Literature
Duggan's novels are known for being based on meticulous historical research. He also wrote popular histories of Ancient Rome and the Middle Ages. Knight With Armour was his first novel, published during 1946. He visited practically every place and battlefield described in the book because he was also an archeologist, having worked on excavations in Istanbul during the 1930s.
Unlike many historical novelists, he does not idealise his subjects. A few of the characters are noble, some rather nasty, many mixed in their motives. Some of the novels can be considered humorous. A recurring theme is the slow moral corruption of a character who begins with an exalted opinion of himself as noble, wise and brave but who gradually compromises himself morally.
Most of the stories are told from the viewpoint of the ruling class, sometimes the ruler and sometimes a knight or noble. With respect to English history, his novels imply a general approval of the Norman conquest.
Read more about this topic: Alfred Duggan
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“Literature that is not the breath of contemporary society, that dares not transmit the pains and fears of that society, that does not warn in time against threatening moral and social dangers—such literature does not deserve the name of literature; it is only a façade. Such literature loses the confidence of its own people, and its published works are used as wastepaper instead of being read.”
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