About book In A Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel Of The Middle Ages (2005)
N.B. There's a NEW section hear the bottom of the reviewAssassination of Louis I, Duke of Orleans, in 1407Hélène "Hella" Serafia Haasse is far better known in Europe, and particularly in the Netherlands, than she is in the U.S. She has been called the “Grand Old Lady” of Dutch literature. Born in 1918 in the Dutch East Indies, in her early years she moved repeatedly with her family back and forth between various places in the Netherlands’ colonies in SE Asia, and to the Netherlands itself on occasion. She was about twenty when she settled in Europe.Haasse died in 2011 at the age of 93. Here’s a picture of her from 2007.My edition of In a Dark Woods Wandering [Het woud der verwachtung,literally the Forest of Long Awaiting, a metaphor popular with medieval poets] has a great Introduction by Anita Miller written for the first English translation of this wonderful historical novel. (The Dutch edition has never been out of print since being published in 1949 as Haasse’s first novel.) Miller notes that in 1950 the Times Literary Supplement called it a “monumental” novel, with characters which “take their place as living human beings”.So true.[By the way, the Introduction tells the astounding story of how the novel came to be translated into English by a Chicago postal clerk, Lewis C. Kaplan, who taught himself Dutch in the early 1950s and at that time began to search for Dutch material to translate, who got in touch with Hella Haasse, and when she sent him a Dutch volume, worked on translating it over the next several years, with no further input from the author. The rest of the story is too long to relate here, but it’s surely one of the most incredible tales of translation I can recall.]Following the Introduction by Miller, the novel begins with the author’s “Cast of Major Characters”. Listed under the date November 24 1394, are these:Valentin Visconti, Duchess of Orleans. [1371-1408]Wife of the King’s brother, Louis d’Orleans, daughter of Gian Galeazzo Visconti, Lord of Milan.Charles VI, King of France. [1368-1422 - the Mad]The elder son of Charles V, who was also known as Charles the Wise.Isabeau, Queen of France. [1370-1435]The wife of Charles VI.Louis, Duke of Orleans. [1372-1407]The younger son of Charles the Wise; brother to Charles VI, husband of Valentine Visconti.Philippe, Duke of Burgundy. [1342-1404]Also known as Philippe the Bold (Phillipe le Hardi). Brother of Charles the Wise and therefore uncle to Charles VI and Louis d’Orleans. He is married to Margaretha of Flanders; their son is Jean de Nevers.Jean, Duke of Berry. [1340-1416]An obsessive aesthete, collector and bibliophile. The patron of the famous Book of Hours. Also a brother of Charles the Wise and therefore uncle to Charles VI and Louis d’Orleans.Louis, Duke of Bourbon. [1377-1410]Brother-in-law of Charles the Wise and therefore uncle to Charles VI and Louis d’Orleans on their mother’s side (Queen Jeanne).BUT … this list of “Major Characters” leaves out the main character of the book! These characters are only supporting actors and actresses, part of the backstory of the novel - a story of four Houses of medieval France - Orleans, Burgundy, Berry, and the Royal House of Valois – during the years of the second half of the Hundred Years War (1337-1453), starting in 1394.And why 1394, and that specific date, November 24? That is the birth date of Charles d’Orleans (1394-1465 - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles,...), the son of the above Louis, Duke of Orleans, and the above Valentin Visconti. In a Dark Wood Wandering is actually a quasi-fictional biography of this man, known to us as a poet who wrote in both French and English and left over 500 poems as one part of his legacy.Immediately following this Cast of Characters are two pages of family trees of the four families, (immensely helpful to the reader). Then comes the Table of Contents:Prologue 1First Book: YouthI Louis d’Orleans, The Father 89II Of Valentine, The Mother 193III Burgundians and Armagnacs 235Second Book: The Road to NonchaloirI Exile 361II The Thought Book 469 All of these section titles refer directly to the life of Charles d’Orleans. [Though I don't understand the reference to "Nonchaloir". Indifference? Help.]Charles fought in the battle of Agincourt in 1415. Discovered under a pile of bodies by the English, unwounded but unable to extricate himself, he was taken to England, and moved from castle to castle, including the Tower of London, for the next 25 years. Henry V had decreed before his death in 1422 that Charles was too important