Writing: A tired ramble on research, the perils of. And Experience.

[sartorias]

I pulled down good old Chesterfield, who I’ve read so many times I can open him anywhere and sink right in.

Here he is on research versus experience:

The late Duke of Marlborough, who was at least as able a negotiator as a general, was exceedingly knowing in men; whereas the learned Grotius appeared, both in Sweden and in France, to be a very

Comments

[sartorias]

When I look back, I think some of my reading has been spoiled by the fact that I seem to want anything dealing with real historical people or places to be both right and true.

I've since slid closer to the "true" end of the spectrum, if not all the way. I cant seem to make that leap all the way. My inability to remain in the story without an act of will when the little girl said "You're okay" at the beginning of Pirates of the Caribbean serves, a friend says, is a result not of the failure of the film but as my failure of imagination. Same failure of imagination that prevented me, as a nine year old, from being able to read Wind in the Willows because I couldn't get past the impossibility of a toad driving a car.

So I keep revisiting these matters, from different angles, in order to learn, I guess, to not fail. To glimpse that truth that others see with so much less effort.

[angeyja]

I know it's not a consolation but I admire the trying part. For myself, and I hope to rewrite this at a later period when time is less of an issue, my suspension of disbelief author's list has gotten quite tiny. This would not be for historical detail of course but in the area of characters, and story, and connecting on. Movies, etc are different. I don't seem to care in the way I do with books.

I found WitW annoying though as a child... so even then it wasn't just any book, or more likely, I was (even then) an odd child.

[sartorias]

Please feel free to return and expatiate when you have the time. What I'd like to know which authors make it onto your list and who's dropped off.

[oursin]

the bastards as brilliant, attractive, playful aristocrats
Just like the home life of our own dear Mitfords, eh?
Mitford was of a class and a generation and a cultural moment for which Maintenon must have looked terrifyingly like a premature figure from the Victorian Age against which they were in revolt (Rebecca West was also pretty scathing about her). This may be an additional explanation for her hostility.

[sartorias]

I think you've got a point there, re Maintenon through the eyes of that generation and class.

The Mitfords...yes. I don't think I would have wanted to meet any of them, but it would have been fun to sit in a corner at one of their parties and just listen. (Before everyone got too drunk, that is.)