Writing the Renaissance

Elena Maria Vidal: THE NIGHT'S DARK SHADE

2009-12-11T14:20:00.000-08:00

Elena Maria Vidal's new novel, The Night's Dark Shade: A Novel of the Cathars (Mayapple Press, 2009) dramatizes the conflict between the Good Christians (otherwise known as the Albigensians or Cathars) and the Roman Catholic Church that roiled southern France throughout the twelfth and thirteenth centuries.

Raphaëlle de Miramande, a young heiress whose father and fiancé both die in the crusade against the Cathars, travels to the château de Mirambel to wed her cousin, Raymond de Tourmalet. Raphaëlle discovers only after she arrives that her intended and his family are themselves Good Christians--in fact, Raymond's mother, Esclarmonde, is a Perfecta, an ascetic spiritual leader who instructs the faithful and leads the sect's rituals. In accordance with Cathar beliefs (which considered material reality evil and procreation undesirable because it trapped spirits in physical bodies), the situation at Mirambel is irregular, to say the least. Esclarmonde, given over to fasts and conquering her body, shuns her husband, who lives in an open physical relationship with a serving woman; Esclarmonde's son, Raymond, is a sexual deviant given to violent outbursts and bullying; tenants cohabitate without the blessing of marriage and rid themselves of unwanted children both before and after birth. Horrified by what she witnesses and unwilling to repudiate her Catholic faith, Raphaëlle refuses to marry Raymond, forcing her uncle, who desires to gain control of her lands, to imprison her until she agrees to wed his son.

Romantic feelings for Martin de Revel-Seissec, a knight of St. John pledged to celibacy but renowned for breaking hearts, complicate Raphaëlle's plight. Rescued for a time from her uncle's castle, Raphaëlle weds a different man, but her penchant for Martin prevents her from making a sincere effort to fulfill her marriage vows. Raphaëlle struggles with reconciling the notion of romantic love, promoted by the troubadours, with the self-giving and faithfulness that undergird a sacramental marriage. Like the Cathars, whose efforts to transcend the body reduced sexual relations to physical functions devoid of unifying sacredness, Raphaëlle's obsession with the unattainable Martin endangers her emotional connection with her husband and threatens to destroy the marriage she has vowed to uphold.

Ms. Vidal creates a cast of vivid characters caught in a quick-moving, well-constructed plot. Her novel paints an intriguing picture of Cathar beliefs and practices set in direct contrast to Catholic theology. As the perspective belongs solely to young Raphaëlle, a devout Catholic, value judgments are hardly equivocal. Yet even Raphaëlle recognizes how Cathar beliefs sprang from distorted Christian teaching. The novel illustrates how easily and insidiously the abhorrent becomes desirable, the selfish honorable when individuals seek nothing beyond the fulfillment of their own desires, a message perhaps even more relevant today than it was centuries ago.

Ms. Vidal has a master's degree in European History and is a specialist on Marie Antoinette. To order The Night's Dark Shade or learn about the author's other novels, Trianon (1997) and Madame Royale (2000), please visit her blog, Tea at Trianon. An interview with the author may be found here.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-12-11T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Au dict an, samedy huictiesme mars, fut pendu et estranglé, devant le pillory, à Paris, un jeune garçon qui n'avoit pas seize ans, serviteur de Jean Crevecoeur, joyaullier et orfèvre de Paris, à cause qu'il luy avoit desrobbé environ pour huict ou dix mille livres de bagues et joyaux et de pierreries. Et, pour ce faire, il estoit monté, de nuict, pardessus les maisons, en son grenier, où il y couchea de nuict, et le lendemain dimanche, fit le larcin, pendant que ceux de la maison estoient au seremon."

"In the said year [1516], on Saturday, March 8, a young boy who wasn't yet sixteen, a servant of Jean Crevecoeur, jeweller and goldsmith of Paris, was hanged and strangled in front of the pillory in Paris, for having robbed the jeweller of about eight to ten thousand livres' worth of rings and jewels and precious stones. To accomplish this, he climbed during the night across rooftops and into his [Crevecoeur's] attic, where he spent the night, and the next day, a Sunday, committed the theft while the members of the household were at church."

