Reflection on courtly literature and my memories of "A Song for Arbonne"
I am not very fond of romantic literature and movies in the mainstream sense, where people meet, fall into argument and/or love and after 2,5 hours they get married. Romcoms as a genre bore me (although, interestingly enough, plenty of my favorite fanfics are romantic and comedic, but use tropes differently)
However, the high drama and tragedy of older shoujo manga, early yaoi (Zetsuaiiii~) and that kind of love has always appealed to me. Take Anne Rice, or at least my reading of her as a teenager. Plentiful tragic and failed love stories there, although I didn't demand that the love ended in tragedy. Then there is the other kind of love story, the kind that doesn't burn like insanity, but is nevertheless true and deep. In a way, it's an even rarer find, because it's easy that stories about that just fall flat or end up in some kind of trite "and then they married and lived happily ever after yay" cliche, without any real emotion at all.
One of the novels I remember most fondly from before, and which I re-read not all that long age with great enjoyment, was Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne (Cover image of the first edition I've owned).
First time I read it, I didn't even catch on that he was describing a fictionalized Provence - I mean, obviously they're speaking French and the bad guys have German-sounding names, but that it mapped so closely onto a real historical period? Way over my head. Anyway, I mostly thought it a nice change from all the pseudo-Medieval England that fantasy is overflowing with.
Later, I saw the parallels more clearly, but not until today when I'm reading a scholarly work about Medieval poetry and the ideals of courtly love did it become apparentfor me that, dayum, it's not just the environment that's influenced... Arbonne is filled with actual historical characters! Their names are changed and, in some ways, their songs and poems have become reality
Duke* Guilhem of Aquitaine, one of the first and most important troubadoursss seems to be suspiciously similar to Bertran de Talair. And, while I unfortunately can't quite keep the names apart (haven't read the book in years, alas) I think that... Ariane? The Queen of the Court of Love; anyway, she probably has more than a few similarities to Aliénor, a historical protector of troubadours.
(Wait... who does this mean Blaise is? Charlemagne? But he's too early)
Anyway, my point, such as it is: I like Kay's work, he always delivers a solid work, although some stories are less favorites than others. Sailing to Sarantium, for instance, didn't quite click with me and The Lions of Al-Rassan felt almost too close to history so that his own story disappeared. The Fionavar Tapestry had its high points, where it was very good, but it also had it's definite low points and I think the contrast is greater than in many of his other books. Also, half the people in Fionavar at times acted like utter morons, which is always a bit hard to enjoy in a book. But I digress.
Tigana (which I love and adore, if you ever want to give a tragic fantasy story a chance, do read Tigana) and A Song for Arbonne appeared further removed from our world. As I learn more about history and literature, I've come to realize that this isn't true at all and yet, it only makes the books richer. That makes me glad, because too often a more critical look on old favorites has lead to them becoming diminished. But the beauty of Arbonne was never to me the plot (which isn't to say it's bad), but rather the language and the sweet images it evoked in me. I also liked the view of love in it (and Kay is a lot more critical towards gender issues than "real" courtly love, thank goodness) and the way that whether great joy or tragedy, all the feelings were presented in a very gentle way. It's not the great, harsh arguments that stand out, but the memory of one character's hopeless love giving birth to an evening of tears and then being put away, a cherished and unavoidable pain. It's the opposite of the opera plot where everyone dies due to unfulfilled desires, but Kay managed very well to make it seem just as deep and heartfelt. And that is why I still consider it my favorite romantic book.
* or count, or whatever the french word that they translated to "hertig" actually translates to in English.... Meh, not important to my point
A final note, perhaps of importance to my point? This is one of the few books I've owned twice.
The first I inherited from mom and after years of intense reading (her's and mine, she bloody kills the spines), pages stained with tears, food and a rather memorable nosebleed, I felt it was time to retire that copy. Because somehow, a book about the beauty of love and how one should cherish that, deserved to live within a nicer cover.
Except for Good Omens and some Pratchett books, this is the only book I've re-bought just because I want to have a more polished copy. Even Tigana only got one buy, because I borrowed it from the library the first six times I read it.
