“Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson”, by Paula Byrne

464 pages, Random House, ISBN-13: 978-0812970791

I once read a review of Sofia Coppola’s 2006 movie Marie Antoinette that said it was “a frivolous movie about a frivolous person” – and by-and-large that is how I feel about Paula Byrne’s Perdita: The Literary, Theatrical, Scandalous Life of Mary Robinson. Oh, it isn’t a bad book by any stretch: it is, in fact, well-written, informative and knowledgeable about its subject matter and the era in which she lived. And for anyone who enjoys the lusty Regency Era in England and the life of George IV, this is a perfect book to introduce you to the period…but by the time I reached the end I couldn’t help but ask myself: Yeah? So?

 Mary Robinson was, for a time, an excellent actress who was an ornament of the Regency stage, until she gave up what could have been a lucrative career in order to become the mistress of the future George IV, who then dumped her and reneged on his promise to support her…HOWEVER, she was no acting innovator, left no lasting impression as to her skills and wasn’t missed when she was gone.

Okay, but in later life she also became a poetess and author of several gothic novels, each of which sold well and solidified her popularity during the era, although the fluctuations in the publishing market meant she made little, if any, money…HOWEVER, none of her works are known today and, indeed, are a rather embarrassing product of her age, well-mocked by Jane Austen and others for their overwrought verbiage and sentimental plots.

Well, at least she was a great beauty, having been painted by the likes of Thomas Gainsborough, Joshua Reynolds (twice) and John Hoppner, amongst several others…and, yeah, I guess she was hot, but none of the portraits agree with one another, so who knows? Not a bad book, and really rather entertaining, but only if gossip concerning a long-dead actress and the English court of 200+ years ago is your forte.

“History of Germany, 1780-1918: The Long Nineteenth Century”, by David Blackbourn

476 pages, Blackwell, ISBN-13: 978-0631231967

Deutschland, Deutschland über alles, über alles in der Welt…oh, sorry, mustn’t sing that first lyric in the Deutschlandlied anymore, must we? But this lyric doesn’t mean what you think it means, and in order to discover its original, much more positive meaning, just read David Blackbourn’s History of Germany, 1780-1918: The Long Nineteenth Century – but NOT if you are a noob to German history, for this is yet another academic treatise that assumes you are familiar with the outlines of German history and are looking to dive into the weeds after more specialist and esoteric detail. For all of you who are familiar with German history outside of the 20^th Century, then by all means take the plunge, my friend. First, the title: yes yes yes, I know I know: according to the calendar the 19^th Century began on January 1^st 1801 and ended on December 31^st 1900, but calendars do not concern us here; as an historical, cultural and philosophical epoch, the 19^th Century really began in Germany in 1780 as the immense flowering of the German intellect began to show and ended in 1918 – on November 11^th, 1918, to be exact – with the defeat of the German Empire in World War I. There, see?

As mentioned above, The Long Nineteenth Century is a serious textbook and not the kind of work you cuddle in your arms as you cozy up to a fireplace on a sleepy Saturday afternoon; it is written in a dry, arcane and academic style which will turn off many readers not used to such stuff. Many pages are devoted to such topics as – ahem – the economic development of Germany from an agricultural to a strong industrial economy; the emergence of Prussia as the leading German state leading to the unification of the nation in 1871 following the victory over France at the Battle of Sedan; the rise of Prussian militarism as Otto “the Iron Chancellor” Bismarck makes Germany a nation to be reckoned with in the world economy and arms race; the rise of industrialization and the growth of coal mining, steel production and iron manufacturing; the rise of anti-Semitism, imperialism and racism; the ever-increasing Catholic-Protestant hostility, as well as religious conflicts with the government, along the rise of modern biblical scholarship that began in German universities; the explosion of city populations as problems with slums and crime became major concerns; and much, much more besides. One interesting revelation in this book is that, according to Blackbourn, the course of German history was normal; that, is the Sonderweg – “special path” – that German-speaking lands, or the country of Germany itself, supposedly followed from aristocracy to democracy was unlike any other in Europe; indeed, that it was downright dangerous to itself and the rest of the world, besides. An excellent addition to anyone’s extensive German history library.

