I am currently reading a wonderful diary ("Memoires de la comtesse de Boigne") by a French woman who lived from 1781 to 1866 and spent her early years in the court at Versailles. I have been noticing that the passages that give most pleasure are the little anecdotes and scraps of conversations she recreates.
For example, she describes a particular house occupied by an archbishop (l'archeveque de Narbonne). The customs observed in this house were rather liberal by any standards - "the tone was free", as she puts it. Here is one anecdote: a grand, old vicar, seeing the Comtesse de Boigne’s mother looking very sad one day, said to her:
"Madame la marquise, don’t worry, you are very pretty and that is already a fault; but people will pardon you that. However, if you want to live here in peace, you would do best to hide your love for your husband; conjugal love is the one thing that is not tolerated here.’"
For me, this little exchange evokes a feeling of the time in a way that facts and generalisations do not. It interests me particularly because my work involves writing narrative accounts or histories of groups and organisations. (And, come to think of it, when I was at school I felt incapable of retaining historical facts as they were presented in those days... and possibly still are today.)
For example, she describes a particular house occupied by an archbishop (l'archeveque de Narbonne). The customs observed in this house were rather liberal by any standards - "the tone was free", as she puts it. Here is one anecdote: a grand, old vicar, seeing the Comtesse de Boigne’s mother looking very sad one day, said to her:
"Madame la marquise, don’t worry, you are very pretty and that is already a fault; but people will pardon you that. However, if you want to live here in peace, you would do best to hide your love for your husband; conjugal love is the one thing that is not tolerated here.’"
For me, this little exchange evokes a feeling of the time in a way that facts and generalisations do not. It interests me particularly because my work involves writing narrative accounts or histories of groups and organisations. (And, come to think of it, when I was at school I felt incapable of retaining historical facts as they were presented in those days... and possibly still are today.)
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