Posted by Guillermo Maynez
on 17/6/2012, 21:36:29, in reply to "Re: Wolf Hall"
189.253.223.248
This is an excellent thread of discussion. I am writing between spells in airports, but following it closely. I am a born and raised Catholic (no longer believer), so I am pleased to see that your interpretations of Catholic motives and history are correct. Catholics are supposed to understand their religion only through the interpretations of the clergy, and to these days even fanatic Catholics are shockingly ignorant of the Bible, and believe the weirdest ideas, never even hinted at in the Scriptures (such as confession, Purgatory, the Virgin Mary as a godess, or the saints as valid intermediaries between humans and God). Pope Innocent III (12th Century) invented confession and enforced the previoulsy only recommended celibacy of priests. He is a key figure in the history of Catholic doctrine. There is an excellent novel whose title would be translated as "The Dream of Innocent", by Mexican author Gerardo Laveaga, but I don't know if it has been translated to English.
I also agree that pre-Victorian people would have talked very approximately as characters speak in "Wolf Hall", based on my readings of Chaucer and others.
I liked the novel very much and am looking forward to the sequel, which I'll get as soon as I can.
--Previous Message--
: I wondered that myself. I think your theory is probably
: correct.
:
: Since what eventually became a trilogy was originally
: planned as a single volume, perhaps Wolf Hall began as
: her title for the entire work before it was divided
: into three novels.
:
: I've just started Bring Up the Bodies. It begins at
: Wolf Hall.
:
: --Previous Message--
: Why did Mantel name the novel Wolf Hall ?
:
: Not a single scene takes place there. True, it is the
: home of Jane Seymour, the "next" wife, but
: that does not seem relevant to this novel. In the
: novel, at least, there is some report in passing about
: scandalous behavior at Wolf Hall, but not much is made
: of it. Do you think that Mantel is comparing the
: court of Henry VIII to a den of wolves? And since
: there happens to be a Wolf Hall connected to the
: story, however tenuously, she used it for the title?
:
:
:
:
Message Thread | Skip to this response ↓
« Back to index