Anonymous, Journal d'un bourgeois de Paris (1515-1536)

Translation mine

Treasure Trove of Photos

2009-12-06T22:49:00.000-08:00

I was contacted last week by a reader of the blog who shares my interest in "Francis and his posse." Stephen Bove, a screenwriter and accomplished photographer, has visited many of François's favorite châteaux and photographed the sites in marvelous detail. He has posted the photos in the following threads on Flickr:

Clos Lucé (the house near Amboise where Leonardo da Vinci died)

Eglise de St. Denis (tombs of François and other French kings)

I can't thank Mr. Bove enough for sharing these breathtaking glimpses of the beauty François created for himself and his court.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-12-04T00:00:00.000-08:00

"This court is like no other. Here we are completely cut off from business, and if by chance there is any, no hour, day or month is set aside for certain to deal with it. Here one thinks of nothing but hunting, women, banquets and moving house."

The Bishop of Saluzzo, complaining about the French court

in a letter to Cosimo de' Medici

Quoted in C. Terasse, François Ier: le roi et le règne

(Paris 1945-70), vol. 3, p. 23.

Robin Maxwell's O, JULIET

2009-12-03T06:47:00.000-08:00

Robin Maxwell, the author of seven historical novels (including SIGNORA DA VINCI, which I reviewed here), has a new book coming out in February: O, JULIET, a historical retelling of Shakespeare's tragic tale.

Before Juliet Capelletti lie two futures: a traditionally loveless marriage to her father's business partner, or the fulfillment of her poetic dreams, inspired by the great Dante. Unlike her beloved friend Lucrezia, who looks forward to her arranged marriage into the Medici dynasty, Juliet has a wild, romantic imagination that takes flight in the privacy of her bedchamber and on her garden balcony.

Her life and destiny are forever changed when Juliet meets Romeo Monticecco, a soulful young man seeking peace between their warring families. A dreamer himself, Romeo is unstoppable, once he determines to capture the heart of the remarkable woman foretold in his stars.

You can read a sneak peek of O, JULIET at Ms. Maxwell's website and participate in the Love Games she has created to celebrate the publication of the book. I'll be posting a review of the book sometime in January.

The tag line on the book's front cover reads: "Their love was the stuff of legend. But the legend is only half the story." Come February 2, 2010, we'll know the rest!

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-11-27T10:35:00.000-08:00

"Wherefore are you, good men of letters, so little susceptible of shame, as always to be fostering and inflaming the feelings of jealousy and hatred in the hearts of Princes? Wait at least till we are dead, and then write whatever you please; for avarice, party feeling, and other passions will no longer draw a veil over your eyes; and it is only when purified of these, that history will be real history, and fit to live for posterity."

Emperor Charles V

to Christian Nasseus of Cambray,

who in a 1540 historical account represented

King Francis I in the harshest of colors

[Quoted in Correspondence of the Emperor Charles V,

ed. Wm. Bradford (1850)]

Thanksgiving Wishes

2009-11-26T06:55:00.000-08:00

Happy Thanksgiving to my American readers!

May you all enjoy dear friends, good food, and true gratefulness of heart today.

Thank you so much for your interest and support.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-11-20T09:58:00.000-08:00

"For the first voice the infant hears is its mother's, and attempts to form its first babbling to her speech; for at that age it can do nothing but imitate, and takes its first sense experiences, the first furnishings of mind from what it hears its mother say or sees her do; therefore, it is more in the mother's power to shape her child's character

than anyone thinks."

Juan Luis Vives (1453-1540), Spanish humanist

De institutione feminae christianae

(The Education of the Christian Woman), 1524

The Plague Battle Continues

2009-11-15T22:32:00.000-08:00

[This post is a continuation of the documented description of the plague epidemic in Chalons-sur-Saône in 1578-79. The first installment can be read here.]

