Neo historical fiction: David Mitchell’s take on adventure, empire and the exoticization of the past

Abstract

This essay is concerned with a new conception of historical fiction that emerged in the British literary scene at the turn of the 21st century, and which Elodie Rousselot has termed neo-historical, having developed on premises similar to neo-Victorian fiction. This variety embraces a narrative realist mode and participates in the taste for popular engagement in public history. The analysis departs from a consideration of the implications of these critical approaches to historical fiction, in as much as they move backwards, beyond their postmodern foundations, and intersect with the genre of historical romance. This article uses David Mitchell’s The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet(2010) as a case-study in the light of Mitchell’s own conceptualization of the genre of historical fiction. The novel combines a meta-realist approach with the exoticisation of the past and the exploration fictional subjectivities and an awareness of post-imperialist concerns in a globalized world.