Written by: kathylambchop (kathylambchop@hotmail.com)
Historical fictions are pocketfuls of vivid expressions about past events. Invigorating our minds to relive those moments, they can take the reader on an exotic tour of the past unlike reading fact after fact from a text book. Two such books are C.S Forester’s The General and Duncan Kyle’s The King’s Commissar. Through the setting and characterisation of both books, we can understand how or why the world is today. Keeping in mind that the present is reflected on the past and future is a reflection of the present, we must learn from our mistakes to stop them from happening again.
Any novel that portrays historical characters and/or settings can be classed as a historical fiction. Both books- The General and The King’s Commissar are similar to the dashing plots and interesting characters in adventure/thriller genres. Since they are also historical novels, they are generally more realistic. They are bounded by true facts and events, but this doesn’t stop Forester and Kyle in captivating their readers as D.S. Burt states:
The story [The King’s Commissar] is fanciful but solidly grounded in believable details.
Novels like The King’s Commissar portray different aspects and conclusions of the same facts. Forester, on the other hand, creates a portrait of an officer whose role wasn’t as famous as the head figures of that time, but was equally important. Both books are highly entertaining whilst subconsciously educating the reader about the past. Often, after reading historical novels, readers are intrigued to do further research on the periods.
Both books share the common theme of leadership and are written with simple yet captivating words which make them appealing to all readers. The General focuses on the rapid ascent of a young officer in the British Army to one of the most senior positions of strategic leadership during World War I. After becoming a hero from the Boer War and combining his martial qualities with luck, Sir Herbert Curzon rose ultimately to the rank of lieutenant general while he reluctantly made the transition from cavalry to infantry.
On the other hand, The King’s Commissar is a true thriller which reveals many surprises as the plot unravels. The story shuttles between modern Britain and Russia after the Russian Revolution where two British bank partners discover a secret mission to save the Tsar. No dangers or warnings by the senior partner Malory, deterred Laurence Pilgrim, the new American partner, to discover why their bank- Hillyard Cleef has been paying a mysterious 50 000 pounds to a Swiss bank account every year for the past sixty years. The reason comes in seven costly instalments written by a British officer, Dikeston, who carried out a secret mission. However, revelation has profound implications for the fate of the bank and the Western world.
The themes of both books are successfully portrayed through the author’s use of characters. Although The King’s Commissar is separated into two different time periods, the story concentrates on Dikeston’s recount of his thrilling mission in Russia. To his astonishment, he was transformed from an officer of the Royal Navy accustomed to orders, to Comrade Yakovlev (there was no ranking of men during that period in Russia) of 150 horsemen by Lenin to save the Tsar:
There was the threat- no, it was more than a threat- it was a plain statement that summary execution awaited those who defied the wishes of Commissar Yakovlev!
He encountered many dangers to arrive in Tobolsk where he was to present a secret document to be signed by the Tsar and to escort him and his family back to Moscow. His courage and persistence sparked by a touch of cleverness enabled him to overcome many of the problems he confronted.
There are many more characters revealed in The King’s Commissar. However the advantages of focusing on only one character is that the protagonist can be described in greater depth and the plot is less confusing. Unlike Kyle, Forester describes the life of Sir Herbert Curzon who represents a typical portrait of a commander during World War I. Although he was unimaginative and conservative, he was a hard worker. He proved himself a good leader when he didn’t let personal issues disturb his workplace such as when his wife had a miscarriage:
There would neve be a Herbert Winter Greven Curzon now. He was the last of his line. He blew his nose harshly with a military sort of noise and made himself forget Emily and England again while he turned his back to the problems of his profession and his duty.
However, his fault lied in his stubbornness. Being a master of traditional cavalry tactics, he wouldn’t fully accept the use of tanks, machine guns and barbed wire. He believed that there’s no substitute for “good old frontal attacks” and generally clings onto ideas of the past. Nevertheless, his tactics proved successful and his superiors appreciated his obedience to hold his position despite the number of men that would die to hold it.
Dikeston’s faults fell in another area. Although he was assigned a secret mission without knowing its purpose, he followed orders even if he knew they were suspicious until in the end which he discovered that he was mislead to do something wrong.
Besides characters, settings play a very important part in historical novels. Although it doesn’t play an important role as characters, in both books, it does indeed, at times, force characters to act a certain way. In The General, the story revolves around periods of war (mainly World War I). The reader is constantly reminded of it even if Curzon was off the battlefield:
Many men in the khaki which had scarcely ever been seen in the Club in the old days, all the retired officers who hardly set foot to London to besiege the War Office for employment, and were spending their time of waiting listening all agog for rumours.
In The King’s Commissar the reader can sense the different attitudes among the Russian cities and mixed emotions towards the Tsar after the Russian Revolution:
Through the carriage window I could see that there was a jostling crowd around the train; a noisy one too. There were yells of “Bring him out!” “Hang the German bitch!” “Show us Bloody Nicholas!”
Kyle also successfully describes the setting of a well-respected bank in the 1980s.
By comparing the background and the people back then and today, historical novels can help reveal the various changes in our society. The negative changes should not repeated if similar situations arise. On the other hand, for changes that are positive, we should appreciate the process it took to change them which made the present society a better place to live in. We should also aim to improve on such qualities. Reading any kind of genre would provide many pleasures, but reading historical fictions have the added bonus of enlightening the reader with knowledge about the past and present which can guide us to make better decisions for the future.