The town of Chalons-sur-Saône made an admirable civic effort to curb the spread of the plague and to care for the afflicted during the 1578-79 outbreak, but this effort took its toll on the town finances and social fabric. The cost of feeding and housing the ill, paying the wages of doctors, barber-surgeons, maulgognets, and saccards, and disinfecting houses increased to such a degree that the town had to take out two substantial loans. Yet even that was not enough. In October, the council decided to levy a tax of 2000 livres on the privileged and the clergy. The former paid; the latter resisted. The clery did contribute to the program, and generously, but they refused to be forced to do so by the municipality. The city took them to court, although the case was not resolved until after the plague had passed. The verdict found the clergy guilty, and from then on, in times of plague, religious orders were obliged to turn their alms over to the magistrates.

Healthy inhabitants, fearful of succumbing to the illness, fled to their holdings outside of town. Court cases were suspended; the collège closed down. The only people left were the sick and those devoted to helping them. The number of able-bodied inhabitants dwindled to such an extent that it compromised the town's security. With the Wars of Religion in full swing, townspeople were required to participate in the watch and guard. Anyone leaving to attend fairs or to travel had to supply a healthy man to watch in his place. Eventually, even the clergy were forced to take watch duty. The countryside was at the mercy of rampaging Huguenots and Catholics who ignored Burgundy's declared neutrality. Concerned, the Governor of Burgundy ordered the raising of a small army in September, but Chalons was unable to supply troops for the force. Fortunately, the plague proved to be a stronger deterrent than any army could have been, and the threats to the city never materialized.

Meanwhile, as winter approached and it became too cold to continue housing the sick in the poorly constructed cadolles, the municipality took the extreme measure of moving the stricken back into their own homes. Behind padlocked doors and windows, the ill and suspected ill were secluded for six weeks or until death, whichever came first. A precise neighborhood tally of the victims was submitted each day to the mayor.

The epidemic abated near the end of November, only to reappear, stronger than before, in the spring. In February 1579, the mayor again sounded the alarm. Due to the season, no thought was given to constructing new cadolles; instead, the hospital was evacuated of its non-contagious patients so that the plague-stricken could be housed there. The progress of the epidemic was rapid. In March, an entire faubourg outside the town walls was declared infected. Healthy residents moved inside the walls and the gates to the faubourg closed, effectively sequestering it.

Although most medical professionals battled the epidemic with devotion and compassion, on occasion their courage ran out. A barber-surgeon who had served in the earlier outbreak refused to assume his duties in this new one. He was thrown into prison and only agreed to practice when threatened with the loss of his goods and license. However, in May, when the hospital's barber-surgeon lay dying, he refused to go bleed him. The threats of the magistrate did not move the barber; he disappeared from town. The authorities quickly waived the exam and swore in a new barber-surgeon, who demanded that his fees be paid in advance and that he receive a complete new wardrobe when his service had ended.

Things continued to worsen over the summer. Hospital space proved insufficient, so the sick were housed in the barn of the Carmelite monastery. Preventitive measures, such as the burning of upholstered furniture and the closing of inns, were enforced. Though the illness once again abated in the fall, it continued to crop up again and again in Chalons and the surrounding area during the last decade of the sixteenth century. During a particularly bad outbreak in 1596, when the town's misery was compounded by famine, paupers were expelled from the gates with a crust of bread and two pennies. The watch would not allow entry to any travelers who could not produce a certificate from a non-infected area.

Marcel Canat de Chizy's 1879 monograph concludes with two interesting anecdotes. The first recounts the presence of a woman among the barber-surgeons who served in 1578. The widow of the sieur Monnot took part in the municipal deliberations as a chirugien. The historian claims there can be no doubt that Madame Monnot had been received as a master barber-surgeon, for she had two apprentices studying under her, both of whom advanced sans examen in order to battle the plague.

The second anecdote relates how in November 1578, the two daughters of one Joachim Robert were stricken. To avoid the danger of infection inherent in living with the girls, Robert petitioned the mayor to allow him and his wife to move into a room at the hospital. Remember, the hospital was reserved for the non-contagious sick; Robert evidently felt it was the safest place to avoid contagion. The town council did not appreciate his logic -- they told him to go occupy one of the several houses he owned in the countryside. So much for paternal love in time of duress!

[Canat de Chizy's monograph can be read in French at GoogleBooks.]

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-11-13T00:00:00.000-08:00

"Fool," said my Muse to me,

"look in thy heart,

and write."

