Skip to main content

Book of the Month: The Creation of Anne Boleyn

Title:  The Creation of Anne Boleyn

Author:  Susan Bordo

Publisher:  Houghton Mifflin

Pub Date:  April 9, 2013

How Acquired:  Bought

What it's about:  Part biography, part cultural history, The Creation of Anne Boleyn is a fascinating reconstruction of Anne’s life and an illuminating look at her afterlife in the popular imagination. Why is Anne so compelling? Why has she inspired such extreme reactions? What did she really look like? Was she the flaxen-haired martyr of Romantic paintings or the raven-haired seductress of twenty-first-century portrayals? (Answer: neither.) And perhaps the most provocative questions concern Anne’s death more than her life. How could Henry order the execution of a once beloved wife? Drawing on scholarship and critical analysis, Bordo probes the complexities of one of history’s most infamous relationships.

Bordo also shows how generations of polemicists, biographers, novelists, and filmmakers imagined and re-imagined Anne: whore, martyr, cautionary tale, proto “mean girl,” feminist icon, and everything in between. In this lively book, Bordo steps off the well-trodden paths of Tudoriana to expertly tease out the human being behind the competing mythologies.

What the critics are saying:

"A great read for Boleyn fans and fanatics alike"
—Kirkus Reviews

"Ms. Bordo offers a fascinating discussion... a strangely tasty book."—The New York Times

"The University of Kentucky humanities chair does a superb job of separating fact from fiction in contemporary accounts of Boleyn’s life, before deftly deconstructing the myriad and contradictory portraits of her that have arisen in the centuries since her death. . . . The young queen has been the source of fascination for nearly half a millennium, and her legacy continues; this engaging portrait culminates with an intriguing exploration of Boleyn’s recent reemergence in pop culture." —Publishers Weekly

About the author:  SUSAN BORDO, Otis A. Singletary Chair in the Humanities at University of Kentucky, is the author of Unbearable Weight and The Male Body.

My thoughts:  It seemed fitting that I should choose The Creation of Anne Boleyn on the anniversary of Anne Boleyn's execution.  When I first picked up this book, I felt a sense of schadenfreude.  This was a book that I wish that I had written but once I started reading it, I felt a sense of kinship with the author.  She gets it! She was just as obssessed with Anne Boleyn as I am! If you were annoyed with The Tudors or you just want to dig deep into the life of Anne Boleyn and how people's perceptions of her have changed over the centuries, I urge you to pick up a copy of this book.  It is must for every Anne Boleyn fan out tehre.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Reign Recap: "Left Behind" and "Fated" - SPOILERT ALERT

I'm so sorry for getting behind with my REIGN recaps.  I went to England for a week, and I forgot to set my DVR to tape "Left Behind" and then I was so jet-lagged when I got back that I totally forgot that there was a new episode before the holidays.  In the meantime REIGN inexplicably won 'Best New Show' at the People's Choice Awards, which means that this show will probably be getting a second season.  Truthfully, it was really hard to watch these two episodes. I get so frustrated with this show! It has moments where it's decent, but for the most part these episodes are execrable for different reasons. The biggest problem that I have with this show is the lack of atmosphere. The French court should be teeming with people, the royals should have no privacy whatsoever. Instead, Mary and ladies wander around the halls of the palace in their nightgowns at all hours of the day and night.  Where are Catherine's ladies-in-waiting, her flying squadron of wom...
Post a Comment
Read more

review: ROYAL MISTRESS by Anne Easter Smith

Title:   Royal Mistress Author:   Anne Easter Smith Publisher:    Touchstone Publication Date:   May 7, 2013 How Acquired:   Through Net Galley What it’s About:   Jane Lambert, the quick-witted and alluring daughter of a silk merchant, is twenty-two and still unmarried. When Jane’s father finally finds her a match, she’s married off to the dull, older silk merchant William Shore. Marriage doesn’t stop Jane from flirtation, however, and when the king’s chamberlain, Will Hastings, comes to her husband’s shop, Will knows King Edward will find her irresistible. Edward IV has everything: power, majestic bearing, superior military leadership, a sensual nature, and charisma. And with Jane as his mistress, he also finds true happiness. But when his hedonistic tendencies get in the way of being the strong leader England needs, his life, as well as those of Jane and Will Hastings, hangs in the balance. Jane must rely on her talents to survive as the n...
Post a Comment
Read more

Guest Author Gillian Bagwell on Tudor Banquets and Sugar as Art

I'm pleased to welcome author Gillian Bagwell back to Scandalous Women. I've had the pleasure of meeting Gillian and getting to know her at the Historical Novel Society conferences over the past three years.  Not only is she a fabulous writer but she is also one of the funniest women that I have ever met.  And a talented actress to boot! Her new book VENUS IN WINTER is about one of the most fascinating women of the Elizabethan era, Bess of Hardwick which was just published last week.  I urge everyone to go out and buy a copy to learn more about this fascinating woman . Sugar was introduced to England in the middle ages, and was originally used medicinally, to treat coughs and colds. It was also believed to help digestion and began to be served at the end of grand feasts, frequently in the form of candied aniseeds. Brandenburg Gate in Sugar   By the Tudor era, sugar was cheaper than it had been, but still expensive. In 1547, a pound of sugar cost ninepence, about one ...
Post a Comment
Read more