactual History Novel in Nineteenth-Century British Literature

Although scholarship has long since established the history novel’s general course, few critical readings of the history novel address the innovative means through which writers could manipulate the use of history within these novels. Nor, for that matter, have many scholars considered the relationship between the slow decline of this form of literature as a consequence of the combined effect of the rise of historical studies as a serious academic discipline during the 1830s, and the growing trend for the realist novel throughout the following decades. My dissertation explores how Britons’ fascination with history not only shaped the progress of the history novel throughout the nineteenth century, but also directly influenced a specific type of narrative within this developing subgenre: the counterfactual history novel. As the precursor to the alternative history novel, the counterfactual history novel asks readers to consider plausible alternative outcomes to a historical event but goes no further than requesting that act of contemplation.

Name thesis:degree_name

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Level thesis:degree_level

Dissertation

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

English

Year

2015

Author dc:creator

• Cuddy, Elizabeth Moline

Contributors dc:contributor

• Manushag Powell
• Emily Allen
• Dino Felluga
• Kristina Bross

• alternative history novel
• british literature
• counterfactual history novel
• history discipline
• pedagogy

Repository record dc:identifier

https://docs.lib.purdue.edu/open_access_dissertations/1107

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:docs.lib.purdue.edu:open_access_dissertations-2323