"The dead do not negotiate": Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, and Britain's obsession with history.
Why do we remember the dead with such intensity in Britain, as if they were still among us? I argue that Hilary Mantel makes a critical intervention in this debate with her historical fictions Wolf Hall (2009), Bring Up the Bodies (2012) and The Mirror and the Light (2020). Her novels are theoretica...
| Publicado en: | Rethinking History Vol. 28; no. 3; pp. 399 - 422 |
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| Formato: | Artículo |
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Taylor & Francis Ltd
Sep2024
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=179805427&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 179805427 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 13642529 5C5 jtl: Rethinking History issn: 13642529 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Sep2024 vid: 28 iid: 3 pid: 377 pub: Taylor & Francis Ltd artinfo: ui: 179805427 10.1080/13642529.2024.2375475 ppf: 399 ppct: 23 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 403KB tig: atl: "The dead do not negotiate": Hilary Mantel, The Mirror and the Light, and Britain's obsession with history. aug: au: Lehnen, Christine affil: Department of English Literature and Creative Writing, The University of Exeter, Exeter, UK su: Mantel, Hilary, 1952- Historical fiction History Political change sug: subj: Mantel, Hilary, 1952- Historical fiction History Political change keyword: critical heritage studies Hilary Mantel historicised world history neo-historical fiction ab: Why do we remember the dead with such intensity in Britain, as if they were still among us? I argue that Hilary Mantel makes a critical intervention in this debate with her historical fictions Wolf Hall (2009), Bring Up the Bodies (2012) and The Mirror and the Light (2020). Her novels are theoretical and political interventions that allow us to critically evaluate historiographic, heritage and commemorative practices in contemporary Britain. I argue that they demonstrate the harmful consequences of commemorations centred around the continuous revival of the dead, because this practice justifies injuries against and negligence of the living through an appeal to imagined ancestors, who cannot engage in compromise or change their minds. This mode of knowing the past results in social standstill and the perception of social and political change as a threat. Thinking through the characteristics of this historical epistemology with Martin Davies, Walter Benjamin and Friedrich Nietzsche, I go on to argue that Hilary Mantel's intervention exposes the violent consequences of such a mode of knowing the past and proposes a radical alternative: rather than negotiating with the dead, it reminds us to focus on the needs of the vulnerable living in the present. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Copyright of Rethinking History is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. item: Rethinking History holder: Taylor & Francis Ltd dt: @attributes: year: 2024 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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