Just a quickie post to alert you to the fact that Dr Susan Bordo and her research assistant are looking for women aged 20 or under to interview for her upcoming book “The Creation of Anne Boleyn”. Here is more information from “The Creation of Anne Boleyn” Facebook page where you can register your interest:-
“Are you an Anne Boleyn fan? Do you buy Anne Boleyn jewelry on etsy, debate the merits of Natalie Dormer’s Anne versus Natalie Portman’s Anne, or just generally believe that Anne was the best queen England ever had? If you are, and especially if you are age 20 or younger, author Susan Bordo would like to talk to you! In her upcoming book The Creation of Anne Boleyn, Susan will write about how people have viewed and talked about Anne over the centuries. She needs interviews with you to understand how young women view Anne today. If you are interested, please convo here! If a long interview is not your thing, be on the lookout for questions from this site’s news feed, and answer as you feel inspired!
Also, if you are over the age of 20, please share your love for Anne as well! Follow along for updates on upcoming talks with Susan and other publishing updates!
For more info on Susan, please see http://criticaltheory-download-ebooks.blogspot.com/2010/12/who-is-susan-bordo.html
Disclaimer: Please be aware that by posting any information on the walls of The Creation of Anne Boleyn page, you agree that Susan Bordo and her research assistant, Natalie Sweet, can collect any of your comments or interviews to use for publication in The Creation of Anne Boleyn. No monetary compensation will be provided for your comments or interviews. Additionally, if you are 17 or younger, parental consent must be obtained before your comments can be used or published. Please be aware that Facebook is not collecting your information in this process.”
You can find the Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/thecreationofanneboleyn?sk=wall
Dr Susan Bordo is author of “Unbearable Weight” and “The Male Body”.
Here is an interview with Susan regarding her book on Anne Boleyn:-
I’ll be interested to read what Susan learns from speaking to women about Anne Boleyn, should be an interesting book!
Guess that rules me out. I’m slightly over 20 (by 24 years)!
Me too, by 20 years! I’m not quite sure why it has to be younger women.
It doesn’t! We only emphasized “20 or younger” because I wanted to make sure I got responses for a chapter I’m writing on the youngest fans.
In fact, all ages are welcome!!! Hey, I’m 64 myself; I’d be the last person to age-discriminate. Susan.
I’m so sad I can’t join in this-I’m only four years older. Why does it have to be 20 and under? Why can’t it be “21st century women’s view of Anne Boleyn?” Claire can you try to have her change her age view? lol
It is unfortunate that they are only looking for women 20 and younger. I’m 25 and an avid Anne Boleyn fan. I would appreciate an opportunity to voice my opinions.
Agreed. I was once a young woman under the age of 20…and a fan of Anne’s since I was in jr. high. =) As a child, I saw Anne as a heroine- a woman whose unconventional beauty was inhanced by her intelligence. I feel that after a certain age, beauty fades, but intellect is forever- and there is something mesmorizing about a woman who can keep up with with a man in a man’s world. When I entered the engineering field, I saw myself as a person who has to prove myself to be more than “just a pretty face” in order to survive. Anne had to do the same thing- be someone who could keep up with Henry’s intellect, because after evening is done, and the sun rises, you still have to be able to talk to a person in order to have their respect and relationship with them. She is a puzzle, wrapped in a mystery, wrapped in an enigma…Anne is someone who you simply cannot catagorize. Love her or hate her, she was who she was, and I have spent my adolescence (and adulthood too!) admiring her for that.
I would love to take part but I’m thirty. Pehaps if she reads these comment she would broaden her scope.
I just turned 20 so I’d love to help 🙂
At 24, I’m always the youngest in everything I do…youngest at my work, youngest in my group of friends…and it’s fun I suppose but for once, now, I’m “too old.” Haha…I am curious why the interest in the opinions of women 20 and younger. I think the interview with Susan was very interesting!! I look forward to seeing the developments and reading her book when it comes out. I’ve never read her other books, but from the way she talks she really knows how to keep ones attention! 🙂
lol im 24 too and the youngest of my friends, yet the eldest child in the family, the joys being in that grey area between 20 and 30 eh?
