But I suspect this is not just a question of 'this new generayshun'
Discussion over on Facebook over bloopers in historical romances/histfic more generally over the state of the law/medical knowledge/etc in such a way as to undermine one's enjoyment -
Well, pedantic ol' mine, anyway. (Dr Rdrz may recall diatribes apropos over 'they did not know that about syphilis then', 'penicillin had not yet been invented', 'she could not have obtained a divorce under the law at that date', 'law of primogeniture does not work that way' etc etc).
And it's the more distressing as these are in many cases writers who have done the due diligence about diversity at the period in question, have women characters demonstrating agency within what was feasible for the period, and so forth.
However, I am not sure we can put it down to The Young Entry Do Not Do The Research, because demonstrably they have often done the research on e.g. perceptions of disability.
We fear that there is a much longer tradition of writers getting it RONG on niggling but important details of law -
(Including the ones who would perish of mortification if they got the fashion details incorrect.)
There is a neo-Victorian novel published pseudonymously by EM Delafield - The Bazalgettes (1936) in which, as I recall, the heroine after many misadventures is widowed and marries her brother-in-law. Ooops. Forbidden degrees, what (this was changed in the early C20th, within, I think, EMD's own lifetime, but the 'Deceased Wife's Sister' question was a burning issue for decades of the C19th - this being a more common thing because sister-in-law would step in to take care of orphaned offspring).
I have previously mentioned Daphne Du Maurier not realising that, actually, My Cousin Rachel should have inherited the lot if Ambrose had not bothered to make a new will following his marriage to her.
Mind you, I have only just discovered that it was possible to study journalism as a university diploma subject quite early in C20th (though now I've looked this up, I recollect that that is what Stella Gibbons did) - I was thinking that until really recently it was all about working your way up from a cub reporter, starting on a local paper. I am probably relying rather heavily on Monica Dickens, My Turn to Make the Tea, for my impressions on the subject.
I.e. that people are relying on Saw It Somewhere. We are all guilty, alas. This entry was originally posted at https://oursin.dreamwidth.org/2908527.html. Please comment there using OpenID. View
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