The History of Henry Esmond, Esq.
A Colonel in the Service of Her Majesty Queen Anne; written by himself
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| The History of Henry Esmond - Historial fiction |
Plot summary:
A chronicle of public and domestic events taking place towards the end of the 17th century; ostensibly an autobiography written in George Ill's reign, and a successful reproduction of the modes of writing and speaking appropriate to the times.
Twice members of the Esmond family become involved in Jacobite plots, and they are engaged in the Blenheim campaign and other historic affairs that serve to introduce such celebrities as Marlborough, Gen. Webb, Steele, Lord Mohun and his victim Hamilton, the Old Pretender, etc. Actual events are inwoven with the family narrative, and the manners, dress and habits of the time are portrayed with scholarly exactness.
The personal interest centres on Henry Esmond and the two women whom he loves, Lady Castlewood and her daughter Beatrix; it culminates in several episodes of moving tragedy. Beatrix has her history taken up again in The Virginians; she is often characterized as the only woman completely portrayed in English fiction. Esmond marked a renascence of the English historical romance and established a new model, rejecting the standards of romanticism and aiming at describing life as realistically as contemporary writers might have represented it.
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