Hi Catherine,
By the way, congratulations on the romantic sf
award nomination!
Thanks for the kind words. It's quite a comfort to
hear from some folks who didn't read Moon & Sun as
science-v.-women's intuition, &c.
It wasn't at all uncommon for people to have the
constellation of abilities that Marie-Josephe
possesses (drawing, music, singing were all
staples of upper class education, such as it was),
so when I get hammered for giving her those
talents, plus the math and physics interest that
so often goes along with musical talent, I mostly
assume that the person who's hammering me knows
even less about history than I do (which is kind
of difficult!).
The funny thing I found was that women were more
likely to be allowed to study science than they
were to be allowed to study the Classics, which
were considered far too powerful for delicate
feminine brains. But the object of allowing women
to study natural philosophy was so they could
support and encourage men, who were of course
doing the "real" work. 17th century science
groupies.
(Replies to other comments after spoiler warning,
below.)
On Sat, 27 Dec 1997 07:44:47 -0400, Catherine
Asaro <asaro@sff.net> wrote:
>
>Vonda, hello! The story didn't strike me at all as science v.
>intuition. As a scientist who used to play the piano and still does
>ballet, I =very much= related to Marie-Josepha. I thought you handled
>the difference between she and her brother beautifully.
>
>For people who haven't read the book yet, here is a spoiler warning.
>
>S
>
>P
>
>O
>
>I
>
>L
>
>E
>
>R
>
>Since I've got the author here herself ...
>
>Are Chartres (sp?) and Lottie the king's children? It seemed as if
>their mother dropped several hints, but it was never stated. I also
>wondered at the end whether or not Yves was actually the king's son. It
>seemed to fit, except in the end when he started to tell MJ that her
>mother had refused something.
>
Chartres and Lotte are the children of Madame and
Monsieur (Louis' sister-in-law; and his brother).
I don't think there's any credible evidence that
Madame ever had a sexual relationship with anyone
other than her husband.
She was, on the other hand, enamored of Louis. But
Madame was not by any standards a great beauty,
even in the flattering portraits made of her when
she was young; Louis' lovers (such as -- probably
-- Monsieur's first wife, the vivacious, charming,
high-strung, and in my opinion anorectic Henriette
d'Angleterre) were all beautiful.
I think it likely that he was fond of Madame and
let her know it when she was obeying him (in
social and political matters) and used her
infatuation against her when she disobeyed him or
disagreed with him. (She was utterly, publicly
furious when he talked Monsieur and Chartres into
a marriage between Chartres and Louis'
illegitimate daughter, a marriage far below
Chartres' expectations, by the standards of the
time.)
But as for a sexual relationship, I doubt he gave
her the time of day. Also, while he was quite a
rake when he was young, he became progressively
more devout after he banished Mme de Montespan,
after the queen died, and after he took up with (&
probably married) Mme de Maintenon. That period of
his life was roughly contemporaneous with Madame's
marriage to Monsieur, while Henriette was married
to Monsieur during Louis' earlier, rakish days.
As for Yves, he's definitely Louis' illegitimate
son. Louis says as much, in the scene right after
the Carrousel competition. What Yves and
Marie-Josephe's mother refused Louis was to allow
him to acknowledge Yves as his son, or to give her
(or her husband) any public honors. (You might
think that being named a governor was an honor,
but at the time any post that took you away from
Versailles was more like being exiled.)
I took some pleasure in hinting or stating that
most of the main characters in the book, except
Marie-Josephe, had different parents than they (or
the public) believed, not excepting Monsieur and
Louis himself. (I think the possibility exists
that Mazarin had something to do with their
existence, though I doubt that question can ever
be answered.)
>I also wondered if the saliva of the sea woman was like penicillian. Or
>was it something more, perhaps even what the king hoped for?
>
It's definitely a broad-spectrum antibiotic. Given
the condition of medicine at the time, it was the
closest thing to an immortality potion that
anybody was likely to find.
Best,
Vonda
http://www.sff.net/people/Vonda
The Moon and the Sun -- One of Publishers Weekly's
"Best Books of 1997"
http://www.bookwire.com/pw/bestbooks97.article$3946
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