“Being a Green Mother (Book Five of Incarnations of Immortality)”, by Piers Anthony

320 pages, Ballantine Books, ISBN-13: 978-0345322234

Incarnations of Immortality is the name of an eight-book fantasy series by Piers Anthony, of which Being a Green Mother was Book Five – AND the last one that I read (sorry, man, but I just plumb lost interest). Orb (yup, that’s her name alright) always knew there was something special, something…otherworldly, about her musical ability: whenever she sang or played her harp she sensed a gathering of power that she could never quite grasp fully, so she dedicated her life in search of the llano, a song so powerful that it could manipulate nature itself. Her quest lead her around the world, finding and losing love, and ultimately to assuming the role of the Incarnation of Nature…but what about the fortuneteller who, when she was still a little girl, prophesied that Orb would marry Evil? Oh, and Orb is the Daughter of Niobe from With a Tangled Skein, by the way, AND her first true love is Mym, the Indian prince who becomes War in Wielding a Red Sword, so it’s interesting to see Anthony tie all of these characters and threads (heh) together in this fashion (and we mustn’t forget about Natasha, must we?)

As with all of the other books I read in this series, Being a Green Mother didn’t age all that well. The beginning managed to be interesting, while the last third or so was very well done; it manage to drag in the middle, though. And now for the bad news: BaGM just didn’t add much to Orb, in spite of the fact that we had met her earlier; every other book managed to display the powers that the specific Incarnation possessed and how they interact with other Incarnations. In this book, Orb doesn’t become Gaea until the end of the book and you didn’t really learn what she can do. You know that she is the most powerful Incarnation besides God or Satan, but you don’t see any of her powers (don’t TELL me Nature is powerful: SHOW ME!). Piers Anthony was obviously having trouble figuring out what to do with Nature – add to the fact that he just doesn’t write female lead characters very well and you have a very mediocre book (how many times can Orb dance the Tanana in a wet nighty?) *sigh* Overall a rather dull conclusion to the series, Being a Green Mother just doesn’t live up to the hype generated in earlier stories about Nature being the strongest of the Incarnations. The story plods along with trivial character interactions and no real development of the main protagonist – and then the one who becomes the book’s true protagonist is another one of the Incarnations, not even the main focal character of the story. To me, this felt like a significant let-down (but at least there was no building interest in the outcome, as I had lost interest in the plot several chapters earlier). Still, it’s worth a read, if only to finish out the series.

“Wielding a Red Sword (Book Four of Incarnations of Immortality)”, by Piers Anthony

313 pages, Ballantine Books, ISBN-13: 978-0345322210

Incarnations of Immortality is the name of an eight-book fantasy series by Piers Anthony, of which Wielding a Red Sword was Book Four. Mym, an Indian prince, defies his father’s plans for an arranged marriage and instead joins a travelling circus where he meets Orb, who teaches him to overcome his own handicap of a terrible stutter through song. He is soon discovered and his father arranges for him to marry a princess by the name of Rapture of Malachite. After fighting against this for days on end, he finally realizes that Rapture is worth loving, and so concedes to the marriage; however, a plot to separate him from her results in his decision to become the Incarnation of War…although, upon years-after reflection, the driving premise of this volume seems more concerned with finding a permanent love interest for Mym than it does with exploring the role/nature of the Incarnation of War – which is too bad, as Anthony raises the troubling concept that war is a necessary outcome of conflict within societies and strives to reduce the waste and injustice entailed. Deep, man, and a gauntlet thrown to the “war is never the answer” crowd. Thus, this book doesn’t really add much to the series as it read like a point-by-point retread of On a Pale Horse but with a protagonist that’s less sympathetic and more like, say, a little prick you’d like to kick repeatedly.

However, two interesting conventions are either expanded upon or introduced. The first is the tying together of the various characters, hinted at in the first couple of books, but emphasized strongly in this volume. Now we know some of what happened to Orb, introduced in the previous volume as the daughter of Niobe. It certainly appears that Anthony intended to unite all the Incarnations in one family (or love) relationship. The other is the idea of an Incarnation defeating Satan by threatening to bring down the entire world. In the previous three novels, the title character’s showdown with Satan never approached this level. Also expanded upon are the concepts of the “lesser incarnations”, a plot device which is (probably) necessary to explain the “Four Horsemen” which traditionally accompany War, but introduces a weakness in the integrity of the series as a whole. The worst aspect of this volume is that it neglects the qualities that are the strengths of the other books in the series: namely, Anthony’s delightful universe, wherein science and magic coexist with each other; and the quasi-religious framework of the incarnations, neither of which is properly exploited in the book, despite numerous opportunities to do so (additionally, the unifying plot of the series is only tangentially explored, leaving most of the book to rely on Mym’s antics). S’alright book, I guess, but with several glaring and, thus, distracting weaknesses.