to be exchanged or ransomed; thus Charles spent over a third of his life in captivity.The imprisonment of Charles, Duke of Orléans, in the Tower of London, from a 15th-century manuscript of his poemsThe novel explores in great and fascinating detail (but written entirely as a work of fiction) the life of Charles: the intrigues that surrounded these four families, each attempting to increase their wealth, holdings, and power, with an eventual eye on the throne of France, held by the Royal House Valois; Charles’ relations with these main characters, all of them related to him in some way; and his relations with the women that he wed. Women. For Charles had three wives. First was Isabella of Valois (1389-1409), the young woman who was widowed at the age of nine by the death of her first husband, King Richard II. Charles and Isabella were married in 1406 when he was twelve and she was 17; she died in 1409 in childbirth. Next he was wed to Bonne of Armagnac (1399-~1432); she died childless while Charles was in captivity in England. Charles’ last wife was Marie of Cleves (1426-1487), whom he wed in 1440 when he was at last allowed to return to France. Marie was 14, he was 49. Charles and Marie had three children: Marie of Orléans (1457–1493); Louis XII of France (1462–1515); and Anne of Orléans (1464–1491) who became the Abbess of Fontevrault and Poitiers.The story begins with a Prologue, also dated Nov. 24, 1394, introduced with a quotation from Dante (in Italian, or perhaps French? Nel mezzo del cammin di nostra vita …): In the middle of the journey of our life,I found myself in a dark wood,For the straight way was lost.A problem, disposed of.One problem I had with the book, whilst reading it, was that I was always wondering how closely the events of the narration coincided with the known history of the period. But I’ve since concluded that the answer to that is almost certainly very closely indeed! I could be wrong, but I now believe that the “fiction” of the novel is confined as much as possible to the author’s versions of thoughts and words of the characters, not to what historically happened; and that even the general personalities, the driving ambitions, and perhaps even the internal worlds of the characters were very possibly much as Haasse portrays them. (Perhaps I’m being naive, but that’s my feeling, and I like it.)My assessment.As the quote from the Times Review above indicates, the characters of this novel do everything but step off the page into your reading room, they are so beautifully and finely drawn by Haasse. They seem real human beings. In telling their stories along with Charles’, Haasse is an all-knowing narrator, showing us not only the imagined words of the characters (many of the scenes carry their part of the story with extensive conversation), but also with their supposed thoughts and motivations. They’re all very different, some of them having vaguely modern sensibilities, others seeming to be more representative of what I envision the medieval mindset to have been. All, I presume, supported by at least some chronicles from the period. Charles himself is portrayed by Haasse as a man lacking in much of the medieval mind-set that others in the novel have. A poet, a man deeply loving, or at least respecting, each of his three wives, who pines especially for the second in his long years of captivity, when he began writing the poetry which he left us. I found the Second Book (see above) by far the most poignant part of the novel. NEW. One of my friends (msg #15 below) pointed out that Charles' third wife, Marie, was unusually old (for that time) when her children were born - in her thirties. I started wondering how that was possible, and if the dates were correct, how could it have happened. I scanned the last part of the book, and found out. In that final part, Haasse returns repeatedly to the relation that Charles and his 35-year younger wife have. Now I have no idea where her portrayal of this came from, whether there is evidence, or whether it is a masterpiece of fictional imagining on the author's part. I will not reveal anything, except to say that Haasse's narrative seems to me both believable and profoundly moving. When I realized what was being said about the development of this relationship over the years, I couldn't hold back my tears.I recommend the book to anyone who likes historical fiction, or has an interest in medieval France or the Hundred Years War.And, In spite of the popularity of this book, Haasse is most well-known (according to Wiki) for her historical novel of the Dutch East Indies, Heren van de thee, translated in 2010 as The Tea Lords.
