Author Hilary Mantel has won the Man Booker prize twice. She
has been made a Dame for services to literature. And she has recently become a
favourite target for that part of the press that likes to go into why-oh-why
mode as a means of frightening readers (who will generally be upstanding,
hard-working and conservative) and thereby boosting sales.
The event that set this process in train was a lecture given
at the British Museum, where Ms Mantel talked
of how the press gave a particular impression of the Duchess of Cambridge.
The conclusion – urging that they shouldn’t be so beastly to Kate – underscored
this. But, for the Daily Mail, this
was a heaven-sent opportunity to paint the author as a part of the “out of touch metropolitan elite” (tm).
So what Ms Mantel had attributed to the press treatment of
the Duchess was asserted to be her own view. Twitter was trawled extensively to
find those of like mind. Young Dave allowed himself to be outraged, along with
those all-important Daily Mail
Readers with whom the legendarily foul mouthed Paul Dacre enjoys his daily “conversation”. It set the template for
the future.
And so it came to pass: Ms Mantel has
penned a collection of short stories, one of which is an alternative
reading of recent history called The
Assassination Of Margaret Thatcher – August 6th 1983. It is clearly a work
of fiction. Yet the Mail, once again,
has
exploded in faux outrage, lining up The Usual Suspects to heap condemnation
on Ms Mantel – and, of course, the Guardian
for publishing it.
The line-up of critics is as predictable as it is laughable:
Tim Bell, attempting to occupy the moral high ground despite being caught openly,
er, stimulating himself by hand in full view of passers-by, wants the Police to
waste their time doing some kind of investigation. Tory MP Conor Burns, a
professional nonentity who once met Mrs T, wibbled about “the disordered psyche of some on the left”.
Yes, you don’t like what they say, they must be part of “the left”. Another Tory back bencher
destined to remain one, Nadine Dorries, worried that “It is about a character whose demise is so recent”. And the Mail ordered Stephen “Miserable Git” Glover to suggest that Ms
Mantel is trying to legitimise assassination of political leaders that “the left” do not like, which she is not.
Glover also dishonestly suggests that “the left” would be in uproar if this kind of thing had been written
about the likes of Michael Foot and Tony Benn. He forgets the outpouring of right-wing
hatred and bile that accompanied Foot’s death, and was then replicated when
Benn passed, which is interesting, because much of the nastiness was in the
same paper for which he is now writing.
Meanwhile, Hilary Mantel has done nothing wrong. Read her
short story HERE.
5 comments:
Now if she had written "The Day of the Jackal" and then disappeared from the UK as a tax exile.......
And then there are those lefties who disparage the friends of Thatcher.
Even today the BBC have had to remove images of a recently departed DJ (probably at the requests of said lefties and Guardianistas who hate the sight of anyone who was on friendly terms with the former PM).
How despicable and OTT is that?
I think Rob's second comment is a joke, though sadly a little too close to genuine right wing victimisation rant for me to be sure.
"It baffles me how a delicate writer like Hilary Mantel"
The Victorian era called. It wants Stephen Glover back.
"Hilary Mantel has done nothing wrong". It can be argued that her short story is in poor taste. There is nothing wrong in writing alternative fantasy fiction. However it is likely that a lot of liberal/left people would have been secretly happy had the IRA bomb in 1984 killed Mrs Thatcher. That is inherently undemocratic and quite appalling really. I never voted for Mrs Thatcher and opposed her outlook and policies but I accepted the fact she was properly elected and should not be removed by cold blooded murderers.
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