Akademik Veri Yönetim Sistemi
9 th International Western Cultural and Literary Studies Symposium, Konya, Türkiye, 15 - 17 Eylül 2025, ss.295-301, (Tam Metin Bildiri)
This paper examines how historical fiction contributes to the construction of English national identity by analyzing the
reimaginations of the Hundred Years’ War in the works of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Bernard Cornwell. Drawing on Benedict
Anderson’s theory of imagined communities, this paper argues that these narratives function as literary tools by framing medieval
warfare and chivalric ideals as legitimizing forces for forming a cohesive English national identity. Doyle’s The White Company (1891),
written in the context of Victorian imperialism, constructs a romanticized vision of England’s past rooted in Christian valor, feudal
loyalty, and national unity, contributing to imperial Britain’s ideological needs. Cornwell’s Grail Quest trilogy (2000–2003), while more
grounded in historical realism, similarly evokes a collective memory of English resilience and moral superiority amidst the chaos of
war, mirroring post-imperial nostalgia and a reassertion of national pride. Both writers, though writing in different centuries and
ideological climates, participate in the myth-making process by using the medieval past to naturalize a sense of historical continuity
and national identity. Through close textual analysis and historiographic contextualization, the paper highlights how literary
representations of the Hundred Years’ War serve as cultural artifacts that mediate and reproduce nationalist sentiment. Ultimately,
this study argues that historical fiction not only reflects but also manufactures nationalist consciousness, enabling readers to imagine
themselves as part of a continuous and heroic English narrative stretching from the medieval battlefield to the modern nation-state.