THIS monograph does not claim to give a detailed and complete history of the historical novel. Apart from the lack of real spade work for such an enterprise, this was not at all what I intended. I wished to deal with only the most important questions of principle and theory. Given the extraordinary role of the historical novel at present in both the literature of the USSR and the anti-Fascist popular front, such a study of principles seems to me as indispens- able as it is topical. Especially so because the historical novel of our day, despite the great talent of its best exponents, still suffers in many respects from the remnants of the harmful and still not en tirely vanquished legacy of bourgeois decadence. If the critic really then he must turn his wishes to uncover these shortcomings, attention not only to the principles of the historical novel, but to those of literature in general.