Already an established authority on the intimate life of Queen Marie Antoinette, Will Bashor goes a step further in placing her experience within the wider context of court society at Versailles stretching back through an emotional genealogy into the previous century. The result is a saucy re-telling of a tumultuous life in splendid detail.
Will Bashor puts Marie Antoinette’s tumultuous life under the microscope in his historical analysis, Marie Antoinette’s World. Marie Antoinette has long been shrouded in secrecy and scandal, from her marriage to indecisive Louis XVI to her gruesome demise. But the French court was a hotbed of debauchery, excess, and greed long before her coronation. Bashor traces over a century and a half of scurrilous royal affairs, particularly those involving—or allegedly involving—France’s most infamous queen.... Bashor’s thorough discussions reveal that Marie Antoinette was neither an angel nor a demon, but rather a complex, flawed human being. Marie Antoinette’s World is a frank portrait of the queen and the many scandals that plagued her reign and legacy.
Will Bashor’s latest book about Queen Marie Antoinette masterfully intertwines the intimate details of the Queen’s life at Versailles with a broad panoply of the debauchery that characterized the French monarchy from the reign of Louis XIII to the outbreak of the French Revolution.
An intimate portrait of the scandals plaguing the genealogy of Marie Antoinette and a genuine effort to assess her psychology, this fascinating book also reveals private moments with her inner circle as well as the machinations of her enemies. A vastly entertaining read as well as an excellent assessment of the living conditions of the Queen at Versailles, where rumors and stench spread as easily as love intrigues and syphilis.
Insightful and illuminating, Bashor’s book takes its readers on a thrilling tour behind the firmly closed bedroom doors and decorative screens of Versailles, where we eavesdrop on the gossip, read the secret messages behind the fans, and witness a world filled with pleasure, ruled by etiquette and dominated by sexual intrigue.
A brilliant, and sad, history of the French monarchy and its descent into hell. Reality, gossip, and myths about the last royalty of France meld into a fascinating account by a true connoisseur.
Bashor goes far back into Marie Antoinette’s own family and that of her future husband, Louis XVI. It’s a well-structured book, organised chronologically, starting with the reign of Louis XIII, when the small village of Versailles became tied into the world of the French monarchs, growing from an ancient windmill into a vast palace ands seat of power. I found the evolution of the place that is Versailles possibly more intriguing than the lives of those who lived there. Bashor’s observation that the Versailles visited by tourists in more recent years. .. is something of a fantasy; read Chapter 13 to realise the pungent reality of life at this court, with chamber pots being emptied out of windows, and nobles relieving themselves in corridors.”
Based on period memoirs and letters, respected biographies, and scurrilous eighteenth-century pamphlets, Will Bashor’s new work on Marie Antoinette looks behind the closed doors, underneath the gold and diamond-encrusted gowns, and into the boudoirs of Versailles and elsewhere. This is no excursion for the faint of heart, and Bashor bares it all, from the various positions in which Marie Antoinette found herself to further speculations about what the century’s long ‘den of iniquity’ had been spreading. He weaves a narrative of intrigue, debauchery, licentiousness, and jealousies into historical non-fiction. His new work makes Les Liaisons dangereuses (1782) seem boring and tame.
A bold, evocative, and compelling portrait of Marie Antoinette, unlike any that have come before. Will Bashor confidently takes the reader on a well-researched, passionately written, historical piece that reveals fascinating, hard-to-deny insights into her intimate life. Readers will forever see Marie Antoinette in a whole new light.
A brilliant, and sad, history of the French monarchy and its descent into hell. Reality, gossip, and myths about the last royalty of France meld into a fascinating account by a true connoisseur.
2020-08-06
A scholar on Marie Antoinette delivers his most detailed vision of the doomed queen yet.
In previous works, such as Marie Antoinette’s Darkest Days (2016), historian Bashor examined how others viewed Marie Antoinette, the queen of France who was executed in 1793, during the French Revolution. Here, he turns his attention to the tragic figure herself. To set the scene, he delves into the history of Versailles between the reigns of Louis XIII and Louis XVI. Bashor immerses readers in a contradictory world of rigid social norms, vicious politics, and opulent debauchery. By the time the naïve and sarcastic Marie Antoinette arrives on the scene, many readers won’t be able to help but feel sorry for what awaits her. Bashor recounts the different stages of Marie Antoinette’s life with great detail, painting her as a privileged teenager who was deeply unprepared for her role. Through stories of her supposed lovers and unhappy marriage, Bashor makes her sympathetic, although tales of excessive gambling and her preference for the very young and beautiful confirm well-known stereotypes. Fleshing out this well-rounded portrait are some unexpected features: the texts of pamphlets bashing the monarchy, short chapters that evaluate Marie Antoinette’s handwriting for insight into her state of mind, and a lengthy exploration of her astrological chart. It’s debatable how much insight these latter elements add, although they are entertaining. However, Bashor is reluctant to take a stance on his subject’s infidelities despite the ample evidence he provides. But even if mysteries about Marie Antoinette remain, the author’s lush details make it easy to imagine nearly every bit of her daily life. He turns on a dime from elegant, haughty court behaviors to the era’s ugly realities; when discussing subtler points of fan waving, for instance, he reveals: “They often used the fan to hide their rotting teeth or divert bad breath.” Overall, it’s a glorious and realistic representation of Versailles that history buffs will enjoy.
A full, realistic, and completely engrossing view of Marie Antoinette’s life and times.
