Customer Reviews

Mary Queen of Scots: Romance and Nation

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While the idea of writing an overview of how Mary Queen of Scots has been portrayed over the centuries is a good one, Jayne Lewis is simply not up to the task. For one thing, she seems to have only a superficial knowledge about Mary herself, which lends a shallowness to Lewis' interpretations. For another, her style is extremely dry and overly analytical. At times, she sounds so laughably like the stereotype of the "Ivory tower" pompous professor, that the book begins to read like parody.

Worst of all are a number of unforgivably egregious historical errors she makes, which, again, just shows her unfamiliarity with her subject. For instance, she includes several unflattering quotes about Mary that Lewis attributes to Sir James Melville's "Memoirs." These quotes actually come from "Master Randolph's Fantasy," a libellous ballad about Mary that was circulated by her Protestant enemies in 1565. In discussing Hugh Campbell's 1825 book, which prints several letters (not to be confused with the famous "Casket Letters,") supposedly written by Mary to Bothwell, Lewis says Campbell himself forged those letters. Since Campbell was merely reprinting letters from a pamphlet that was published in 1725 (one of the letters was originally printed in the 16th century memoirs of Brantome,) Campbell obviously was not the one who wrote them. Such obvious mistakes make it hard to take anything Lewis says very seriously. (Speaking of the "Casket Letters," Lewis gives the impression that these, too, have been proved to be forgeries--which is very far from the truth.)

In short, the idea of the book was a good one, but it was wasted in the hands of a bad writer.

This is a lovely account of the strange afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots in the English historical and libidinal imagination, from the reign of Elizabeth through the reign of Victoria. Lewis writes a luminous, intelligent prose that radiates a deep affiliation with her subject. This is a scholarly book, not a novel, bio or pop analysis. Expect some psychoanalysis, and some difficult formulations.

This is a very painful book to read. The concept is excellent, but the author's writing style goes beyond academic. It is pompous, arrogant and, ultimately, laughable. Often I have read a sentence in her book only to think: "Yes, I read it, but WHAT did she SAY?" Although I am not a scholar on Mary Queen of Scots, I have read quite a bit about her. In this book, there is a tone that somehow just doesn't ring true. Although I would not recommend this book to anyone, readers who are very serious about Mary Queen of Scots might want to read it merely because it exists.

In this book, Lewis sets out to trace the portrayal of Mary Queen of Scots as a romantic figure throughout time. The topic is fascinating, and one I've done minimal research on myself. However, I was disappointed with Lewis's final result. It seems that she bit off more than she could chew with the book, squashing too much information into too little space. For the curious reader, who has not studied Mary Stuart heavily, this book will seem cumbersome and overwhelming; it requires at least a basic knowledge of Mary's life and the events surrounding it. For those who study Mary, either professionally or as a hobby (like myself), will mostly likely get excited when they see the proposed topic of this book, but will not walk away satisfied with what Lewis has stated. What is she trying to prove? What does all of this information mean? These questions aren't answered, and for myself that was very frustrating.