I've listened to a program about thomas more recently. the guy started out by comparing 'a man for all seasons' with hilary mantel's wolf hall novels. in a man for all seasons More is the hero and Cromwell is the villain, in mantel's books it is the other way around. but then the presenter made a good point by telling how Cromwell & More are described in the novels. robert bolt's More is ironic, wry, self aware and conscientious while Cromwell is sneaky and over ambitious and it is almost exactly the same for mantel only the hero and the villain's names are switched. he then said these personalities and their inner worlds are completely anachronistic; they are simply projected from the position of a modern man. what does it matter if in a novel mostly inconsequential details are "historically correct" when the motivations and the substance of the characters are not? I think gravity's rainbow is as close to reality as you can get for the era and events that novel is describing.
Damn, this is GOOD.
The part where you started actually yelling at Anthony Marra made me laugh out loud.
Side note, there is a small typo in case you want to fix it: "though she had been locked up [by] her Catholic sister"
Since I just Subscribed:
Jeez, does one person write all this? Or is it a whole staff? This is at least the fifth post today.
I've listened to a program about thomas more recently. the guy started out by comparing 'a man for all seasons' with hilary mantel's wolf hall novels. in a man for all seasons More is the hero and Cromwell is the villain, in mantel's books it is the other way around. but then the presenter made a good point by telling how Cromwell & More are described in the novels. robert bolt's More is ironic, wry, self aware and conscientious while Cromwell is sneaky and over ambitious and it is almost exactly the same for mantel only the hero and the villain's names are switched. he then said these personalities and their inner worlds are completely anachronistic; they are simply projected from the position of a modern man. what does it matter if in a novel mostly inconsequential details are "historically correct" when the motivations and the substance of the characters are not? I think gravity's rainbow is as close to reality as you can get for the era and events that novel is describing.