Sir Philip Sydney (1554-1586), British poet and courtier

Astrophel and Stella (1581), Sonnet 1

Sixteenth Century Records in St. Augustine, Florida

2009-11-11T20:15:00.000-08:00

Twenty-six years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, Gabriel Hernandez, a Spanish soldier, married Catalina de Valdez in St. Augustine, Florida. The record of their marriage, handwritten by Father Diego Escobar de Sambrana and dated 1594, is one of the earliest known European documents in the United States. It is one of thousands of church records that chronicle the births, marriages and deaths of the Spanish settlers--missionaries, soldiers, and merchants--who lived in St. Augustine from 1594-1763. Scattered throughout this country and others through the centuries, these documents have recently been gathered and returned to the Diocese of St. Augustine, which is working on digitizing them. You can read the full article about this fascinating project here.

Of course, my novelist's mind immediately starts wondering about Gabriel and Catalina. How did they meet? Was their marriage a happy one? Did they return to Spain or spend their lives in the Florida colony? Imagine if someone had told them that 415 years later, their marriage would be front-page news...

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-11-06T00:00:00.000-08:00

"[C]ar combien que par la volonté de Dieu, telle maladie soit envoyée aux hommes, si est ce que par sa saincte volonté les moyens et secours nous sont donnés pareillement de luy, pour en user comme d'instrumens à sa gloire."

"For in as much as through God's will such an illness is visited upon men, so it is that through His holy will He equally gives us methods and remedies, to be used as instruments for His glory."

Ambroise Paré, surgeon and scholar

De la peste [About the plague], 1568

A Plague upon Your Town

2009-11-05T20:21:00.000-08:00

Although the incidence of bubonic plague, the infamous "Black Death" of the fourteenth century, slowly decreased over the course of the Renaissance era, plague was still very much part of sixteenth century life. Outbreaks of plague occurred sporadically throughout Europe, following the movement of goods from port to port and of soldiers returning home from war. Edinburgh suffered a bout of plague in 1529, as did London in 1537-39 and 1547-48; Paris, where outbreaks were frequent, suffered a particularly virulent one around 1564. In 1570, 200,000 people lost their lives to plague in the vicinity of Moscow; Lyon lost 50,000 individuals in 1572; in 1576, 70,000 inhabitants of Venice succumbed. Plague during the sixteenth century was largely confined to cities and towns. Outbreaks usually occurred during the summer months, when rat fleas are most active. Death came quickly to victims: 80% of those infected died within five days.

In the course of my research on plague in the sixteenth century, I came across a small book entitled Deux ans de peste à Chalon-sur-Saone, 1578-79 [Two Years of Plague in Chalon-sur Saone, 1578-79], published in 1879 by Marcel Canat de Chizy, the town archivist. The book provides a fascinating account, culled from the town's historical record, of how the municipality dealt with a particular outbreak of the disease. Interesting to me was how the care of the sick became a community effort, motivated both by Christian charity and the more self-interested desire to limit the extent of the contagion.

In July of 1578, the mayor of Chalon announced to the nervous inhabitants gathered outside the town hall that two cases of plague had surfaced. He exhorted the townspeople to contribute to the effort to provide medical aid, lodging and sustenance to the afflicted.

First, medical assistance was organized. The town benefited from the activity of three types of medical professionals: doctors, apothecaries, and barber-surgeons. The barber-surgeons were under the municipality's direct control and governed by a set of statutes. In order to be licensed as a maistre, or master, a barber-surgeon had to pass an exam in the presence of the magistrates and the doctors. The statutes required surgeons to provide aid to the plague-stricken; since this was a risky endeavor, apprentice surgeons who accepted the task were granted the privileges of a master without having to take the exam. Two apprentice surgeons took the oath to serve the afflicted; they were granted the status of master and a salary of 6 écus per month, plus food for themselves and their families and exemption from militia duty during the term of their service.

The town engaged the services of two lower levels of caretaker during the outbreak: maulgognets and saccards. Maulgognets cared for the living: they were what we might call nurse's aids, men and women who provided basic services for the incapacitated. Saccards took care of the dead: they collected and buried the bodies. In addition to their wages, saccards were granted the clothing of the deceased (cruel recompense, indeed!). If they survived until the end of outbreak, they were housed in seclusion outside the town for two weeks in order to "air out."

