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:
And so it did. Interesting though, the different take on the same events that each era offers. Historiography has always fascinated me.
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.
Now to find Jane Austen's history! Perhaps not as harrowing a read as others of the period?
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.
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...
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.
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