skygiants | (no subject)

I think the thing I appreciate the most about The Creation of Anne Boleyn is that the author does not pretend for an instant to impartiality. SUSAN BORDO <3 ANNE BOLEYN, HATERS [a subset including but not limited to Ambassador Chapuys, David Starkey, Alison Weir, Philippa Gregory, and the entire cast of The Other Boleyn Girl] CAN SEE HER OUT BACK IN TEN MINUTES.

I like that she's so upfront about this because it gives the reader a very comfortable amount of room to disagree with her. Reading this book is a bit like you're at a bar with Susan Bordo and she's shouting about ALL HER ANNE FEELINGS and you're nodding along sagely until she says something that's completely biased and you put down your beer hard and say "SUSAN that is NONSENSE" and Susan Bordo puts down her beer hard and is like "you know what's nonsense, EVERYTHING AMBASSADOR CHAPUYS EVER WROTE IN A LETTER TO KING PHILIP ABOUT ANNE BOLEYN" and you're like "look I know the guy is an unreliable narrator but I'm pretty sure he might have OCCASIONALLY written at least ONE true fact about Anne Boleyn" and Susan Bordo is like "your FACE might have written at least one true fact about Anne Boleyn but AMBASSADOR CHAPUYS NEVER DID" and then you shout at each other for a while, but in a friendly way!

The Creation of Anne Boleyn is part myth-debunking biography ("EVERYONE GOT THAT FROM CHAPUYS AND HE WAS DEFINITELY LYING ABOUT ALL OF IT"), part historiography/literature review ("I have read every weird paperback novel published about Anne Boleyn from 1700 AD on and I'm going to tell you about ALL of them, in this one MARK SMEATON represents a PAGAN GOD!") and part cultural history ("Natalie Dormer and I talked in a bar for FOUR HOURS about her noble fight to bring a three-dimensional Anne to the screen and all our MUTUAL ANNE BOLEYN FEELINGS! Then I tried to talk to my daughter about all my Anne Boleyn feelings, but she's eight and just wanted to eat the chocolate Henry we bought at Hampton Court.")

Anyway it was an extremely enjoyable read, even if, as aforementioned, sometimes you feel like you have to take a break to pat your Tudor history drinking buddy Susan Bordo on the head and tell her that you recognize and respect her feelings. "I'M MAD AT HILARY MANTEL," says Susan Bordo, "BECAUSE I LOVED HER BOOK SO MUCH AND IT'S SO UNFAIR TO ANNE," and you're like "yes, Susan, I know, do you need another glass of wine?" and Susan Bordo is like "I JUST WISH I COULD SAVE HER FROM ALL THE HATERS!" and you're like "ok yeah I'll get you a bottle." (As you go to the bar, you hear in the background that Susan Bordo has buttonholed a waiter and is earnestly explaining to him that the one thing we know about Anne Boleyn's hair color is SHE DEFINITELY WASN'T A BLONDE AND THAT'S VERY IMPORTANT.)

Threaded | Flat

part historiography/literature review ("I have read every weird paperback novel published about Anne Boleyn from 1700 AD on and I'm going to tell you about ALL of them, in this one MARK SMEATON represents a PAGAN GOD!")

That part sounds especially amazing. (How early were there weird paperback novels about Anne Boleyn?)

In case you have not yet seen it: Taylor Swift VIII.

Wait, that isn't how most nights out with friends go? You trade off talking about people's obsessions, cry over your shared obsessions, and apologize on each other's behalf to the strangers you have disturbed by shouting about same?

I think this book annoyed me precisely because I COULDN'T shout amiably at Susan Bardo, you know? Like it's a book. We're not actually at a bar. I can't actually be like "SUSAN this is objectively HORSESHIT FIGHT ME." I think I would have been a lot happier if I could.

That said I did actually quite like the book! I was just frustrated.

This is seriously one of the best reviews I have ever read.

Oh my god, this review is amazing. (Although I do feel that reading it might ruin me for all fictional depictions and in fact offhand history book mentions of Anne Boleyn thereafter, which is not necessarily a reason not to read it.)

And this is what the bar band is playing in the background during the conversation with Susan Bardo....

Though tbh one of the things I still find most hilarious about The Tudors is that they almost fired Natalie Dormer when she dyed her hair brown because they intended to have a blonde Anne. Just amazing.

I mean. I get the impression that even I would be a little like "....okay that's a lot" reading this book, but I am sympathetic to Susan Bardo's plight. The Other Boleyn Girl was genuinely awful in more ways than I was expecting when I hatewatched it at 3 am.

oh my God, I need this immediately

I am in the middle of reading this and I have to agree it is so refreshing that she outright admits she's an Anne fan. It's a nice change from the ones that start out all 'all, yes, this is impartial, purely on the facts' and then come to conclusions that make you go 'hmm, okay. I guess???'

There is some really interesting stuff here for sure!

I must read this book. Anyone who has this many feelings about Chapuys is someone with whom I feel destined to be friends.

(Also, Smeaton, after our Boleyn opera experience, is forever my favorite.)