Regarding the topoi, I think there are more problems into it. I perfectly agree with what you say from an historical point of view (I will add that for my training, I do not always believe that we can establish the truth of something, but that we have to accept that the sources themselves might contain a good deal of manipulation). There is however another issue with that, which is the reader/market expectations (and just to make it clear this is not my personal opinion on how the literary act should be conducted, but, unfortunately seems to be the standard contemporary norm and this is really frustrating). Nowadays (but probably it has been so for a long time already) most writers tend to write not (only) for the sake of telling a good narrative, but (also) to make a product that will be well received; in order to do so, you have to obey to some tropoi (I hope I won't hurt anyone saying that for example the Twilight saga, Dan Brown's books and Harry Potter are a very clear example of this) to tell the average reader what he/she wants to read (I see much of this process behind both A place of greater Safety and Wolf Hall). Going personally, when I published my first novel (nothing to do with historical fiction) because I was challenging some tropoi (in that case the description of a gay relationship), firstly I had to struggle much harder to find an editor, secondly I received very sharp criticisms (such as `men are not emotional/men do not talk about themselves are never self-reflecting/relationships without engendered roles base on a male/female relationship cannot exist' and such); this is to say that even in a good book, you will probably find tropoi because of this kind of issue.
Thank you for your encouragement. Right now I am concentrating on four historical figures that appeals for me for different reasons (Babet, Henriette Le Bas, Charlotte and Éléonore). The last two are actually giving me real nightmares -especially because I disprove almost every piece of literature that has been written about them. I have been reading Charlotte's mémoirs (and the secondary literature on it) for quite a long time now and I think I'm coming to a bit of understanding of her historical persona (although, at least for me, it is very difficult as it is probably one of the historical figures I found more distant to my own sensibility). About Éléonore... I don't think to explain to you how frustrating it is to read about her, but writing about her is difficult as well; right now I am trying to figure out how to characterize her with language in a way that will be real, respectful and meaningful. But I am sure you will hear more on this from me, as you all probably know way more than me :)
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Clarification 2
Date: 2011-11-23 09:17 am (UTC)Thank you for your encouragement. Right now I am concentrating on four historical figures that appeals for me for different reasons (Babet, Henriette Le Bas, Charlotte and Éléonore). The last two are actually giving me real nightmares -especially because I disprove almost every piece of literature that has been written about them. I have been reading Charlotte's mémoirs (and the secondary literature on it) for quite a long time now and I think I'm coming to a bit of understanding of her historical persona (although, at least for me, it is very difficult as it is probably one of the historical figures I found more distant to my own sensibility). About Éléonore... I don't think to explain to you how frustrating it is to read about her, but writing about her is difficult as well; right now I am trying to figure out how to characterize her with language in a way that will be real, respectful and meaningful. But I am sure you will hear more on this from me, as you all probably know way more than me :)