Historical novelist and their inferences

I call upon you expert Ricardians out there to clarify a few entirely
trivial points I've come across while reading the two historical novels
"The Sunne in Splendour" by Sharon Penman and "Under the Hog" by Patrick
Carleton.

First, towards the end of "The Sunne in Splendour", while Richard is
visiting his mother at Berkhampsted, he is having a bad fit of cough,
ominously similar to the ones accompanying Anne's illness. Now what was
Miss Penman trying to imply here? That Richard also had tuberculosis and
it's really for the best that he got to die honorably in battle rather
than waste away slowly and miserably like his wife? I didn't like it.
And yet she is so historically sound in her writing that I don't
understand why she would introduce such a fancy. Is there any shadow of
truth to it?

"Under the Hog" is also quite dependable for its facts and
characterizations but it introduces a delicious little piece of
information that again I can't imagine how the author conjectured -
namely that the Duke of Gloucester is "ridiculously fond of
strawberries". Is there any truth to that? And I'd also like to know a
bit more about this Patrick Carleton. All I could find out is that his
real name was Patrick Railton and he was at Cambridge with Michael
Redgrave (the actor). Which really only confirms what I suspected about
him, that his was not a pen name of a female writer and that he couldn't
have been more than 35 when he wrote the book.

Thank you.

--- In , "Maria" <ohmessyme@...>
wrote:
>
> I call upon you expert Ricardians out there to clarify a few entirely
> trivial points I've come across while reading the two historical novels
> "The Sunne in Splendour" by Sharon Penman and "Under the Hog" by Patrick
> Carleton.
>
> First, towards the end of "The Sunne in Splendour", while Richard is
> visiting his mother at Berkhampsted, he is having a bad fit of cough,
> ominously similar to the ones accompanying Anne's illness. Now what was
> Miss Penman trying to imply here? That Richard also had tuberculosis and
> it's really for the best that he got to die honorably in battle rather
> than waste away slowly and miserably like his wife? I didn't like it.
> And yet she is so historically sound in her writing that I don't
> understand why she would introduce such a fancy. Is there any shadow of
> truth to it?


Just from, my point of view, I believe Sharon Penland was trying to
introduce foreshadowing and parallel construction. It was her first
novel and that shows in places, especially in moments of sort of
self-conscious emphasis upon the mechanics of story-telling
construction, as if her work was going to be graded in a creative
writing class. I did really enjoy it, though.





> "Under the Hog" is also quite dependable for its facts and
> characterizations but it introduces a delicious little piece of
> information that again I can't imagine how the author conjectured -
> namely that the Duke of Gloucester is "ridiculously fond of
> strawberries". Is there any truth to that?


I haven't read "Under the Hog" so I'm really guessing on this, but I
think he thinks he's being clever and making an in-group reference (as
indeed the title of his book is, not that "The Sunne in Splendour"
isn't one, too) to Richard's having expressed a sudden craving for
strawberries from the London garden of John Morton, then the Bishop of
Ely, as a stalling maneuver while he was waiting for some piece of
information that precipitated the famous row in the council chambers
and the summary execution of William Hastings.

Other than that, I am unaware of Richard ever being interested in
strawberries.

Katy

> I haven't read "Under the Hog" so I'm really guessing on this, but I
> think he thinks he's being clever and making an in-group reference (as
> indeed the title of his book is, not that "The Sunne in Splendour"
> isn't one, too) to Richard's having expressed a sudden craving for
> strawberries from the London garden of John Morton, then the Bishop of
> Ely, as a stalling maneuver while he was waiting for some piece of
> information that precipitated the famous row in the council chambers
> and the summary execution of William Hastings.


Oh yes, you're right, I forgot about that! What a disappointment. I
had rather hoped he might have discovered some entries in some account
book where Richard is ordering large quantities of strawberries. Well,
serves me right for asking.