Nationalism and Desire in Early Historical Fiction

Nationalism and Desire in Early Historical Fiction analyses a sequence of early-nineteenth-century British and American texts from a perspective informed by Rene Girards theory of triangular of mimetic desire. Jane Porters The Scottish Chiefs, Sydney Owensons The Wild Irish Girl, Sir Walter Scotts Waverley, Old Mortality, Rob Roy, The Pirate and Redgauntlet, and Fenimore Coopers The Last of the Mohicans and Lionel Lincoln are given detailed new readings. General conclusions about the relationship of desire and nationalism in historical fiction are proposed.