Read of the Week

This week I read the book The Daring Truth about Anne Boleyn: Cutting Through the Myth by Sylwia Zupanec. *Sigh* I know I should never start a book review like this but I honestly had a very hard time reading this book because of the incredibly poor grammar, spelling errors and strange punctuation. I found myself re-reading whole passages trying to understand what the author was saying. Almost every page was littered with improperly used words, incorrect tenses and erratic commas. I struggled with Zupanec’s inability to address her audience in a learned, professional way. Her conclusions often begin, “In this chapter, I have proven…” It seemed like it was written by high school student trying to meet the requirement of a standardized writing test. After doing some research on the author I discovered that her primary language is not English, which could account for the editing issues in the book. However, when I purchase a book that is marketed as an academically researched and written book, I expect that I will not see spelling errors. The premise of this book is that there are many misconstrued ideas about Anne because they are based on primary source documents which have been mistranslated by historians and researchers. It is hard to take this assertion seriously when there are so many obvious translation issues in the author’s own writing.

Grammar issues aside, the book, while well researched in some areas, had me screaming at others. The author used urbandictionary.com as a source for the definitions of several words. All of us millennials know that urbandictionary.com is about as unreliable as an electronic resource can be.  Zupanec goes on the defensive when addressing the primary source letters of Eustace Chapuys to Charles V. She states these letters can be used as reliable, accurate information because Chapuys was merely doing his job, reporting the court happenings to his master.  She goes so far as to call him "trustworthy" and "reliable." Honestly, it is one of the most ridiculous statements in the book. Chapuys constantly called Anne, even while she was Queen, a google eyed whore, the Great Concubine and other derogatory names. His reports, in several cases, contain outright lies and court gossip. The ambassador had a vested interest in trying to damage Anne’s reputation and limit her rise to power, so arguing that these letters can be used as legitimate sources is completely illogical. Most Tudor era historians, myself included, pick pieces out of the Chapuys letters that can be backed by other evidence to use in our writing, but are careful to realize and cite the obvious bias that is colored by Chapuys’ devotion to the Hapsburg family, his Catholic faith and his aversion to all things/people that were pro-French.
 The author also spends a lot of time painting what I view as an inaccurate picture of Henry VIII. Using the Chapuys letters, Zupanec's writing portrayal Henry as a weakling, toddling along behind Anne and abiding by her every desire. I found this depiction not only factually questionable but also offensive to the historical legacy of a king who changed the social and political landscape of an entire country to suit his whims. Henry was far from the lovesick, schmuck that Zupanec describes and she would know this if she had researched him more thoroughly. Unsurprisingly, the use of primary and secondary sources on Henry in her writing are scarce and almost non-existent in her list of sources.

I also normally do not critique the cover art or aesthetics of books (you know the old adage), but in this case, I cannot help but weigh in. When my copy of this book was delivered I could not help but think that the cartoon like image of Anne on the front cover was both unflattering and unprofessional. The formatting in the book is awkward with sub-heading titles that are not capitalized correctly and divide the book in to choppy sections and it drives me a bit crazy that the spine title is upside down.  All in all, there is nothing in the book that cannot be gleaned from a better written, better researched book such as The Life and Death of Anne Boleyn by Eric Ives or Anne Boleyn by Paul Friedmann. My suggestion? Pick up one of them instead.

 

Tweet