Is it just me, or is a novel set in 19th century England like the pied piper? I can’t stay away. I love, love, love stories set in this time and place. Of course I’m a Jane Austen fan, but how many countless other stories start with a giant stone manor house, a garden to get lost in, and a thunderstorm to end all storms?
Why do we love them? Is it the “other-worldliness”? Is it a longing for a simpler, yet more opulent time? I don’t even like tea, but I find myself longing for a cup served in one-hundred-year-old bone china, while wearing a gown I’ve just put on for the express purpose of taking my tea…in the drawing room, of course.
And why is it a game of cat and mouse played in a dark, two-hundred-year-old garden is more enthralling than the same chase scene in a US mall?
Honestly, I think is because I’ve lived (vicariously) so many wonderful stories in that time and place, it seems to me the best parts of the old stories are carried (by me) into the new stories and though they strip me of all objectivity, they sink me even deeper into the storyworld than a single author could take me.
If I walk into a Calculus class for the first time with no previous math instruction, the teacher may be able to explain limits to me after several weeks of blood, sweat, and tears. But if I walk into the same class having already learned the terms and basic background necessary, I can hit the ground running and begin to understand new concepts immediately.
So it is with literature. Having read several novels taking place in the 19th century, in a stone country house on the moors of England, I already know what life was like. I have a general feel for what the moors look like, and I know how the people lived, both the servants and land owners. So when I take up a new novel, the fresh details ring wonderfully true when they dovetail with details from other books, painting an even richer portrait.
I can’t help it. Victorian and Romantic English Literature inspires me. The stories suck me in and I cannot stop reading them. Lure me in with a castle and a mysterious key and I’ll be rapt until the last chapter. Do you feel the same? Is there another genre you cannot stop reading?
Jennifer, I'm the same way!!!! I've recently become fascinated with British royal history--Philippa Gregory, anyone? I read one of her earlier books and wasn't wowed by the writing, but the story was very good and actually surprised me. Then I read The White Queen and loved it! Now I need to get The Red Queen.
ReplyDeleteAny English historical is fascinating. I wonder if it's the luxury of the wealthy then, the genteelness, and the fear of scandal--something we have no fear of today.