Oxford's oldest student newspaper

Independent since 1920

Historical Histrionics

Its title notwithstanding, Apology for the Woman Writing has less to do with ‘the woman writing’ and much more to do with woman’s inability to write in early-modern France. It is a novel about those people living in the gaps between great writers.

Its protagonist, Marie de Gournay inherits a medium sized ‘gentleman’s library’ from her recently deceased father, reading through the two hundred or so volumes electrified by the thought that ‘behind each individual book was a mind’. Whilst most are indifferent to Marie’s literary inclinations, her Uncle, Louis, seems to encourage it, bringing her new volumes on each of his regular visits to the family home. The watershed moment, though, occurs in 1584, when Marie comes into contact with the essays of Michel de Montaigne.

She instantly becomes obsessed by both his writing and his person. On first reading his essays, she faints. From then on her sole aim in life is to become Montaigne’s disciple. He is flattered but weary; after she stabs herself in a desperate show of loyalty, he declares her his ‘fille d’alliance’ to stave off further bloodshed. After his death, Madame de Montaigne graciously allows her to edit a new edition of his essays, which she takes as an opportunity to lauch her literary career.

From then on it’s a descent into the isolation of an oncoming death. The servant Jamyn gradually becomes more important to the author so that by the end of the novel we are firmly looking through her eyes. This is not necessarily a good thing. It is plagued by what is a problem throughout the novel – a constant attempt to generalise the emotional effect of a moment within the terms of the story as a whole. The author draws one away from whatever might be happening to point out its place in the greater scheme of the novel. This frustrates, only serving to undermine any sense of intimacy the reader might share with Marie or Jamyn. The overall effect then is one of historical biography masquerading as historical fiction.

In a recent review of Alastair Campbell’s new novel, Jenny Diski wrote that ‘people’s lives come, if you must, alive in a piece of writing if the writer can make the writing work. The words story, colour and texture are no more helpful to a writer than key trigger, downward curve and plunge are to someone in the grip of a depression without a way to use them effectively.’ Perhaps Diski should take her own advice.

One star

 

Check out our other content

Most Popular Articles