In a Dark Wood Wandering: A Novel of the Middle Ages is a vast multi-generational saga set in the first decades of 15th century France and England. It’s not an easy read but it is deeply satisfying, filled with wonderful characters and by the end I felt that I had survived terrible times in a world so completely different from our own as to almost defy comprehension. At the center of the story is Charles of Orleans, son of Louis, Duke of Orleans and Valentine Visconti. Charles is an unlikely hero—an introvert, indecisive and often directionless, but he grew on me, and in the story’s closing moments, I sensed that Charles d’Orleans lived the shift in perception and attitudes that took Europe from the Middle Ages into the Renaissance. As Barbara W. Tuchman said of that era: "Times were to grow worse over the [first fifty years of the 15th century] until at some imperceptible moment, by some mysterious chemistry, energies were refreshed, ideas broke out of the mold of the Middle Ages into new realms, and humanity found itself redirected." Charles d'Orleans was one of those who broke the mold. The challenge for readers is that Hella Haase does not simply focus on Charles d'Orleans. In an eighty-five page Prologue Haase introduces over two dozen characters and almost as many plot lines to create a rich, hugely complex tapestry of life in the royal courts of late 14th century Europe: Popes in Avignon and Rome, Dukes in Italy, Holy Roman Emperors, Flemish and Bavarian princes, Kings and wanna-be kings in England, and Dukes and Duchesses of Valois, Orleans, Burgundy, Berry, Bourbon, and Anjou all crowd into the picture. I suspect more than a few readers give up before the prologue is finished, which is a shame. I will spin you a magic thread, then, to help you find your way through the crowded castles and mysterious passageways. It’s a crimson thread that joins five key figures and a central story line weaving its way towards Charles d’Orleans. In fact we meet Charles in the very first scene, though we are not told his name for several pages. He is a new-born baby, swaddled and getting his first meal from a wet nurse while his mother, Valentine Visconti, lies exhausted beneath rich brocades in a sweltering hot, torch lit lying-in chamber. Valentine Visconti is the first character to remember. The daughter of a ruthless Milanese count, she is exquisite but essentially a lonely and rather sad woman who becomes the victim of a whispering campaign that forces her out of Paris to spend most of her young life at various rural estates belonging to her husband. Valentine’s husband is Louis, Duke of Orleans. When we first meet him Louis is a young man whose eye tends to wander and who has just developed an unquenchable lust for a green-eyed maiden in the service of his wife. The Duke of Orleans is the second character we need to watch. At first he seems a lightweight, given to wild parties and frivolity, but he is more complex than that because Louis is the brother of the King of France which brings me to…Charles VI, the once beloved king whose descent into madness is one of the most tragic stories I have ever read. Charles came to the throne as a young boy, acceding on the sudden death of his wise and justifiably admired father, Charles V. As he grows older, Charles VI goes in and out of a madness that has never been diagnosed, but which leaves him a raving, wild beast who no longer recognizes those around him, not even his wife….Queen Isabeau of Bavaria is loved enough by her royal husband in between bouts of madness that she bears him ten children before she reaches the age of thirty-five. Isabeau is perhaps the book’s most ambiguous figure—manipulative, ambitious, determined to find a way for her children to survive and hold onto power despite the toxic world she inhabits. When her husband Charles is in his mad phases he spurns her, literally pushing her away and humiliating her in public. She in turn fights back in the only ways she can devise, forging court alliances, arranging marriages for her children, and hatching plots against those she fears and one she hates with passionate jealousy.For there are two people whom the King does not spurn, who can reach him even in his insanity—one is the King’s brother Louis, Duke of Orleans (who would inherit the throne should Charles die) and the other is Valentine, Louis’ beautiful wife, for whom the King develops a passion that he fails to conceal. Louis and Valentine could become powers behind the throne, except that there is one more character to consider…Philippe, Duke of Burgundy, the King’s uncle, the most