Wolf Hall: Difference between revisions
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'''''Wolf Hall''''' (2009) is a multi-award winning [[historical novel]] by English author [[Hilary Mantel]], published by [[Fourth Estate]]. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of [[Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex|Thomas Cromwell]] in the court of [[Henry VIII of England]]. The novel won both the [[Man Booker Prize]] and the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1291 |title=Wolf Hall wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction : Man Booker Prize news |publisher=Themanbookerprize.com |date=2009-10-06 |accessdate=2010-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/ |title=National Book Critics Circle: awards |publisher=Bookcritics.org |date= |accessdate=2010-06-11}}</ref> The book is the first in a planned trilogy; the sequel ''[[Bring Up the Bodies]]'' was published in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/05/wolf_hall_sequel_hilary_mantel_s_bring_up_the_bodies_reviewed_.html |title=Hilary Mantel's Heart of Stone |author=William Georgiades |date=4 May 2012 |work=The Slate Book Review |publisher=[[Slate.com]] |accessdate=6 May 2012}}</ref> |
'''''Wolf Hall''''' (2009) is a multi-award winning [[historical novel]] by English author [[Hilary Mantel]], published by [[Fourth Estate]]. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, ''Wolf Hall'' is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of [[Thomas Cromwell, 1st Earl of Essex|Thomas Cromwell]] in the court of [[Henry VIII of England]]. The novel won both the [[Man Booker Prize]] and the [[National Book Critics Circle Award]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.themanbookerprize.com/news/stories/1291 |title=Wolf Hall wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction : Man Booker Prize news |publisher=Themanbookerprize.com |date=2009-10-06 |accessdate=2010-06-11}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bookcritics.org/awards/ |title=National Book Critics Circle: awards |publisher=Bookcritics.org |date= |accessdate=2010-06-11}}</ref> In 2012, ''The Observer'' named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".<ref>{{cite news|first=William|last=Skidelsky|url=http://www.guardian.co.uk/culture/gallery/2012/may/13/ten-best-historical-novels#/?picture=389920300&index=1|title=The 10 best historical novels|work=The Observer|publisher=Guardian Media Group|date=13 May 2012|accessdate=13 May 2012}}</ref> |
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The book is the first in a planned trilogy; the sequel ''[[Bring Up the Bodies]]'' was published in 2012.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/books/2012/05/wolf_hall_sequel_hilary_mantel_s_bring_up_the_bodies_reviewed_.html |title=Hilary Mantel's Heart of Stone |author=William Georgiades |date=4 May 2012 |work=The Slate Book Review |publisher=[[Slate.com]] |accessdate=6 May 2012}}</ref> |
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==Historical background== |
==Historical background== |
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Revision as of 23:29, 12 May 2012
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| Author | Hilary Mantel |
|---|---|
| Language | English |
| Genre | Historical Fiction |
| Publisher | Fourth Estate/HarperCollins (UK) |
Publication date | April 30, 2009 |
| Publication place | United Kingdom |
| Media type | Print (hardback) |
| Pages | 672 |
| ISBN | 0-00-723018-4 |
| 823/.914 22 | |
| LC Class | PR6063.A438 W65 2009 |
Wolf Hall (2009) is a multi-award winning historical novel by English author Hilary Mantel, published by Fourth Estate. Set in the period from 1500 to 1535, Wolf Hall is a fictionalized biography documenting the rapid rise to power of Thomas Cromwell in the court of Henry VIII of England. The novel won both the Man Booker Prize and the National Book Critics Circle Award.[1][2] In 2012, The Observer named it as one of "The 10 best historical novels".[3]
The book is the first in a planned trilogy; the sequel Bring Up the Bodies was published in 2012.[4]
Historical background
Born to a working-class family of no position or name, Cromwell rose to become the right-hand man of Cardinal Thomas Wolsey, adviser to the King. He survived Wolsey's fall from grace to eventually take his place as the most powerful of Henry's ministers. In that role, he oversaw Henry's divorce from Catherine of Aragon and subsequent marriage to Anne Boleyn, the English church's break with Rome and the dissolution of the monasteries.
Historical and literary accounts in the following centuries have not been kind to Cromwell; in Robert Bolt's well-known play A Man for All Seasons he is portrayed as the calculating, unprincipled opposite of Thomas More's honour and rectitude.
Alternative story
Mantel's novel offers an alternative to that characterization, a more intimate and well-rounded portrait of Cromwell as a pragmatic and talented man attempting to serve king and country amid the political machinations of Henry's court and the religious upheavals of the Protestant reformation. The narrative fleshes out the historical record of Cromwell's life to produce a complete and compelling character. It also portrays Thomas More in a negative way, as a religious fanatic. The novel ends with the execution of Thomas More, bringing Cromwell to the height of his power and influence.
Process
Mantel spent five years researching and writing the book; the trickiest part, she said in an interview with the Wall Street Journal,[5] was trying to match her version of events to the historical record. To avoid contradicting history, she created a card catalogue, organized alphabetically by character, with each card containing notes indicating where a particular historical figure was on relevant dates. "You really need to know, where is the Duke of Suffolk at the moment? You can't have him in London if he's supposed to be somewhere else," she explained. This depth of research is especially important when all the novel's main characters are historical figures.