I saw the author give a talk/lecture on International Woman’s Day (I took copious notes, would love to write up a review for The Anne Boleyn Files if you are interested Claire!)
I do hope that she comes up with a slightly different title that reflects this is about the stereotypes of Anne Boleyn and how she has been viewed throughout history and particularly now in modern times. When I heard the title Creation of Anne Boleyn, I thought I was going to to a discussion about who created Anne. I thought it was going to be a debate about whether she created herself or was it her ambitious father or her ambitious Uncle Norfolk or influential Protestants, a combination or whom. That’s of course often been a debate…..who pushed Anne into the path of Henry and history. Was she self created or were powerful men behind her and if so which ones?
The talk is anything but that. And obviously the book will be anything but that. There was no talk by the author about who was responsible for Anne coming to power ie. who created her. Instead, it’s about perceptions of Anne Boleyn by her contemporaries, historians and modern audiences. It’s a wonderful idea and I look forward to the book. I just hope it has a slightly different and thus more accurate title. I also think a different title would make it more commercially viable because if people think it is about the more historic “weighty” issues (forgive the pun) than it is…..well you get the point.
Hi DeAnn,
Yes, please do a write up for the site, that would be wonderful, thank you.
I can see what you mean. The author obviously means that it is a discussion of how today’s image of Anne Boleyn has been created, but people could misunderstand the title, perhaps it needs a subtitle to explain it. It is interesting looking back on the different perceptions of Anne Boleyn over time and how we see her today.
DeAnn: Thanks for pointing this out! Neither I nor my editor had any idea the title could be taken this way, but now that you mention it, I can totally see it!!! I’m going to have to think of a good subtitle. Any ideas?
Dr. Bordo, thank you for your kind comment and again for giving the talk. I will think about a subtitle. I still wonder if you should tweak ever the main title but at least a subtitle would be good. I told my darling husband about my comment here and he said he thought he was going to hear a talk about Anne’s childhood and how her early formative years led to her becoming queen.(not so much who pushed her but her early life including time away from England) So even thought we hadn’t talked about it before or after, we were two for two in our household of expecting something different from “Creation of Anne Boleyn.” Again, I look forward to the final product and wish you much success. I think it’s awesome your interest in Anne Boleyn and your family’s understanding. Supportive family members mean so much!! So glad JCCC taped the interview.
I’m 21 ): Older by one year, so sad!
LOL, I think I could help, after all, inside every 40+ year old, is a 20 year old wondering what happened?
I looked in the mirror the other day, and I am STILL trying to figure out WHO that dazzling 45 year old was, and where MY reflection had wandered off.
Perhaps a better title would suggest that her book deals only with how Anne is viewed by a certain age group, namely those born after 1990. Kind of narrows it down a lot. I am not sure what her motivation is in choosing such a small group.
Actually, the book deals with perceptions of Anne from her own time to the present. I only “called out” for younger women because I will be including a chapter on on them (one chapter!) and wanted to make sure I got their views.
Please be assured, all ages are welcome to write me! Susan.
But if the chapter is on “younger women” as opposed to teens and girls but is limited to 20 years old then the chapter is only about a 3-year age spread. 18, 19 and 20 years olds. That seems awfully restrictive to me unless you are including teens and girls too.
Maybe the reason she wants younger women is because she’s looking to see how people so young as to have likely never seen anything about Anne except in The Tudors and TOBG view Anne. Is there a generational difference in how we think about her?
I am 24.. 🙁 I would like to contribute, but it seems I am too old! :-p
I would jump at an oppertunity to do this but I alas am a little too old myself for the specific age of requirement. It is a bit silly because this discussion should be for anyone of any age. Perhaps Carolyn is right when she says what she states. it is so unfortunate as someone who has been interested in Tudor history for a very long time, since the age of eleven.