powerful of the Regents in King Charles’ youth, and now Regent yet again, ruling France as the King slides into madness. I like the Duke of Burgundy best when he is dead, buried in his magnificent tomb…But Philippe the Bold lives for an astonishingly long time and while he is alive he is like a great spider, weaving a vast web, catching French and Flemish and Bavarian provinces in its sticky strands like so many helpless flies. Beyond catching flies, there is one more purpose to Burgundy’s web, which is to separate Louis, the Duke of Orleans, from his brother the King and from Queen Isabeau.And so at last we reach Book 1, which tells the story of Charles d’Orleans in his youth in the first decade of the 15th century. At twelve he is a bookish, rather slight young boy who lives a sheltered life with his exiled mother, Valentine, until in a bid to cement the bonds between the royal house of Valois and the house of Orleans, Charles is married to the King’s oldest daughter, Isabelle, sixteen years old, the still-virginal widow of England’s late King Richard II. The scene at the wedding feast as the child-husband and his cousin-wife struggle to stay awake and on their dignity and have a first, horrifying conversation is mind-blowing. This was the moment when I was well and truly hooked; the moment when I realized that I was now living in an alien world through the scholarship and imagination of Hella Haase. Content rating PG for dark but not explicit themes: mostly the endless wars, with attendant famine, rape and plunder; also some adultery and terrible scenes of madness.
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Surprisingly compelling. I expected this one to be very dry, especially because it's a book in translation -- and not a recent translation, at that. And it does have a dryness about it, admittedly, but it worked for me in this context. I think I learnt more about French history from this than I've learnt anywhere else (except maybe that book on Joan of Arc and Yolande of Aragon).Unfortunately, I read this over quite a loooong period of time, because dissertations are distracting, so my memories of the beginning of it are hazy and I probably would need to read it again to really appreciate it. I won't have any qualms about doing that, though, when my to read list is a little less dramatic. I enjoyed the way Haasse brought to life these historical characters; motives and thoughts and all, they felt real.
—Nikki
This is one of the best historical fiction novels I've read, and that encompasses quite a few. Many historical fiction writers try to form-fit history into a romantic tale, when history tends to the comic, tragic or simply outrageous. Happy endings in the Middle Ages did not come to many families, be they Princes and Dukes, or lowly serfs. Hella Haasse does not force history into a narrative; instead her narrative flows through it, bringing the story along, as she teases out the powerful forces and personalities that shaped the time. The novel is set during the Hundred Years War (toward the last third of it...) and told from the French side (House of Orleans and Valois) gives a different perspective than the more typical Anglo-Norman point of view. If you are looking for a "lords and ladies" romance novel, this is not it. I think you will close the book knowing more about the time period than reading 100 history books. There is no one character to embrace as a "hero" here, but much to empathize with nonetheless.Haasse is the ultimate "show not tell" author - she does not drive you to conclusions but suggests powerfully the futility of power-seeking and war, even when the players who seek it seems to have no other option. Note that this novel was published in 1949, after she had lived through WW2 in the Netherlands.
—Fran Diamond
Abandoned. Twice. I found an old bookmark in it at p.120; tried again for a group read and with more incentive got to p.248. But I'm fairly bored. The insane king of France I felt a strong pity for and I persisted for him. Otherwise I don't care about the people, while the plot only depresses me: it's about dukes' feuds, the elite houses of France in-fighting, and I can't care about the fight, either. Nobody's standing up for a cause I can sympathise with, it's just power-struggle, and that's rarely for me. The scenes are vivid - come across in a visual way, almost like a tapestry or a stained glass window, as you associate with the Middle Ages. I'd call that the strength of the book. Two and a half. I want to give three, because I didn't dislike it, but that seems silly when I didn't finish.
—Bryn Hammond