And now I really gotta get back to studying. Abelard and Heloise was it, wot?
Originally posted at Dreamwidth.
However, the high drama and tragedy of older shoujo manga, early yaoi (Zetsuaiiii~) and that kind of love has always appealed to me. Take Anne Rice, or at least my reading of her as a teenager. Plentiful tragic and failed love stories there, although I didn't demand that the love ended in tragedy. Then there is the other kind of love story, the kind that doesn't burn like insanity, but is nevertheless true and deep. In a way, it's an even rarer find, because it's easy that stories about that just fall flat or end up in some kind of trite "and then they married and lived happily ever after yay" cliche, without any real emotion at all.
One of the novels I remember most fondly from before, and which I re-read not all that long age with great enjoyment, was Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne (Cover image of the first edition I've owned).
First time I read it, I didn't even catch on that he was describing a fictionalized Provence - I mean, obviously they're speaking French and the bad guys have German-sounding names, but that it mapped so closely onto a real historical period? Way over my head. Anyway, I mostly thought it a nice change from all the pseudo-Medieval England that fantasy is overflowing with.
Later, I saw the parallels more clearly, but not until today when I'm reading a scholarly work about Medieval poetry and the ideals of courtly love did it become apparentfor me that, dayum, it's not just the environment that's influenced... Arbonne is filled with actual historical characters! Their names are changed and, in some ways, their songs and poems have become reality
Duke* Guilhem of Aquitaine, one of the first and most important troubadoursss seems to be suspiciously similar to Bertran de Talair. And, while I unfortunately can't quite keep the names apart (haven't read the book in years, alas) I think that... Ariane? The Queen of the Court of Love; anyway, she probably has more than a few similarities to Aliénor, a historical protector of troubadours.
(Wait... who does this mean Blaise is? Charlemagne? But he's too early)
Anyway, my point, such as it is: I like Kay's work, he always delivers a solid work, although some stories are less favorites than others. Sailing to Sarantium, for instance, didn't quite click with me and The Lions of Al-Rassan felt almost too close to history so that his own story disappeared. The Fionavar Tapestry had its high points, where it was very good, but it also had it's definite low points and I think the contrast is greater than in many of his other books. Also, half the people in Fionavar at times acted like utter morons, which is always a bit hard to enjoy in a book. But I digress.
Tigana (which I love and adore, if you ever want to give a tragic fantasy story a chance, do read Tigana) and A Song for Arbonne appeared further removed from our world. As I learn more about history and literature, I've come to realize that this isn't true at all and yet, it only makes the books richer. That makes me glad, because too often a more critical look on old favorites has lead to them becoming diminished. But the beauty of Arbonne was never to me the plot (which isn't to say it's bad), but rather the language and the sweet images it evoked in me. I also liked the view of love in it (and Kay is a lot more critical towards gender issues than "real" courtly love, thank goodness) and the way that whether great joy or tragedy, all the feelings were presented in a very gentle way. It's not the great, harsh arguments that stand out, but the memory of one character's hopeless love giving birth to an evening of tears and then being put away, a cherished and unavoidable pain. It's the opposite of the opera plot where everyone dies due to unfulfilled desires, but Kay managed very well to make it seem just as deep and heartfelt. And that is why I still consider it my favorite romantic book.
* or count, or whatever the french word that they translated to "hertig" actually translates to in English.... Meh, not important to my point
A final note, perhaps of importance to my point? This is one of the few books I've owned twice.
The first I inherited from mom and after years of intense reading (her's and mine, she bloody kills the spines), pages stained with tears, food and a rather memorable nosebleed, I felt it was time to retire that copy. Because somehow, a book about the beauty of love and how one should cherish that, deserved to live within a nicer cover.
Except for Good Omens and some Pratchett books, this is the only book I've re-bought just because I want to have a more polished copy. Even Tigana only got one buy, because I borrowed it from the library the first six times I read it.
And now I really gotta get back to studying. Abelard and Heloise was it, wot?
Originally posted at Dreamwidth.