This sounds like a great opportunity! 🙂
I’m 18 and I played the role of Anne Boleyn in a play called Queens…(its been shown on the website) AND I also did a major study on her for a History piece! 🙂 I love her to bits! She was an amazing woman!
Sorry, I meant “younger women and girls”. But let me emphasize that I am open to all! My topics have always been interdisciplinary and intergenerational. No one is excluded; all are welcome–men included! I think that we created a misunderstanding when we emphasized the “under 20” part. The fact is that we were concerned that unless we specifically encouraged under 20’s, they might hesitate to reply. And let me add a personal invitation to you, DeAnn, since you obviously have a strong interest in Anne, we’d love to hear from you!
Daisy: We’d love to hear from you, about your experience playing Anne. Please go to the facebook page and let Natalie Sweet know!
I think the title should be changed to show that is more about how people perceive her than the actual original sources of information about her, which have given us so much conflicting information about her. My suggestion: Perceptions of Anne Boleyn From The 15th Century To the 21st. That sounds a lot less confusing to me. Personally, I would avoid saying “creation” because you are not really discussing how the stories and gossip about Anne Boleyn was created but how people through the years have perceived it and their ideas of what Anne was really like.,
im 20! i love anne boleyn, studying history at university 🙂
i wanna comment that the tudors are the reason why i wanted to study history in unviersity and teach it !! 🙂
This is probably the only time being young is going to help me and make me excited! 😀
I’m 24 years old and terribly obsessed with Anne Boleyn. Well not obsessed really. Rather curious. I’ve always looked at her like an enigma. A woman well before her time and who knew what she wanted. I don’t really believe she after the crown. After all what woman in that day and age would wake up one morning and say “Hey I think I’ll change history by denying Henry my goodies and make him wait long enough so he can make his queen. Than maybe I’ll have breakfast”. It simply wasn’t done.
Henry wanted her but she was no marshmallow and held her own. She was a cultured woman for goodness sakes. France must have been a paradise for the eyes, heart, and soul. With their artists, philosophers, and musicians. No wonder when she came back to the dreary little island of England she didn’t bow down to it as before. I believe that Anne was a woman borne well before her time. intelligent, cunning, confident, mysterious, and cultured but I suppose in the end “Men fear what they don’t understand and hate what they can not control. ” Perhaps that was her real down fall?
I’m 22 years old, am I too old, Susan? I’d be happy to answer any questions about how I perceive Anne.
Hey!
I’m 15 years old.So i guess that qualifies me to contribute!
Well I am an avid Anne Boleyn fan! I read about her in The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillipa Gregory a few months ago and have been obsessed with her since. I think she was a strong intellectual , well before her time. Her story is heart-wrenching and no matter how much i read about her, it still leaves me wanting for more. She was a cultured and wise woman.Intelligence, cunning and knowing what she wants and getting it too was what made me like Anne Boleyn as a person. She was an enigma. One can’t help but respect that woman! For heaven’s sake! she had the King of England at her beck and call! She didn’t bow to male hypocrisy and in my opinion that is what makes her the best idol for feminists!
I think the rigid boundaries that were put on women at that time made them dependant on men.
Her execution to me translates to me as men saying ” You don’t need me to define your existence and that is what scares me” .
If this was the fear and anxiety that she caused in men, not to mention the fact that she gave England Elizabeth I the ruler of the golden era, can her tragic end be seen as a humiliating downfall? or the just the suppression of a powerful female idol ?
I would love to talk about how I perceive Anne Boleyn and my thoughts on her life and fate. She was one of the greatest and most influential Queens in English history and I would be happy to answer any and all questions. I’m 30 though, I hope I can still contribute. I find it a little odd to be going for such a young group of people to speak with, although I’m sure there is a reason for that 🙂