Life Along The Silk Road is a collection of brief essays posing as a historical recollection of the people creating the Silk Road. The author used various roles and members of these disparate societies to play act around the important historical events. I just finished reading “The Courtesan’s Tale.”
As a historical text this book has what I would consider most of the rather important elements, such as the people and their interactions with the environment, as fiction. I did enjoy reading about the fictional characters. The writer is captivating if you give her the slightest chance. However, I feel there are some impositions with the style as well.
I am rather dismissive upon confronted with this re-narrative form of historical fiction. Another example of this was published the same year. Edmund Morris created a make-believe double of himself. He proceeded to insert this fiction into the official memoir of Ronald Reagan entitled Dutch. Although he was criticized for his method, he spent 14 years with continuous intimate access to President Reagan. He knew the man, and in most probability he knew him well enough to make these rather unscholarly but powerful narrative leaps.
The author has obviously spent time studying the subject. It is as if she created a wonderful set on a theater stage. Imagine it is a set that resembles your childhood bedroom and home. The furniture is a near replica, at least all of the major bits are right. Perhaps the kitchen counter was of a lighter color stone. And maybe that rug was never really there. But your fifth grade painting is still on the fridge. And your kitchen table is perfect. Then however your childhood stage is flooded with characters and livelihoods that have nothing to do with you or your life. People that you have never seen before enter and retire from view living a realistic lifestyle in your home. You would sit back and wonder, “Who are these people in my home?” … not … “I wonder if that family is happy together?”
I think my ability to perceive the historical value of the story is diminished by how interesting the personal lives of the fictional characters become and vice versa. As a reader I wanted the history to shut up and let me enjoy the story, or really dig into the history and not confuse me with these fictions.
But it works and it doesn’t. Such is the case in part of “The Courtesan’s Tale.” I found the frequent addition of verse an enjoyable aspect of this story. The introductory verse is raspy and visceral. “My lord is drunk tonight, and drunk let him be. Better that than sleeping alone.” (138) This sets a bittersweet tone for the entire story. That line is tired but happy just to have someone, anyone. Later, Larishka, the vehicle the author drives us across this historical bedroom theatre with, is being told of a famous Chang’an courtesan and her true love story. This unnamed famous courtesan is writing her lover a poem:
Don’t listen to vulgar songs, don’t drink the spring wine.
Don’t invite leisurely guest for long nights of chess.
Remember our sworn bond of love that should last for ever, (148)
The famous courtesan holds high hopes of her lover’s morality. The cognitive dissonance is why this character comes alive in the story. And of course she dies alone with no one standing up for her.
The shift between this rich fiction and the prosaic placement of the historical facts is jarring to me. The last sentence discusses the date of this famous courtesans’ execution, “The sentence was carried out in 871.”(149) It is so out of place to me. The rest of this sub-plot has a folk-tale feel. And then it seems to throw in a date just as a time marker to show relevance to Larishka. But here I am only picking nits.
Morris, Edmund. 1999 Dutch : a memoir of Ronald Reagan / Edmund Morris Random House, New York :
Whitfield, Susan. 1999 Life along the Silk Road / Susan Whitfield John Murray, London :