Adventure fiction is one of the easiest narrative forms to recognize but one of the hardest to define because of its overlap with many other genres. This collection of essays attempts to characterize adventure fiction through the exploration of key elements--such as larger-than-life characters and imperialistic ideas--in the genre's 19th- and 20th-century British and American works like
The Scarlet Pimpernel
by Orczy and
Captain Blood
by Sabatini. The author explores the cultural and literary impact of such works, presenting forgotten classics in a new light.