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Diane de Poitiers

(see under "By Era" for French Revolution fiction)
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Misfit
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Post by Misfit » Thu June 25th, 2009, 11:17 am

[quote=""boswellbaxter""]The one by Jeanne Kalogridis?

http://www.jeannekalogridis.com/news.html

I picked up Dumas' Queen Margot last fall at the library sale. Haven't had a chance to read it yet.

Think I'll wait for C. W.'s book and not bother with the other novels. I haven't much patience with black-or-white characters these days.[/quote]

That's the one, but it's going by The Devil's Queen here - at least the library catalog has it listed that way. I have Queen Margot as well on the pile. I know Dumas did several on the Valois family, might have to do some poking around and see if any of them focus on Catherine and/or Diane.

I just ordered the book written by Princess Michael that SM mentioned just for fun.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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Post by Misfit » Sun June 28th, 2009, 1:57 pm

OK, I'm just about done with Courtesan and throughout Diane has been just too perfect for words, but I will give the author points for not painting Catherine totally evil, just bitchy. The constant references to her being fat kind of grated after a while. A couple of things I'm scratching my head over,
  1. Haeger has Diane as a blonde, although every painting I've seen of her shows a brunette?
  2. In the book Henri's illegitimate daughter is Diane's child where as Wik(I know I know they're not always right) has her with a different mother. ***Edited** I just finished and she does address in author's notes that there is no proof she was Diane's daughter.
  3. In Courtesan Henry is faithful to Diane with the exception of one episode with Lady Jane Stewart that he was set up to by getting him drunk by Catherine and Montmorency (sp?), yet Wik says he had several other illegitimate offspring.
Pretty much an average three star read. I really didn't get much revelation as to how she was able to hold Henri all those years in such absolute devotion. There had to be something else besides all that sweetness and goodness.
Last edited by Misfit on Sun June 28th, 2009, 5:33 pm, edited 2 times in total.
At home with a good book and the cat...
...is the only place I want to be

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cw gortner
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Post by cw gortner » Mon June 29th, 2009, 6:22 pm

[quote=""Misfit""] I really didn't get much revelation as to how she was able to hold Henri all those years in such absolute devotion. There had to be something else besides all that sweetness and goodness.[/quote]

Black lingerie and vodka?
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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Post by Chatterbox » Mon June 29th, 2009, 6:46 pm

Witchcraft, of course!

Oh, and the black lingerie.

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Post by Misfit » Mon June 29th, 2009, 6:48 pm

[quote=""cw gortner""]Black lingerie and vodka?[/quote]

:D :D :D

I started La Reine Margot by Dumas. Catherine is delightfully over the top in her evilness in this one. Also found another book Dumas wrote,
The Two Dianas
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The Two Dianas (French: Les Deux Diane, 1846) is a novel by Alexandre Dumas, père. It tells the fictionalized story of Gabriel, comte de Montgomery, who mortally wounded king Henry II of France. The two Dianas in the title refer to Henry II's favorite, Diana de Poitiers, and her daughter, Diana de Castro. The novel also includes a fictionalization of the Martin Guerre story.
I've put in an ILL request at the library. Let's see how good they are :)
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Post by cw gortner » Tue June 30th, 2009, 9:15 pm

Catherine is deliciously horrid in La Reine Margot; in the film version with Isabelle Adjani as Margot, Catherine is played with superb cynicism and world-weariness by the veteran Italian actress, Virni Lisi. I didn't like Dumas's book as much as I have his other work - and I'm a big fan of his - but I did adore the film, historical innaccuracies and all. The Spanish singer Miguel Bose plays the Duc de Guise, and Vincent Perez is La Mole. It's a bloody, spectacular movie that captures the suffocating heat, claustrophobia and terror of Paris during the Massacre of St Bartholomew. Not for the faint of heart, as it abounds in gore, but definitely my favorite in the historical film genre.

I've never heard of The Two Dianas. I'd really be interested in reading that one.
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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Post by Misfit » Thu July 16th, 2009, 6:23 pm

My, I watched the movie La Reine Margot. Heavens all those shirts open to there and the hair flying free. Interesting.

I have finished Volume I of the Two Dianas and well into Volume II (Laura's reading it as well). Review coming this weekend when I'm finished but I have to say this is damn good stuff and why in the h*** it's languishing in the literary dustbins is beyond us. It's also very readable and would be an excellent intro for anyone new to Dumas.

Just a very brief rundown. MC's are Diana de Castro (daughter of Diana de Poitiers and Henri II) and Gabriel de Montgommery. They both grew up not knowing their real identities, now in love but there's a deep dark secret that only a prisoner who has been locked up for years at the order of Montmorency and de Poitiers knows. This dreaded secret stands in the way of true love and our hero tries to win Henri's promise to free him. Dumas has also thrown in Martin Guerre and his lookalike (ROFL at those misunderstandings).

I am dying to see how Dumas plays out Gabriel's story with the Nostradamus prediction and knowing what we know about the real Gabriel's history. I suspect I'll not get much done this weekend until I'm finished. ;) :)
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Post by Chatterbox » Thu July 16th, 2009, 6:26 pm

oooh, yes, la Reine Margo, excellent film with wonderful acting all around. I'm just relieved I wasn't a member of that family. No wonder the French adored Henri IV when he showed up on the scene!

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Post by Misfit » Thu July 16th, 2009, 6:30 pm

[quote=""Chatterbox""]oooh, yes, la Reine Margo, excellent film with wonderful acting all around. I'm just relieved I wasn't a member of that family. No wonder the French adored Henri IV when he showed up on the scene![/quote]

Although I did love it how Margot could get blood all over herself but never her pretty face (or did I miss it?). Loved the dress she wore in the first part of the film,

Image
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Post by cw gortner » Thu July 16th, 2009, 6:38 pm

The summer of the massacre was record-hot: we're talking, sweltering. All the chroniclers of the time commented on it. So, I love the fact that in the film of La Reine Margot they acknowledge this and show you people who are wearing as little as they possibly can at court because it's so bloody hot. And the wood paneled rooms within the Louvre is another wonderful detail; in fact, at the time, Catherine de Medici was renovating most of the Louvre palace.

We sometimes forget that court portraits are formal stylizations intended to convey image; in reality, everybody didn't walk around all day dressed like their painting.

And me, too; I especially like that divine blue damask gown laced directly over her bare breasts, and the black mask along with the hooded taffeta cloak, which she wears when she goes hunting for an anonymous lover and finds la Mole. Scrumptious.
Last edited by cw gortner on Thu July 16th, 2009, 6:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
THE QUEEN'S VOW available on June 12, 2012!
THE TUDOR SECRET, Book I in the Elizabeth I Spymaster Chronicles
THE CONFESSIONS OF CATHERINE DE MEDICI
THE LAST QUEEN


www.cwgortner.com

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