How is Hilary Mantel so good?

[theotherfossilsister]

Like how did she do it? Is it like the three card trick she references in Wolf Hall? Have a huge tbr pile but once again I am rereading her. How is she so immersive? I genuinely can’t work it out even in this reread. Love A Place if greater safety since I read it at university in 2009 and feel like no one can touch her

Bottled lightning innit. I’ve absolutely no idea how she did it. But I think the fact that she was really, really fucking clever was a part of it. Lots of authors are quite clever in a university tutorial sort of way, but Mantel was genuinely extraordinary.

On her historical fiction in particular, it’s interesting that she returns to these figures who are both hugely well known in outline and also kind-of forgotten in the details. Unless you were a specialist, nobody was ‘reappraising’ Danton or Thomas Cromwell 20 years ago - people thought they knew what the stories were. I love her phrase (about her Cromwell) that she is ‘making the reader an offer’. It’s so interesting that she applied herself to a genre (historical fiction) that was thought of as lightweight and a bit embarrassing (and of course very female-coded, in a derogatory way).

I’m re-reading the Wolf Hall trilogy again despite a big pile of other things I should be reading - I’ve never read anything else that repeatedly repays re-reading so much. Every time I go back to it I find new things. This time I’m really struck by how well she writes about pregnancy and birth and motherhood, despite her own painful struggles with her health and her inability to have children. What an extraordinary feat of empathy and imagination.

I’m interested in you saying you think historical fiction is coded as ‘lightweight’ , embarrassing and female coded — are up you just thinking of Philippa Gregory, Tudor romps, and the like? Because for most of its history, historical fiction coded both deeply male and Very Important, eg Sir Walter Scott. Arthur Conan Doyle saw himself as a serious historical novelist and would have been horrified to think he’s now remembered solely for Sherlock Holmes, whom he saw as a fluffy break from his real writing.

I’ve been doing a year-long guided ‘slow read’ of the Wolf hall trilogy - which is why I’ve been listening to the audiobook as I’ve read them several times before and I wanted to experience them in a new way. It’s running again next year and if anybody fancies it, I really recommend https://open.substack.com/pub/footnotesandtangents/p/wolf-crawl

Yes, you’re right, am thinking about how it was perceived when she was writing A Place of Greater Safety and Wolf Hall. I have a lot of time for popular historical fiction, but Mantel just kicked the tables over.

To be fair, I there has been an element of these attitudes in the past if that HF was written by a woman.

A Place of Greater Safety was actually written in the 1970s when Mantel was a young woman, she did discuss the attitudes of publishers at the time. It took until 1992 to be published because no one was willing to risk it. I think she was ahead of her time but because of the time lag it's less clear.

I love her too but started to feel haunted by this book so n had to stop reading it!

Agree. Wolf Hall was phenomenal. I’ve never felt so immersed in a book

But I think the fact that she was really, really fucking clever was a part of it. Lots of authors are quite clever in a university tutorial sort of way, but Mantel was genuinely extraordinary.

Yes, definitely. But there are 2 things she recounts that stuck with me in terms of them being more fundamental for her than full awareness of how her intellect was contributing to what she did.

The first was a description of a young (early 80s?) male university lecturer of the 'sit on the desk' variety who had a following of mainly young female students, As she was doing Law in London, this was probably a Law lecturer. His classes hung on his every word which, of course, he radiated in. She wasn't so easily bought and has a great quote along the lines of 'If there's one thing I thank feminism for, it's that it has made it less acceptable for women to be patronised by men in nylon shirts' - I've just tried to skim to look for the actual wording but haven't found it yet.

The second was in a magazine interview that had several references to her extremely severe endometriosis (missed over decades). The interviewer asked her- as here - how she could immerse herself so extraordinarily deeply in others' worlds. Her answer was (paraphrasing) 'I'm very lucky - it would be untenable for me to have a normal job, because I cannot get out of bed some days. It's outside of my control. Writing is one thing that allows me to plough on when I am able to work, so it's important to me when I can.' This was so practical, and must have been true - perhaps the drive to get to the next point when you can get out of bed is a very unique one. I have seen it in people who won't retire.

At last, others who recommend Beyond Black. I think it is a remarkable, though deeply disturbing book.

I don’t think it was just her sex. It is an incredibly long novel, and would have been a big risk for a publisher to take on an unknown debut author, particularly at a time when huge novels were less usual.

It is profoundly disturbing. I take a deep breath before rereading it, and some people to whom I’ve recommended it find it unreadably frightening and sad.

I get bore myself watching my own Tiktoks for my small business. I literally have no imagination, so couldn't imagine how dull a book that I wrote might be

I thought beyond black was funny. On audible its very entertainjng

It is funny, you’re right. Perhaps hearing it read aloud makes those parts more evident? I do love the psychic fair regulars and their schtik, and the Mel little ghosts, though the comedy of the Alison-Colette relationship is too bleak for me to find it funny.

I haven’t read her books but this thread is intriguing, maybe I’ll give it a go.

Mantel herself wrote about it. Even when she had published other works it took some while for her publishers to agree to do it. Despite her assurance that it wasn't a romance.

I'm not saying it was the only reason. Just that sexism in the industry existed and books in the genre by women or (in the publisher's opinion/marketing)aimed at women weren't always considered the same way as the writers you mentioned. Look at the covers for a start.

Anyway, love her work and I'm sad she's no longer with us. I imagine her meeting the figures she wrote about in heaven and then writing about her impressions of them. That would be a good read.

Do you think she would have been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature if she had lived longer? I think she would have. I love her writing. How did she do it is exactly my question too. A Place of Greater Safety was written when she was 21! (IIRC) I would add Fludd to the list of wonders. So beautiful and deep and ambiguous. She did ambiguous so well.

I feel the same when I read people like Mantel (or Iris Murdoch or Virginia Woolf or even P. G. Wodehouse). Like most literature lovers, I long to write my own novel. But I have come to the bitter conclusion that you can either do it or you can't – and 99% of people can't. I once heard a creative writing teacher say that the vast majority of his students were just wasting everyone's time. It isn't that they don't try. They try their hearts out. But they just can't do it.

Well, I write novels. It’s not a matter of ‘Do I write as well as Hilary Mantel or V Woolf?’ (I loathe Wodehouse and have never recovered my teenage enthusiasm for IM), or give up and go home.

Absolutely! You have mentioned my favourite authors 🙂 I’m working my way through Iris Murdoch at the moment. Just re-read The sea, the sea. I know I will never be able to write like they did (as this post sadly attests!) but I think to myself, at least I can appreciate their writing and gain so much.

This is such an interesting thread, I’ve never read any Mantel but think I will now

Great @BuffaloCauliflower Hope you enjoy them!

The Wolf Hall trilogy is just perfect. I also really loved Eight Months on Ghazzah Street, which I think is more accessible both in terms of length and style.

I enjoyed that one too, the feeling of unease is palpable.

I absolutely adored the BBC adaptation of the Wolf Hall trilogy - it's something I hope to rewatch every couple of years or so forever more. I read Wolf Hall in the Autumn and really loved it. You feel like you're living and breathing every moment with Cromwell. It's incredibly well written - there were sentences and paragraphs that I had to reread several times because they were so perfect

I have the other 2 books next to my bed and I'm looking forward to getting stuck in next week 👍