Kerschen is a freelance writer and adjunct college English instructor. In this essay, Kerschen shows how Graves used the structure of the historical novel, as well as imaginative speculation, to create a new portrait of the Emperor Claudius.

The historical novel is a type of novel that generally distinguishes itself by being set in a time period previous to the one in which the author lives. Most storylines can be set in the past, usually for the simple purpose of establishing a backdrop to a story that is peopled by fictional characters. Even when the social situation of the time period is essential to the plot, it is the characters that dominate the story. For some plots, the historical time period is an interesting enhancement but is otherwise irrelevant; for example, the plot and characters of Cold Mountain could have been set in any war time, just...