book log: 76) Edward Marston - the Queen's Head

[julesjones]

First of the Nicholas Bracewell mystery series, set in a theatrical company in Elizabethan London. Bracewell is the bookholder for Lord Westfield's Men, a responsible position in its own right even without the additional tasks taken on by Bracewell. Bracewell finds himself with an unexpected task of the worst kind when his friend and colleague, actor Will Fowler, is called in a tavern brawl. Bracewell is determined to find the killer, but has other equally urgent matters to deal with, not least of which is ensuring nothing goes wrong with the performance of a new play before the Queen herself. Jealous rivalries both within the company and with another company aren't helping matters...

It's an entertaining romp, but unusually for Marston, there were a couple of elements that could be problematic for many readers. They're historically accurate, but nevertheless they need flagging up. One is the portrayal of one of the senior actors as having a taste for pretty boys, and this being tolerated as long as he leaves the company's apprentices alone - which he doesn't. Given other things he's written I don't think Marston intended this, but it does come over as equating "homosexual" with "pedarest". The other is that the book does get into the head of characters with the strong anti-Catholic prejudices one might expect in this time period.

http://www.librarything.com/work/201577

Comments

[mishalak]

How pederast are we talking here? The senior actor likes his older teens? If that is the case reading it I would have little trouble of putting it in mental box of "Well, they were more tolerant of extremely May-December back then." If it was younger I would feel... creepy reading it.

[julesjones]

The impression I got was he likes young teens. He's portrayed as creepy but tolerated because he's good at his job -- and other people do intervene to keep the young apprentice out of his reach without making a big issue of it. It's clearly the age as much as the gender that bothers the other characters. But there's one gay character, and he's a pederast...

[mishalak]

I think a lot of homosexuality was between unequal persons in historical times as it was a surer way to keep your partner in crime silent. One of the things that bringing homosexuality out of the closet has enabled is more equal relationships, though that is also the changing social context as well. Heterosexual relationships are more equal now, on average, than in the past.

If I was writing historical fiction I would probably have a lot of trouble writing a gay character into it because the homosexuals of the past were often very warped people because of having to hide part of themselves all the time. Think of Paul Lynde's alcoholism and bitter cruelty or how awful Byron was to people around him.

I think I would be bothered reading the story, but I do not know if I can fault it.