Memoirs of a Cavalier

A nice edition, sadly out of print. Well constructed, reprinting essentially the text of the first edition with sensible introduction and notes.

As to the novel itself, if you’re coming to it from Moll Flanders or Roxana, prepare to be disappointed. Despite the opening, which promises a

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counterpoint between fate revealed through dreams on the one hand and education (presumably Defoe’s beloved Reason) on the other, this is not carried through. It’s essentially the military equivalent of Journal of the Plague Year. If you’ve come to Memoirs from that I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised as this has a clear narrative drive.

My knowledge of the period is too slight to judge for myself how historically accurate it is, but references in the notes to errors are few and far between and Prince Rupert is as much of an arsehole here as he is in Pepys. The tone is certainly spot on throughout and it appears to have fooled people at the time into thinking it was a real memoir.

It may not be a great novel but then it wasn’t meant to be taken as one, and reading it as was intended is the way to enjoying this bizarre experiment in verisimilitude.

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