Kennilworth by Sir Walter Scott

I'm not normally one to go in for historical novels, but this one was written in 1825 and so I thought it might be enjoyable. I found a lovely old, small illustrated edition. I was suprised by how quickly it read. Some early 19th century fiction can be a bit plodding but this really was an adventure story.

It took the premise that Leicester's marriage to Amy Robsart had been done in secret and the consequences of that. It was a great book in that you knew from before you even started it that the main character was doomed to be murdered at the end. The story was finding out how that was going to occur, kind of like a mystery in reverse.

I did enjoy the characterisation, particularly the portrayal of Elizabeth. She was frequently referred to as "Henry VIII's daughter" and was portrayed as strong and boisterous. She felt like a queen and I really enjoyed the way she spoke. Leicester came off as rather foolish, greedy, and passionate. Only in the end did you have any sympathy for him. The handling of a young Walter Raleigh was also a lot of fun.

The deviations from history didn't bother me. I think because it came off in a good natured way and was rather fun, wandering around London in search of the alchemical ingredients was fun. At times the plot did seem to drag on a bit, and there seemed to be lots of unnecessary complications and diversions. But in the end it was a very enjoyable story.

Wu Yun's Way Life and Works of an Eighth-Century Daoist Master by Jan De Meyer

My dissertation is supposed to be 10,000 words long. Over the past two days I have written 10,000 words making notes for two books! I think it's about time to start sitting down and actually writing out a rough draft. Though how I'm going to manage to keep in the word limit I don't know.

Even though my review/notes for this book are absurdly long (5363 words to be precise). I've put it here so I'll have the record, though to save you the grief I have used a cut!

Wu Yun's Way Life and Works of an Eighth-Century Daoist Master by Jan De Meyer

Wu Yun was a prominent Taoist of the 8th century, a period of change in Tang history. He was a prolific writer and many of his works have survived. De Meyer looks at his life history and presents Wu's views on life and religion, translating vast portions of Wu's work within the text. De Meyer begins by pointing out the problems for using the traditional Tang historical works for information about religious figures and states instead he draws most of his information from, "poetry, anecdotes, so-called fiction, religious topography, hagiography and, most important, the remainders of wu yun's writings. (4). This is reassuring for me as, with the exception of Wu's writings, these are the same sources that I have found myself using in trying to learn about the lives of Taoist women during this time period. De Meyer states that these sources are often neglected by both premodern historiographers and contemporary scholars, so hopefully by turning to these sources I will be able to add something to the discussion. It is interesting to note that like Ch'eng Hsuan-ying, his biography states that he initially travelled and studied in the mountains and then was summoned to the Capital.
( 5,363 words which are mostly just notes for myself. I honestly don't expect anyone else to read this. )