Characters
Wolf Hall includes a large cast of fictionalized historical persons. In addition to those already mentioned, prominent characters include:
- Stephen Gardiner, Master Secretary to King Henry
- Mary, the daughter and only surviving child of Henry and Catherine, later Queen Mary I of England
- Mary Boleyn, sister of Anne
- Thomas Boleyn, father of Anne and Mary
- Thomas Howard, 3rd Duke of Norfolk, Anne's uncle
- Thomas Cranmer, Archbishop of Canterbury
- Jane Seymour, who later became the third of Henry's six wives
The title
The title comes from the name of the Seymour family seat at Wolf Hall or Wulfhall in Wiltshire; the title's allusion to the old Latin saying "Man is wolf to man" serves as a constant reminder of the dangerously opportunistic nature of the world through which Cromwell navigates.[6] None of the action occurs at Wolf Hall.
Critical reaction
... Wolf Hall succeeds on its own terms and then some, both as a non-frothy historical novel and as a display of Mantel's extraordinary talent. Lyrically yet cleanly and tightly written, solidly imagined yet filled with spooky resonances, and very funny at times, it's not like much else in contemporary British fiction. A sequel is apparently in the works, and it's not the least of Mantel's achievements that the reader finishes this 650-page book wanting more. —Christopher Tayler in The Guardian [7]
...dreadfully badly written... Mantel just wrote and wrote and wrote. I have yet to meet anyone outside the Booker panel who managed to get to the end of this tedious tome. God forbid there might be a sequel, which I fear is on the horizon. — Susan Bassnett, in Times Higher Education [8]
Over two decades, she has gained a reputation as an elegant anatomiser of malevolence and cruelty. From the French Revolution of A Place of Greater Safety (1992) to the Middle England of Beyond Black (2005), hers are scrupulously moral - and scrupulously unmoralistic - books that refuse to shy away from the underside of life, finding even in disaster a kind of bleak and unconsoling humour. It is that supple movement between laughter and horror that makes this rich pageant of Tudor life her most humane and bewitching novel. — Olivia Laing in The Observer [9]
... as soon as I opened the book I was gripped. I read it almost non-stop. When I did have to put it down, I was full of regret the story was over, a regret I still feel. This is a wonderful and intelligently imagined retelling of a familiar tale from an unfamiliar angle — one that makes the drama unfolding nearly five centuries ago look new again, and shocking again, too. —Vanora Bennett in The Times[10]
Awards and nominations
- Winner - 2009 Man Booker Prize James Naughtie, the chairman of the Booker prize judges, said the decision to give Wolf Hall the award was "... based on the sheer bigness of the book. The boldness of its narrative, its scene setting ... The extraordinary way that Hilary Mantel has created what one of the judges has said was a contemporary novel, a modern novel, which happens to be set in the 16th century."[11]
- Winner - 2009 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.
- Winner - 2010 Walter Scott Prize for historical fiction.[12]
- Winner - 2010 The Morning News Tournament of Books.[13]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ "Wolf Hall wins the 2009 Man Booker Prize for Fiction : Man Booker Prize news". Themanbookerprize.com. 2009-10-06. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ "National Book Critics Circle: awards". Bookcritics.org. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ Skidelsky, William (13 May 2012). "The 10 best historical novels". The Observer. Guardian Media Group. Retrieved 13 May 2012.
- ^ William Georgiades (4 May 2012). "Hilary Mantel's Heart of Stone". The Slate Book Review. Slate.com. Retrieved 6 May 2012.
- ^ Alter, Alexandra (2009-11-13). "How to Write a Great Novel". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ "Historical sketches of the Reformation : Lee, Frederick George, 1832-1902 : Free Download & Streaming : Internet Archive". Archive.org. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ Christopher Tayler (2 May 2009). "Henry's fighting dog". London: Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ "Pseuds' corner". 9 February 2012. Retrieved 24 March 2012.
- ^ Olivia Laing (26 April 2009). "Review: Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel | Books |". The Observer. London: Guardian. Retrieved 11 June 2010.
- ^ Bennett, Vanora (25 April 2009). "Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel". The Times. London. Retrieved 6 September 2010.
- ^ "Wolf Hall author takes home Booker prize". China.org.cn. 2009-10-08. Retrieved 2010-06-11.
- ^ Flood, Alison (2010-04-01). "Booker rivals clash again on Walter Scott prize shortlist". The Guardian. London.
- ^ "April 5, 2010 Championship". The Morning News.
External links
- Wolf Hall, official website
- Wolf Hall iPhone App
- Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall, interview by Man Booker.
- Wolf Hall at complete review, an aggregation of reviews from papers and magazines.
- (Video) Hilary Mantel on Wolf Hall, The Guardian
- Rubin, Martin (2009-10-10). "A Man for All Tasks and Times". Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 13 October 2009.