The town hospital could only accept non-contagious patients; what to do, then, with the rapidly increasing number of infected, who needed to be separated from the healthy? Flimsy wooden shelters covered with straw, called cadolles, were constructed outside of town to house them. The victims were crowded into these shelters as soon as their infection became evident. Often those only suspected of being infected were forced to move into the cadolles with the ill, a guaranteed death-sentence. The sergents-de-ville escorted the pestiférés to the cadolles at specific times of the day along a prescribed path, so that the healthy might avoid them.

The town provisioned the sick for free. The mayor appointed a directeur de vivres who organized the collection and preparation of food, which was delivered daily to the town hall and transported to the cadolles by the sergents. These exposed and overworked sergents received ten extra sols pay per day and a pair of shoes for their services.

Christian charity, at least in the early stages of the outbreak, proved admirable: donations of food for the sick overwhelmed the town hall and distributions were made without fraud. The mayor and city officials performed their extra duties with zeal. However, as the number of sick rapidly increased and weeks stretched into months, the situation began to deteriorate. The healthy began to desert the town for the countryside, leaving the sick without aid and the city unprotected during a time of war.

[Sources: You can read Canat de Chizy's monograph in French at GoogleBooks. Other sources include Encylopedia Britannica (1911 edition) and Mark Harrison's Disease and the Modern World: 1500 to the Present (2004).]

Next post: Panic sets in.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-10-30T00:00:00.000-07:00

"Car c'est au Roy, & qui l'en gardera?

D'eslever ceulx que bon luy semblera."

"For it's the King's right (and who will keep him from it?)

To raise up those it pleases him to raise."

Claude Chappuys, poet and royal librarian

Le Discours de la Court (1543)

Poll: Sixteenth Century Household Names?

2009-10-25T10:06:00.000-07:00

I often wonder how familiar the people I write about are to historical fiction readers. I've lived and breathed with these people for so long, I can't remember not knowing about them, but I'm sure that's not the case with many of you. To help me out, take the new poll in the sidebar. Check off the names of those individuals you knew nothing about before you began to follow this blog. Were many of them previously unknown to you? What about the people you already recognized--did you know much about their lives or personalities? Does your familiarity with historical characters make you more or less interested in reading about them?

Soccer, Anyone?

2009-10-23T09:29:00.001-07:00

Jackie at Weave a Garland has an interesting post about soccer (football) in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Henry VIII even had a special pair of soccer shoes made for himself!

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-10-23T00:00:00.000-07:00

"Mieux est de ris que de larmes ecripre,

Pour ce que rire est le propre de l'homme."

"It's better to write about laughter than tears,

Because laughter is particular to man."

François Rabelais (c. 1494-1553), French humanist

La Vie très horrifique du grand Gargantua (1534), Notice to the Reader

Galleries, Redux

2009-10-21T10:56:00.000-07:00

Interesting, what I just read in a biography of Marguerite de Navarre. Marguerite had joined her daughter Jeanne, who was recovering from a "strong and furious flux" at Blois. However, at Blois "il n'y avoit pas assez de galleries...pour la faire promener à couvert" (there weren't enough galleries to take Jeanne walking under cover), so she moved her daughter to La Bourdaisière, where, presumably, there were more.

Illustrates yet again the important function galleries played in the lives of Renaissance nobles.

[Source: Pierre Jourda, Marguerite d'Angoulême (Geneva, 1978), I:225]

Chenonceau Videos

2009-10-20T21:34:00.000-07:00

For those interested in Renaissance history and architecture, I would like to bring to your attention a series of eighteen videos on the château of Chenonceau. The videos discuss the cultural context of the château and present biographical vignettes of individuals who owned and altered it (François, Henri II, Diane de Poitiers, Catherine de Medici). The later installments follow the history of Chenonceau on up through the twentieth century. Each video runs about 9 minutes in length. Worth watching if you have time to spare!

