Even the dogs do not come out of this novel feeling clean. Poor Brount. It's pretty sad when you can say that of a book.
I don't know; if you look at most paintings engravings from the 19th century (except perhaps this one: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/2867875007_f580c3b9cf.jpg?v=0), they still don't really feel the need to make him pretty, per se. Perhaps it's different in the texts. I admittedly have not made much of a study of it, but it seems to me to be a fairly recent phenomenon. And one for which Mantel herself bears no small responsibility.
I do remember the bit about Saint-Just's chin. It said something along the lines of it: "It didn't make him ugly, just unsettling." But in any case, I could be thinking of The Gods are Thirsty, an even worse book than Mantel's if such were possible - the fact that the author (Tanith Lee) couldn't even come up with an original title should give you a clue. Saint-Just is definitely pretty there, as well as pretty much being evil incarnate.
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regna
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Date: Tuesday, 1 June 2010 22:01 (UTC)It's pretty sad when you can say that of a book.
I don't know; if you look at most paintings engravings from the 19th century (except perhaps this one: http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3270/2867875007_f580c3b9cf.jpg?v=0), they still don't really feel the need to make him pretty, per se. Perhaps it's different in the texts. I admittedly have not made much of a study of it, but it seems to me to be a fairly recent phenomenon. And one for which Mantel herself bears no small responsibility.
I do remember the bit about Saint-Just's chin. It said something along the lines of it: "It didn't make him ugly, just unsettling." But in any case, I could be thinking of The Gods are Thirsty, an even worse book than Mantel's if such were possible - the fact that the author (Tanith Lee) couldn't even come up with an original title should give you a clue. Saint-Just is definitely pretty there, as well as pretty much being evil incarnate.