'She was dead meat' : Imagining the execution of Anne Boleyn in history and fiction

Journal article


Saxton, Laura. (2020). 'She was dead meat' : Imagining the execution of Anne Boleyn in history and fiction. Parergon. 37(2), pp. 103-124. https://doi.org/10.1353/pgn.2020.0064
AuthorsSaxton, Laura
Abstract

There are tropes common to narratives about Anne Boleyn, many of which focus on execution. G. W. Bernard, Suzannah Dunn, Eric Ives, Philippa Gregory, Hilary Mantel, and Alison Weir have each written narratives of Boleyn’s life and, whether fiction or nonfiction, these texts all demonstrate similarities in their approach to execution. A Tudorist reading reveals how the exhaustive discussion of beheading speaks to a macabre indulgence in the detail of execution, whilst archetypes and characterization—rather than evidence per se—shape these twenty-first-century narratives. The brutality of this past is romanticized and common motifs have significant sway over representations of cruelty and culpability.

Year2020
JournalParergon
Journal citation37 (2), pp. 103-124
PublisherAustralian and New Zealand Association for Medieval and Early Modern Studies
ISSN0313-6221
1832-8334
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)https://doi.org/10.1353/pgn.2020.0064
Scopus EID2-s2.0-85099171292
Research or scholarlyResearch
Page range103-124
Publisher's version
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All rights reserved
File Access Level
Controlled
Output statusPublished
Publication dates
Online28 Dec 2020
Publication process dates
Deposited26 May 2022
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