Winner of SUNFLOWERS Drawing

2009-10-19T00:15:00.000-07:00

The winner of the drawing for a copy of Sheramy Bundrick's SUNFLOWERS is...Teabird! Congratulations, Teabird! I'm sure you'll enjoy the novel. If you email me your mailing address, I'll forward it to Sheramy, who will send the book off to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered, and to Sheramy who provided the book for the contest. You can find SUNFLOWERS at all major book outlets. In the meantime, here are a few more inteviews and guest posts to check out:

Interview by author Catherine Delors at Versailles and More;

"Why I Love Vincent van Gogh" at Historical Tapestry;

"Following van Gogh in Auvers-sur-Oise" at Historicalnovels.info

Hilary Mantel on History in Fiction

2009-10-17T21:26:00.001-07:00

Excellent, excellent article in The Guardian by Hilary Mantel on "dealing with history in fiction." Practically every sentence is worth quoting. Here are some of my favorites:

"A relation of past events brings you up against events and mentalities that, should you choose to describe them, would bring you to the borders of what your readers could bear. The danger you have to negotiate is not the dimpled coyness of the past – it is its obscenity."

"To try to engage with the present without engaging with the past is to live like a dog or cat rather than a human being; it is to bob along on the waters of egotism, solipsism and ignorance."

"History is always changing behind us, and the past changes a little every time we retell it."

"A novel arrives whether you want it or not. After months or years of silent travel by night, it squats like an illegal immigrant at Calais, glowering and plotting, thinking of a thousand ways to gain a foothold. It's useless to try to keep it out. It's smarter than you are. It's upon you before you've seen its face, and has set up in business and bought a house."

I so need to read WOLF HALL. Now.

Sixteenth Century Quote of the Week

2009-10-16T00:00:00.000-07:00

"[M]en should devote themselves to practicing no other kind of music than that of living in harmony with us women. For their current state of disharmony with women produces such an awful sound: all one hears all day is carping, scorn, abuse, and a thousand other ills, as we are forced to curse, insult, and dishonor them, quite against our natural inclination, habits, and will (because, by nature, we would be inclined to put up with anything and suffer our mishaps in silence, but men are so pestilential and importunate that eventually they wear down even our patience)."

Moderata Fonte (Modesta Pozzo) (1555-1592), Italian writer and poet

The Worth of Women: Wherein is Clearly Revealed Their Nobility and Their Superiority to Men (1600)

Edited and translated by Virginia Cox (U Chicago Press 1997)

Review of Sheramy Bundrick's SUNFLOWERS

2009-10-12T20:21:00.000-07:00

In yesterday's interview, author Sheramy Bundrick revealed that her goal in writing SUNFLOWERS, her new novel about Vincent van Gogh, was to dispel the myth of van Gogh as "a mad genius slapping paint on a canvas." Determined to show that "there is much more to van Gogh than the 'ear incident,'" Bundrick draws a sensitive and nuanced portrait of the man who gave us not only one of art history's most gruesome anecdotes, but some of the most stunning paintings of all time.

The reader comes to know this other Vincent through the eyes of Rachel, the Arlesian prostitute who narrates the tale. A schoolteacher's daughter who turns to prostitution in order to survive after the deaths of her parents, Rachel first encounters "the foreigner with the funny name who wander[s] the countryside painting pictures" in a public garden when he draws her as she sleeps. As the relationship between the two blossoms, Vincent slowly reveals his hidden side: his complex relationship with his art-dealer brother Theo, who supports him monetarily and emotionally, yet whose happy and seemingly unattainable family life torments the artist; the guilt Vincent carries over abandoning a woman he lived with for years; his frustration at being ignored and misunderstood by the art establishment of his day. His biggest secret, the one that results in the "ear incident" itself, is the mental crises that plague him, the fits (epilepsy? lead poisoning? syphilis? Bundrick opts for bipolar disorder) that send him to hospital and asylum and ultimately compel him to take his own life. Rachel, with dogged devotion and deep love for this man who sees past her tawdry circumstances to a soul that, like his, has suffered greatly, never deserts him. If he teaches her anything at all, it is to follow the sun--to seek light and beauty despite the darkness that threatens to overwhelm her.

