A nicely thoughtful post by Noah Berlatsky this morning over at The Hooded Utilitarian, all about issues of truth and fiction, romance and the real, in Laura Kinsale's novel For My Lady's Heart. I haven't read the novel in years, but recall loving it, and wishing it were in print and teachable; evidently it's been available for two or three years now as a Kindle book, and also in paperback, but my syllabus hasn't caught up. Perhaps I'll give it a shot this summer, or next fall, when I get back to teaching romance.
I'm also struck by how casually and effectively Berlatsky uses two of Pam Regis's "8 elements" to talk about some of the structural features of the novel. It's a throwaway line, only a sentence ("the declaration and marriage come somewhat early on in the book"), but a sign, also, of how that terminology has made its way from academia into more general interest discussions of the genre.
I am so glad that you pointed me in the direction of this post! Delightful. It took me several false starts over many years to be drawn into Kinsale's medievals, but once I was in, I was all in.
ReplyDeleteMy pleasure! Kinsale fascinates me; if I get the chance to teach a romance course on just one author again, as I did years ago with Crusie, she's high on my list.
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