Wednesday 18 February 2015

Wolf Hall ... Jane Austen's version



Having , on occasion , got slightly lost in Wolf Hall , thanks to the BBC's take on Tudor indoor lighting and my Catholic upbringing , I thought I'd do a bit of homework for episode 5 .
 By this time I've worked out that the man in black with a expression like a disappointed dog was Cromwell ... though not a Cromwell that my history teacher would recognise  (she , after all , had been given the name of one of the English Martyrs on becoming a nun) . Quite a few of the people remain a mystery .
Luckily Hilary Mantel is not the only writer to deal with the period , so I decided to go straight to another woman whose books have  inspired many a successful costume drama , Jane Austen .
"It would be an affront to my Readers were I to suppose that they were not as well acquainted with the particulars of this king's reign as I am myself . It will then be saving them the task of reading again what they have read before , and myself  the trouble of writing what I do not perfectly recollect , by giving a slight sketch of the principal Events which mark his reign ."
In the interests of saving you the task of reading it ,  I'll give you Miss Austen's opinion on his reign in a sentence ,
"The Crimes and Cruelties of this Prince were too numerous to be mentioned ... "  . I have a feeling it's going to end in tears ....

6 comments:

Annie Cholewa said...

And so it did. Interesting though, the different take on the same events that each era offers. Historiography has always fascinated me.

Friko said...

This is the first time that I have been told about Jane Austen writing a history of England. The same Jane Austen? The one and only?

I haven’t bothered with the BBC Wolf Hall. Saw the RSC productions instead. I think Mantel has done a lot of very deep and detailed research.

If you want to read another writer’s take on the Henry VIII period (what a nasty, bloodthirsty, ineffectual ruler he was) you could dip into CJ Sansom’s Shardlake series. Not as literary as Mantel, but interesting, nevertheless.

rachel said...

Now to find Jane Austen's history! Perhaps not as harrowing a read as others of the period?

Highly recommended Bear Viewing tours said...

Mantel made history live and breathe. Cromwell, Wolsey, More and Henry VIII became flesh for me. I can't wait to read the next book.

Colleen said...

Aha! The Catholic Herald has been awash with criticism. Don'ask. And despite being immersed in the English Martyrs too as a child, I can't think of anything I've enjoyed as much for ages. I may even have a crush on a certain actor...

Liz Hinds said...

The lighting was so very authentic, wasn't it?

I read Bringing Up the Bodies and have to say that didn't really help with the confusion. I confess to preferring Philippa Gregory's Tudor books.