Historical Novel

The historical novel is a variety of the novel whose action is set in the past and built upon real historical events and figures combined with artistic invention. In its modern form the genre was established by the Scot Walter Scott (Ivanhoe, Waverley) at the beginning of the nineteenth century, showing how the private fate of an invented hero interweaves with great history. The historical novel demands documentary authenticity of background together with the artistic conviction of its characters. In Ukrainian literature its heights are Panteleimon Kulish's The Black Council (the first Ukrainian historical novel, set in the era of the Ruin), the historical novels of Zinaida Tulub (Man-Hunters), Pavlo Zahrebelny (Marvel, Roxolana, I, Bohdan), and Lina Kostenko's Marusia Churai (a historical novel in verse).