Distributed for UCL Press
Georgette Heyer, History, and Historical Fiction
The historical works of Georgette Heyer inspire a fiercely loyal, international readership, including literary figures such as A. S. Byatt and Stephen Fry. This book brings together an eclectic range of scholars to explore the contexts of Heyer’s career. Drawing upon scholarship on Heyer and her contemporaries, the volume illustrates the ways in which her work sits in a chain of influence and why it remains pertinent to current conversations on books and publishing in the twenty-first century. From the gothic to data science, there is something for everyone in this volume, which celebrates Heyer’s esteemed status amongst historical novelists.
320 pages | 13 color plates | 6.14 x 9.21 | © 2021
Literature and Literary Criticism: British and Irish Literature
Table of Contents
List of figures and tables
List of contributors
Acknowledgements
Introduction: the Persistence of Georgette Heyer
Samantha Rayner and Kim Wilkins
Part 1: Gender
1. ‘Where History says little, Fiction may say much’ (Anna Barbauld): the historical novel in women’s hands in the mid-twentieth century
Kathryn Sutherland
2. The not so silly ass: Freddy Standen, his fictional contemporaries and alternative masculinity
Geraldine Perriam
3. Judith Taverner as dandy-in-training in Georgette Heyer’s Regency Buck, Laura George
Part 2: Genre
4. Pride and prejudice: metafiction and the value of historical romance in Georgette Heyer
Kim Sherwood
5. Loving and giving: realism, emotional hypocrisy, and generosity in A Civil ContractJennifer Clement
6. Georgette Heyer and redefining the Gothic romance
Holly Hirst
7. Heyer . . . in Space! The Influence of Georgette Heyer on science fiction
Kathleen Jennings
Part 3: Sources
8. All’s Well That Ends Well: Shakespearean Echoes in Heyer’s Regency novels
Lisa Hopkins
9. Georgette Heyer, Wellington’s Army and the First World War
Vanda Wilcox
10. Georgette Heyer and the language of the historical novel
Tom Zille
Part 4: Circulation and Reception
11. A reluctant movie? The Reluctant Widow on screen
Lucie Bea Dutton
12. Georgette Heyer – guilty pleasures
Amy Street
13. Data science: Georgette Heyer’s historical novels and her readers
Helen Davidge
Appendix 1: List of Georgette Heyer’s novels used for the text analysis
Appendix 2: Survey questions
Appendix 3: A sample of the comical answers written by the Heyer readers when completing the survey
Index