Abstract
The chapter gives an overview of the development of the subgenus of the historical novel from the Enlightenment to 1945, especially with regard to its national-political instrumentalization and references to drama. The "Handbook of the German Literature of Prague and the Czech Lands" provides - based on the discussion with the previous research and the previously unexplored phenomena - a comprehensive overview of the literature of a Central European region and its development since the Enlightenment.
In doing so, previous conceptualizations, which i.a. originated from a strict separation of the Prague from the so-called Sudeten German literature, are overcome. Rather, the handbook offers a transcultural and regional re-localization of the German-language literature of the Czech lands in the complex sphere of influence and tension between German, Jewish, Czech and Habsburg literature and culture.