I sit here in the cafe, as far as I can tell, on the edge. On the edge. Edgy. Is it that I’m simply waiting for the words and sense to appear, energising my fingers, sending them skittering over the keys. The trouble is I’ve no idea what to write or at least how to start. Andthis description of not knowing what to write or where to start is a rubbish way of starting. But let’s be clear there are few readers out there so it’s already deeply suspicious to be on edge about the possible outcomes of this process. Does anybody care? I care, so that is at least one person. That will have to do for now.
Hilary Mantel, who by the way must be fabulously wealthy by now, mining the Tudors’ gold hoard, has turned her terrifying gaze to the current royal family. In particular she has run into a barrage of criticism for daring to exclaim that there is a lack of decent covering and by the way there is nothing much inside to write home about. The phrase smoke and mirrors comes to mind. In her piece in the current LRB she sees the emptiness at the heart of it all: the stacked chairs, not quite out of sight; Prince Charles’ impeccable suiting but is there anything else; and Kate Middleton aka the Duchess of Cambridge – Kate who somehow forces Mantel to remember Diana and Kate does not come out well from the comparison. The emotional dynamics become unbearable once they are exposed to our ever curious gaze. We want somebody to love but hatred will do when disappointed. Somebody will have to be torn to pieces. I hope Hilary has not walked into storm that will be beyond her strength to fight her way through.
Half way through her LRB piece she describes how needing a rest, from her needling examination of the queen, when at the Palace to receive an award for dissecting the Tudors (I assume) she sits down behind a sofa – to rest, to think, or perhaps to scribble a few notes on some royal or other.
Wonderful! I’m very happy to picture her sitting behind that sofa peeking out from what was presumably a restricted view. Almost from the corgi level of being.