Bring up the bodies review6/12/2023 When Hilary Mantel began the anticipated trilogy, she wanted to take something that people think they know about and show them a whole new side. Sequel Bring up the Bodies returns to Cromwell’s activities behind the scenes of Anne Boleyn’s downfall. Reviews of Mantel’s Booker-winning novel Wolf Hall chiefly commented on the softer side of her ‘surprising fictional hero’ ( The Guardian) Thomas Cromwell – destroyer pf monasteries and men, painted by biographers as sinister and corrupt. History was stretched too far for some by the sympathetic portrayal of Margaret Thatcher in the recent biopic. There seems current to be a trend towards the humanisation of the ‘bad guys’ of history. Most famous is his portrayal of Richard III, to whom a hunchback was added to reinforce his evilness: a representation that went on to eclipse reality. So, too, have Shakespeare’s historical characters anchored themselves in our cultural consciousness, despite being often inaccurate. The cover of Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary MantelĪsk anyone at a dinner party which Shakespearean phrases have been absorbed into use today and, after a few forehead wrinkles, you may be answered with all that glitters is not gold, bated breath, neither a borrower nor a lender be, or break the ice. Claire Hougeuz delves into the world of historical fiction in her review of Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel.
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