William Hay and History : A Comment on Aims, Sources and Method

Abstract

Challenges H.M. Green’s judgement that William Gosse Hay’s talent was ‘not of the first order, even by Australian standards’. Investigates the basis of this reputation by examining Hay’s sources of information for his historical novels, and the use he made of some of them in The Escape of Sir William Heans. Concludes that Hay, as an historical novelist, adhered as closely as he knew how to historical fact and succeeded in subordinating the historical element to the artistic demands of the whole.

The full text of this essay is available to ALS subscribers

Please sign in to access this article and the rest of our archive.

Published 1 December 1965 in Volume 2 No. 2. Subjects: Critical reception, Historical fiction, Writer's recognition & popularity, Writer's research & sources, William Gosse Hay.

Cite as: Muecke, I. D.. ‘William Hay and History : A Comment on Aims, Sources and Method.’ Australian Literary Studies, vol. 2, no. 2, 1965, doi: 10.20314/als.6dd9d91d64.