Ancient Rome in the English Novel: A Study in English Historical Fiction

Randolph Faries undertook something audacious in 1923: he set out to determine what separated the few enduring English novels about ancient Rome from the countless forgettable ones. This scholarly thesis, drawn from rigorous analysis of the genre's evolution, asks the question every writer of historical fiction must face: what does it actually take to make the past feel true? Faries traces how English novelists grappled with Roman civilization across centuries, distinguishing between superficial costume dramas and works of genuine literary ambition. He examines why most novels set in pre-Imperial Rome failed to capture the imagination while the Imperial period offered richer terrain for English storytellers. The work synthesizes German classical scholarship with English literary tradition, arguing that authentic historical fiction requires both imaginative empathy and archaeological precision. For readers interested in how historical fiction functions as a genre, or how the Victorians and their successors reimagined Rome, this thesis remains a fascinating artifact of early genre criticism.