The Culture Show: Programme link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MQEr72hl7_8
I saw this on the box, sharing it here for anyone who might be interested and missed it. I recently read 'Bring Up The Bodies.' I read it alongside Tracy's Borman's history of Thomas Cromwell; they are not miles apart in their insights into Cromwell, though Mantel's portrait is more sympathetic, and the Tudor court, but Mantel's writing really is beautiful. It's tough, grounded but it also soars.
Any sniffy history academics can keep quiet; she is an educator as well as an entertainer, I've been reading about the Tudor court ever since my teems, both hoistory and fiction. Mantel knows her stuff, and where the blanks arise, her interpretations are credible whether correct or not, unlike, in my opinion, those of another, hugely popular historian/novelist...Philippa Gregory. AWFUL clunking writer. Clunk, clunk. *Ducks*
Mantel's'spooky' side, I don't find remotely unsettling. I think it's a natural expression of a sophisticated writer in tune with her animal/instinctive side and who has known some profound losses through physical sickness. Writing on the scale she does is anyway akin to an act of mediumship, even if she ascribes some of her perceptions to migraines.
I saw this on the box, sharing it here for anyone who might be interested and missed it. I recently read 'Bring Up The Bodies.' I read it alongside Tracy's Borman's history of Thomas Cromwell; they are not miles apart in their insights into Cromwell, though Mantel's portrait is more sympathetic, and the Tudor court, but Mantel's writing really is beautiful. It's tough, grounded but it also soars.
Any sniffy history academics can keep quiet; she is an educator as well as an entertainer, I've been reading about the Tudor court ever since my teems, both hoistory and fiction. Mantel knows her stuff, and where the blanks arise, her interpretations are credible whether correct or not, unlike, in my opinion, those of another, hugely popular historian/novelist...Philippa Gregory. AWFUL clunking writer. Clunk, clunk. *Ducks*
Mantel's'spooky' side, I don't find remotely unsettling. I think it's a natural expression of a sophisticated writer in tune with her animal/instinctive side and who has known some profound losses through physical sickness. Writing on the scale she does is anyway akin to an act of mediumship, even if she ascribes some of her perceptions to migraines.
