A relatively arid book for such a juicy subject. But then again that seems to be the publisher’s specialty. Book that read like either an academic tome or an academic paper, maybe some sort of a thesis. In other words, serious work. And not the most exciting of nonfiction reading, personally I prefer mine with some personality and elan and even a humorous sprinkle of two mixed in, but there it is. So basically, the smart choice seems to be to choose a subject that really interests you, if you’re to go with the publisher’s books. And this seemed like an interesting subject.
And it is. The author appears to have done an exhaustive amount of research to create a fairly complex representation of (overwhelmingly heterosexual heteronormative) courting, dating, sexing and marriage traditions of the era. Yes, there was a good amount of screwing around under the rule of the self proclaimed Virgin Queen, who herself heavily features in the proceedings. People had elaborate affairs, married, remarried, made oodles of babies and so on. Like they do. Always. Deterred by nothing.
The book heavily draws upon quotations from the writers of the time, tons of Elizabethan poetry, including the Bard himself, of course. You might be delighted to learn all the sexual innuendos buried in those works and all the now quaint euphemisms. And there is some visual material, albeit all the way at the end, which compliments the book nicely.
Peculiarly enough, there’s no Sapphic love to be found. Anywhere. It’s no small surprise Queen Victoria thought such thing didn’t exist when she created her antigay laws. Either the author seems to share that opinion or the lesbians were really, really good at covering their tracks. Unlike, say, the gay men who have rampantly proclaimed their passions in poems, etc. And since I can’t possibly get on Queen V’s ideological train, it seems that potentially the research in this book might have been heavily skewed toward…well, at the very least, the obvious.
Anyway, it was interesting enough and kindly enough also very brief, some things were learned and there were some quite amusing accounts of scandalous love affairs, courtly love and so on. Overall, nowhere near as exciting as the title suggests, but, you know, sedately informational. Thanks Netgalley.