On Histories And Stories by A.S. Byatt
This series of essays consider the renaissance of the historical novel. Using examples from contemporary novelists, there are discussions on the novel of wartime experience; the variety of distant pasts that British writers have invented and the Darwinian novel. There is also an insight into the author's own translation of historical facts into fiction in the two novellas that make up Angels and Insects. The author also explores the European revival of interest in myth, folktale and fairy tales.