Hilary Mantel, 1952-2022

Just a note in appreciation of Hilary Mantel, who died too soon.

One of my favorite scenes in Mantel's work is the moment when young Mantel rejects a career in teaching. Paraphrasing: "I noticed something distressingly cyclical. Clever girls grow up to be teachers....who teach clever girls who grow up to be teachers....who..."

I also like a memory she shares of the petty tyranny of classrooms. "My teacher observed me and asked, Do you want me to hit you with this ruler? ....And I couldn't begin to formulate a response...."

Finally, I love Mantel's exciting antihero, Thomas Cromwell, who gets rid of Anne Boleyn simply because the murder is convenient. Cromwell needs to invent a grievance against Anne, so he decides that she has been adulterous. He casts his various enemies as the illicit boyfriends; these enemies once helped to bring down Cromwell's mentor, Cardinal Wolsey. "If they're not guilty of sleeping with Anne....they're guilty of SOMETHING....."

How lucky to have been in the world when Hilary Mantel was doing her work.

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