Richard Revisited
Hilary Mantel:
“Though Richard III ruled England for only two years, his short life and violent death in battle make him one of the most controversial of English kings. He is a deeply divisive and interesting figure. He attracts fierce enemies and fierce partisans, and since his death over five hundred years ago, the controversy has hardly cooled. Did he have a rightful claim to the English throne? Did he kill his young nephews in order to become king? If not, who did? Or perhaps they were not killed at all? It is difficult to separate myth from historical reality, and each of Richard’s defenders and detractors has a version of their own. Els Launspach is alive to all the ambiguities of this story. She has researched deeply, and works with the paradoxes and puzzles of the era to produce an intelligent, multi-layered and very individual book.”
– RICHARD REVISITED is de Engelse versie van de roman Messire (Atlas, 2008)
De vertaling is van Laura Vroomen. De spectaculaire vondst in 2012 van het skelet van de koning onder de parkeerplaats in Leicester werd wereldnieuws. Dit gegeven is in de roman verwerkt vanuit het perspectief van één van de hoofdpersonen. Richard Revisited is te bestellen bij
Amazon.com
als paperback en ebook.
King Richard III, whose remains have been discovered in 2012, is traditionally seen as a tyrant, a child murderer and a usurper of the English throne.
King Richard III, whose remains have been discovered in 2012, is traditionally seen as a tyrant, a child murderer and a usurper of the English throne. But how much of his reputation is true to the facts, and how much of it is propaganda inspired by the first Tudor king, and perpetuated by Shakespeare down through the centuries?
Opening with the spectacular findings in Leicester, the Dutch theatre critic and author Els Launspach portrays the intense dilemma’s of three writers on ‘history’: the statesman and philosopher Thomas More, the 17th century Master of the Revels George Buc and lastly Jennifer Simpson, a witness in the Trial of Richard III created and broadcast by London Weekend Television in 1983. What truth should they serve? The immediate pressures of political expediency and public opinion, or a truth they personally pursue?
Struggle
Els Launspach offers a moving picture of individuals caught up in an age old struggle; in their effort to be true to themselves and to the facts concerning the last Plantagenet king, the three main characters risk either humiliation or loss of integrity along the way. At a time when politicians and their spin doctors are fashioning their own version of the past to justify their policies in the present, Richard Revisited offers a bittersweet reflection on the agony of personal choices.
Voicing George Buc – Master of the Revels – the novelist reveals many details of Shakespeare’s profession. As the story unfolds the reader will be guided to very surprising perspectives. Questions on art and identity arise, while the process of political spin, so painfully present in our years, becomes impossible to ignore.
recensies
