Regency Novel
The Regency period in the United Kingdom is the period between 1811 and 1820, when King George III was deemed unfit to rule and his son, later George IV, was instated to be his proxy as Prince Regent. It was a decade of particular manners and fashions, and overlaps with the Napoleonic Period in Europe.
Regency novels are of two main types:
- Classic Regency fiction, or fiction actually written during the Regency era - The works of Jane Austen, Sir Walter Scott, Susan Ferrier, and Maria Edgeworth would fall into this category.
- Modern Regency fiction, or later fiction set within the Regency era. - These include romance novels (called "Regency romances"), historical fiction, detective fiction, and military fiction.
In both cases the setting is typically Regency England, although the settings can sometimes be extended to the European continent or to the various British colonies of the same time period. Traits often found in both types include a highly developed sense of social standing between the characters; emphasis on 'manners' and class issues; and the emergence of modern social thought amongst the upper classes of England.
Read more about Regency Novel: Classic Regency Fiction, Modern Regency Fiction, Major Writers of Classic Regency Fiction, Major Writers of Modern Regency Fiction