Rachel's tale is an engaging one; I was swept up in the narrative and read the book over the course of only a few days. Although at times I felt the depiction of her life as a prostitute was a bit romanticized (I expected sheltered Rachel to be more traumatized by her parents' deaths and her nightly encounters with strange men), her spunkiness and determination to create a new life for herself and Vincent provide a plausible thematic counterpoint -- instead of wallowing in pity and fear, she seeks to create something beautiful out of her brokenness and shame. As with most well-written historical fiction, it was fascinating to find the facts and commonplaces of a historical person's existence fleshed out in ways I hadn't expected -- Gauguin's jealous vindictiveness, for example, or Vincent's fascination with the sea. Bundrick's descriptions of Provence capture with great accuracy and vividness the sights and sounds and colors of the region, as well as the customs and character of its inhabitants. The book's final chapter is sublime, the crowning moment of an obvious work of love on the author's part. I was sad to finish reading and can only hope to enjoy another fine historical novel from Sheramy Bundrick before too long a wait. Congratulations to the author on a remarkable and most promising debut.

Remember, to enter the drawing for a signed copy of SUNFLOWERS, leave a comment here or after the previous post, revealing your favorite van Gogh painting. [Readers from the US and Canada only, please.] Otherwise, you can find SUNFLOWERS at Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, or your local bookstore.

Interview with author Sheramy Bundrick

2009-10-11T20:33:00.001-07:00

Most of us who know anything at all about Vincent van Gogh have heard the story of how he cut off his ear and presented it as a gift to a prostitute. But how many of us have delved beneath the surface of the anecdote to imagine the relationship that existed between Vincent and the girl, identified only as "Rachel" in the article about the incident in the local paper? Sheramy Bundrick, and art historian at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg, has turned her musings about the couple into a novel that Publishers Weekly calls "a knockout debut...an impressive volume of suspense, delight and heartbreak." SUNFLOWERS, published by Avon A as a paperback original, goes on sale tomorrow, October 13.

Sheramy first contacted me through this blog as she searched for an agent. It has been great fun to follow her through each successive step on her path to publication. Passionate about her story and the people who inhabit it, she offered to share some of the research that went into the writing of the novel. In this short interview, her love for Vincent van Gogh, the man and the work, comes through with the verve and vigor of one of Vincent's own paintings.

********

1. How did you become interested in van Gogh? What prompted you to write a novel about him, rather than an academic work?

Like many people, I’ve been a fan of van Gogh’s paintings for a long time. But I’ve been especially interested in him the past eight or nine years, beginning with a research fellowship I had at The Metropolitan Museum of Art. I was there to write a scholarly book about ancient Greek art (and I did), but I kept returning to the gallery with the van Gogh paintings as a place to sit and think. When I became a fulltime professor, I started teaching van Gogh as part of the art history survey, and that became a great excuse to read more about him. As for why a novel — I didn’t exactly plan for it to happen. At first I was writing a little short story as something fun to do during the summer, after an inspirational trip to Paris and Auvers-sur-Oise. Then it kept growing and growing...!

2. Which scene in the book is your favorite? Which scene was the most difficult to write, and why?

Rachel’s first trip to the yellow house makes me smile, but there are other scenes I like for their bittersweet nature. I love the last chapter. The hardest chapter to write was Chapter 34, “Seventy Days in Auvers.” A specific event had to take place that first of all I didn’t want to happen, and secondly, I had to decide how to convey that event to the reader. I ended up crafting the chapter as a series of letters between characters, but it didn’t start out that way.

3. Could you tell us a little about the history of van Gogh's sunflower paintings? What happened to them after his death and where are they now? Do the paintings function symbolically in your novel?

Great question and a long story! There are actually eleven van Gogh canvases of sunflowers, done between August 1887 and January 1889: four painted while living in Paris, seven in Arles. Let’s focus on the five most famous Arles pictures. In the novel, Rachel sees in Vincent’s studio Still Life: Vase with Fourteen Sunflowers, which has a yellow background and was painted in August 1888. Around the same time, Vincent painted Still Life: Vase with Twelve Sunflowers, which has a turquoise background. Both of these were later sent to Theo and remained in the van Gogh family for some time after Vincent and Theo’s deaths: Theo’s wife Johanna sold the yellow-background version to the National Gallery in London in 1924, and the turquoise-background version made its way to a museum in Munich around 1905 or so. Vincent made two copies of the yellow-background picture: one in probably December 1888 during Gauguin’s visit (this one I don’t mention in the novel because it was getting complicated!), which again the family had for a time — after a series of owners, it was bought at auction by the Yasuda Fire and Marine Insurance Company (based in Tokyo) in 1987. The second copy, which I do mention in the novel, was done in late January 1889. This one never left the van Gogh family and today is in the Van Gogh Museum. Also in January 1889, Vincent made a copy of the turquoise-background version, which after changing hands a few times, today is in Philadelphia.

