Guest Blog by Susanne Dunlap
I have a confession to make. I have to be writing something, all the time. While I've been waiting for my editor's feedback on my upcoming book (Liszt's Kiss, due out from Simon & Schuster March, 2007), I've been working feverishly on another book, which is a little bit of a departure for me.
Its working title is The Heretic's Song, and it's been quite a project.My struggles have to do with several different things: the fact that the average reader knows very little about the period or the place-- 13th century southern France (more on that later); the dearth of documentary evidence of how people lived on a daily basis; using language that is vibrant and fresh, but does not introduce words that didn't come into being until well after the 13th century (thank the Lord for the OED online).
But most of all, there's the music. My angle on historical fiction is musical. In other words, my characters are musicians and composers, and the musical culture of the time is important to the plot. It was actually an idea about music that led me to this book. The unique culture of the Midi at this time (a loose collection of counties and baronies and fiefs, some tied to the kingdom of France, others to Aragon) included the courtly love lyric of the troubadours. These sung poems could be simple declarations of love, or they could be lengthy written conversations between two lovers, or adversaries. Much of the literature was written by women-- the Trobairitz-- and much of it was also highly topical. The church, politics, the nobility were all occasionally skewered, especially in the sirventes, a very complex poetical form.
The challenge with The Heretic's Song has been that the music associated with these lyrics is almost unknown to modern ears, little of it is written down, and no one really knows how it was performed (a capella? melody doubled by a vielle? rhythm beat on a drum?). In the other two books, I had music to listen to and scores to read. Although there are plenty of recordings that give their best guess, it is just a guess.
I've been fortunate in having some generous souls help fill in some of the gaps in my own knowledge, but most of all I've read copiously, more than for either of the other two books, or the one that so far has not been published (Love in Excess, about the novelist Eliza Haywood and a foiled plot in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745). At this moment my bibliography is at 35 actual books and growing, not counting the articles read and online sources consulted.
I don't think I'll be able to find answers that scholars have been searching for decades to clarify, but I think I'll be able to live with myself if at least I've left no stone unturned. It has truly been an incredible journey doing the research for this book. Aside from the musical and poetic background, the politics, the religion, the astounding cultural richness of the time and place have all inspired me.
What's the moral of this little piece? Be careful of biting off more than you can chew, I suppose. But if you do, be prepared to throw your heart and soul into it. I think it will be both difficult and a great relief to get back to the 19th century when I start the editing process on Liszt's Kiss. To close, I'll confess something else though: I've fallen in love with the period and place, and am finding it much easier than I thought it would be to populate it with characters who engage me.
Wish me luck!
Its working title is The Heretic's Song, and it's been quite a project.My struggles have to do with several different things: the fact that the average reader knows very little about the period or the place-- 13th century southern France (more on that later); the dearth of documentary evidence of how people lived on a daily basis; using language that is vibrant and fresh, but does not introduce words that didn't come into being until well after the 13th century (thank the Lord for the OED online).
But most of all, there's the music. My angle on historical fiction is musical. In other words, my characters are musicians and composers, and the musical culture of the time is important to the plot. It was actually an idea about music that led me to this book. The unique culture of the Midi at this time (a loose collection of counties and baronies and fiefs, some tied to the kingdom of France, others to Aragon) included the courtly love lyric of the troubadours. These sung poems could be simple declarations of love, or they could be lengthy written conversations between two lovers, or adversaries. Much of the literature was written by women-- the Trobairitz-- and much of it was also highly topical. The church, politics, the nobility were all occasionally skewered, especially in the sirventes, a very complex poetical form.
The challenge with The Heretic's Song has been that the music associated with these lyrics is almost unknown to modern ears, little of it is written down, and no one really knows how it was performed (a capella? melody doubled by a vielle? rhythm beat on a drum?). In the other two books, I had music to listen to and scores to read. Although there are plenty of recordings that give their best guess, it is just a guess.
I've been fortunate in having some generous souls help fill in some of the gaps in my own knowledge, but most of all I've read copiously, more than for either of the other two books, or the one that so far has not been published (Love in Excess, about the novelist Eliza Haywood and a foiled plot in the Jacobite rebellion of 1745). At this moment my bibliography is at 35 actual books and growing, not counting the articles read and online sources consulted.
I don't think I'll be able to find answers that scholars have been searching for decades to clarify, but I think I'll be able to live with myself if at least I've left no stone unturned. It has truly been an incredible journey doing the research for this book. Aside from the musical and poetic background, the politics, the religion, the astounding cultural richness of the time and place have all inspired me.
What's the moral of this little piece? Be careful of biting off more than you can chew, I suppose. But if you do, be prepared to throw your heart and soul into it. I think it will be both difficult and a great relief to get back to the 19th century when I start the editing process on Liszt's Kiss. To close, I'll confess something else though: I've fallen in love with the period and place, and am finding it much easier than I thought it would be to populate it with characters who engage me.
Wish me luck!
posted by Mary Sharratt at 4:43 PM
1 Comments:
Good luck.
I'm sooo going to read that book.
I'm a specialist for Mediaeval literature, but it's more along the lines of French epics, Norse sagas and Latin historiography than the songs of the troubadours. Though I can relate to the problem, the question how the jougleres who performed the recitation of epics actually worked, remains unsolved as well.
Have you read Guy Gavriel Kay's A Song for Arbonne? It's Fantasy based on 13th century southern France and catches the atmosphere of the historical time pretty well.
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