Tea at Trianon: Hope in a Tragic World

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Thursday, January 29, 2015

Hope in a Tragic World

From A.K. Frailey:

Though I do not shy away from the reality of grief and tragedy – it is all to real to ignore – I do carry hope with me where ever I go. I am not in a state of despair. When I read or even look at the covers of some of the popular books out today, despair seems to be a current theme. That is why I write about men and women who, though faced with tremendous challenges, do not despair. You can pretty much count on the fact that though not everything turns out happily for everyone in my novels – there is some breathing room for hope. There must be or why are we here?

In my estimation, good literature has a duty not to sell itself to the most profitable market place but to reflect some element of human truth. Not necessarily to judge it or define it, but to reflect it. As I write, I cannot help but reflect the forces which molded me from my youth and though my life has not been sheltered from tragedy – I must also reflect the heroic, the strong, the valiant, the beautiful, and the good that lives in our world. All is not evil and the bad in my life will not rule me in the end. That is a choice I make and a creed I live by. (Read more.)