The Sunflowers paintings absolutely function symbolically in the novel. Vincent himself used the paintings to express ideas about the life cycle, and long before his time, the sunflower’s legendary quality of following the sun — even when it’s cloudy — granted it a spiritual meaning for many artists and writers. I’ll let readers interpret from there!

4. How important do you feel it is for historical novelists to travel to the places they write about? What locations did you visit in order to write SUNFLOWERS? How did your visits contribute to your descriptions?

I think when it’s financially possible, authors should visit their locales. When I traveled to Arles and Saint-Rémy in summer 2007, I already had a draft of the manuscript, I had a mental map of both places, photographs I had found, but making the trip added many dimensions that I could not have gotten otherwise. The church of Saint-Trophime in Arles is one example: in the earlier draft, Rachel does not walk inside the church, but the trip inspired me to add that scene and description. I returned to Paris and Auvers-sur-Oise, both of which I had visited before, and I traveled to Amsterdam and Otterlo in the Netherlands to see the two largest museum collections of van Gogh’s work. I made two trips to New York during the writing process to see van Gogh paintings and exhibitions. I would have traveled more if I could!

5. At what point did you insert the quotations from Vincent's correspondence at the head each chapter? Did the quotations direct your writing of the chapters or sum up what you'd accomplished therein?

Fairly late in the process. I mainly intended the quotes for readers, so they could see snippets from original archival material. Each quote does “comment” on what’s happening in the story in some way.

6. What do you want readers to take away from their reading of SUNFLOWERS?

Hopefully, a new perception of van Gogh and a desire to learn more. “Famous” as Vincent is, he’s incredibly misunderstood. The cliché of the mad genius slapping paint on canvas is very much alive, even though the primary sources and the scholarship reveal it as a myth. He knew exactly what he was doing in his art; he was methodical, disciplined, and highly knowledgable about art history and the contemporary market. Popular culture focuses on his mental illness — often in ways that are very disrespectful — but there is much more to Vincent van Gogh than “the ear incident.” In the novel, I tried to contextualize his illness and show that it was only part of his story.

7. Do you think your future novels will deal with artists or the world of art? What are you working on now?

I’ve got some scholarly projects in the hopper at the moment — about ancient Greek art, not van Gogh. A second novel is percolating that yes, deals with artists and is set in nineteenth-century Paris. Finding time to work on it, though, is hard since I teach fulltime at the university and want to keep up my scholarship. I’m not in a hurry; I believe things happen in their own good time!

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Sheramy has an autographed copy of SUNFLOWERS to send to one lucky winner. Please leave a comment with an answer to the question: "My favorite van Gogh painting is ...." by eleven pm PST Sunday evening, October 18. The winning entry will be drawn at random and posted Monday morning, October 19. Contest open only to readers in the United States and Canada. Good luck!

You can learn more about Sheramy and her work at sheramybundrick.com or visit her blog, Van Gogh's Chair.

Many thanks to Sheramy for the interview and giveaway, and heartfelt congratulations on publication day!

Tomorrow: my review of SUNFLOWERS.

Next Week: SUNFLOWERS by Sheramy Bundrick

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On Tuesday, October 13, my writing friend Sheramy Bundrick's new novel about Vincent Van Gogh, SUNFLOWERS (Avon A), hits the shelves. I'll have an interview with Sheramy posted on Monday and a review of the novel on Tuesday. Sheramy is providing a signed copy for one lucky winner, so be sure to check in on Monday to enter the drawing. SUNFLOWERS received a starred review from Publishers Weekly. It's one book you won't want to miss!