Ante Antietam
Michael Irwin
- Confederates by Thomas Keneally
Collins, 427 pp, £5.75, October 1980, ISBN 0 00 222141 1 - Just Above My Head by James Baldwin
Joseph, 597 pp, £6.95, October 1980, ISBN 0 7181 1764 6 - Winter Doves by David Cook
Secker, 213 pp, £4.95, October 1980, ISBN 0 436 10673 6 - All Girls Together by Paula Neuss
Duckworth, 141 pp, £5.95, November 1980, ISBN 0 7156 1454 1
Historical fiction is difficult to write, and often unrewarding to read, because it declines so readily into fictionalised history. Famous men utter quotations, strike familiar postures and reach predestined conclusions. Descriptions of uniforms, weapons and furnishings clog the narrative. The novel becomes a farrago of information.
The full text of this book review is only available to subscribers of the London Review of Books.
You are not logged in
- If you have already registered please login here
- If you are using the site for the first time please register here
- If you would like access to the entire online archive subscribe here
- Institutions or university library users please login here
- Learn more about our institutional subscriptions here
Vol. 2 No. 1 · 24 January 1980 » Michael Irwin » Ante Antietam
page 22 | 1549 words
