research reading suggestions

[kate_nepveu]

Hello DW,

I have things to say! About Readercon and Welcome to Night Vale and four versions of "Atlantic City" and the Hugo & Campbell nominees and the kids and traveling to England and Ireland next month, yikes . . . but I came home from Readercon to find that work had exploded in several different directions. So I will clear one thing off my queue with a short request for assistance, and hope to catch up with other things later.

In a couple months, I am going to re-read Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell for Tor.com for the lead-up to the BBC series (release date as yet unannounced, but probably near the end of 2014). (I will also re-read The Ladies of Grace Adieu.) Sometime after I finish that, I will also re-read the Temeraire series for the lead-up to the release of the final book. [*]

I have two books on the Napoleonic Wars already: The Napoleonic Wars: A Very Short Introduction, by Mike Rapport, which I have just started and am appreciating so far, and Napoleon's Wars: An International History, 1803-1815, by Charles Esdaile. I expect these will suffice for my military history needs for JS&MN, but if you have very strong feelings about this topic, feel free (after you see the note below).

The next thing I know that I need is a social history of the UK that includes this time period, to give me context on JS&MN's handling of class, gender, nationality, and race. Do you all have any suggestions?

And what else do I need that I don't know I need? I'm going to have to go much wider on the history, military and otherwise, for Temeraire, but let's put that aside for the moment because it's further away. Is there history or literature or anything that JS&MN is engaging with, that your knowledge of enhanced your appreciation of the book? What is it, and what should I read to get up to speed on it, if possible?

(Note: I am way more likely to follow up on your suggestion if you explain why it is relevant specifically to JS&MN and provide enough information for me to find the work you are suggesting. And while I can probably get many academic works via Chad, it would be extra-useful for you to indicate how accessible an academic work is to someone not part of academia, i.e., me.)

[*] While I did The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit chapter-by-chapter, JS&MN is 69 chapters long, and the Temeraire series is eight novels long, so, uh, no. I've very carefully divided JS&MN up into 13 parts of approximately equal length that do not violate chapter or volume boundaries—seriously, a spreadsheet was involved, it was kind of ridiculous—and will be using the handy three-volume structure to divide up each Temeraire book.

I am very excited about these projects, so thanks for helping me get started!

(PS: those of you who prompted me to pitch these forthcoming re-read series, back in the day, by noting the relative lack of female authors in Tor.com's rereads may be interested in today's launch of Judith Tarr re-reading Melanie Rawn's Dragon Prince trilogy.)

Comments

[applegnat]

The next thing I know that I need is a social history of the UK that includes this time period, to give me context on JS&MN's handling of class, gender, nationality, and race. Do you all have any suggestions?

Hello! If you haven't read Linda Colley's Britons, it looks at some of these issues quite in detail.

[kate_nepveu]

Interesting, thanks. But a glance at Wikipedia and the summary suggests to me that it doesn't have much to say about Africans in the UK; is that correct, so that I'd have to supplement my reading on that point?

[qian]

It's very good, though, and I was coming here to recommend it (I read it on applegnat's recommendation!). It doesn't talk much about Africans in Briton IIRC, for that perhaps Gretchen Gerzina's Black England: Life Before Emancipation? It covers a slightly earlier period but I think does dip into the early 1800s.

(I've also got Staying Power, but it's huge -- not sure you'll have enough time to read that before your reread!)

[applegnat]

Wow, definitely feeling like a Colley evangelist now -- but it seemed like the perfect fit for this period! You're both right, as far as I remember: it doesn't say much about Africans in the UK, and I can't recall anything I may have read that touches on the subject in this time period, sorry.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks--_Staying Power_ might be good since I could always skim the non-relevant time periods.

[qian]

*nods* All I'd add is Gretchen Gerzina is a woman of colour and Peter Fryer is white. Which matters to me in this sort of context. That said, I understand Fryer's is a seminal work, and I think Gerzina's book actually refers to it.

[kate_nepveu]

Thanks again!