Wednesday, December 10, 2008

REVIEW: Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser

Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser. Published 2006 by Anchor. Nonfiction.

I picked up Marie Antoinette: The Journey, by Antonia Fraser, on impulse at a library sale, after having seen Sofia Coppola's movie based on the book. But it wasn't just the movie tie-in cover that got my attention. The book is also pink. Pink is a girlish color, and it's an interesting choice for this lay person's history of one of history's most controversial and mythologized women. Just who was Marie Antoinette, born Maria Antonia of Austria, married at fourteen and executed at the guillotine at age 38, at the height of the French Revolution? A lioness or a lamb? A sexually promiscuous harpy or an undereducated, over-privileged girl of the upper-most upper class, shoehorned into a marriage and a political alliance she was ill-equipped to handle, who grew into maturity with motherhood, only to have her life cut short?

I don't know, but Fraser would have us think the latter. The book begins with Maria Antonia's, or, as she was known to her family, Antoine's birth, the last daughter of the imperious Maria Teresa, Empress of Austria-Hungary, so dedicated a leader that she continued to sign royal papers shortly following the delivery of her "small archduchess". Fraser describes Antoine's childhood as a mixture of pampered neglect and fierce obedience, right up to her marriage to the French dauphin. The alliance was political; Maria Teresa parceled off her children to various European capitals, with Antoine winding up in France, where there was no great love for Austria. Fraser describes her as lacking the education and maturity to fulfill her political role, and it would be some years before she fulfilled her biological role as a mother. In the meantime the young girl, now Marie Antoinette, indulged herself with clothes, music, friends and parties, spent money and generally enjoyed herself.

Once her children were born, she settled down, but then the French political situation started to deteriorate. This is where I started to lose track of events. The book held my attention much better when Fraser talked about the French royal family and their relationships; once the family of Marie Antoinette, the king Louis 14 and their two surviving children have to leave their home at Versailles and live at the Tuileries in Paris, their situation takes on real poignancy and from there it's all downhill. Fraser does a great job of making the reader feel the tragedy of what happens to this family, to how they suffer and to the cruel ironies of their dashed hopes and foiled plans, as well as the indifference of other European royals to their plight.

Fraser argues throughout that Antoinette's excesses- her dress bills, hair dressing, furniture and gambling debts, and other lifestyle expenses, not mention the expenses involved in maintaining a royal household- were nothing more than typical for a woman of her station. She grants that some of her actions were unwise, for example her patronage of the Polignac family, which would later contribute to public anger towards her. She tries to clear Antoinette's name concerning the infamous Affair of the Diamond Necklace, and refutes charges that Antoinette was insensitive to the plight of the poor, especially as France's economy worsened. She also argues that Antoinette was a loving and attentive mother, and, her love affair with the Swedish Count Fersen an exception, a faithful wife.

On balance, for me, a Francophile but no history expert, I found the book to be a pleasure to read and generally convincing. It is also clear through Fraser's strong voice and repetitions that she works her agenda of restoring Antoinette's image vigorously. I had trouble following the politics, but maybe that's just because I read the book at bedtime. The plethora of footnotes and extensive bibliography shows that Fraser, primarily known as a writer of fiction, did her research. And the book reads easily and fluidly, like historical fiction without the dialogue. It's no light read, but I'd recommend Marie Antoinette: The Journey to anyone interested in this puzzling, contradictory woman and the troubled times in which she lived and died. It would make a great holiday gift for the Francophile or royal-watcher in your life.

Rating: BUY

FTC Disclosure: I did not receive this book for review from the publisher.

9 comments:

Candy Schultz said...

I am a history major and Fraser's book is an excellent example of how to make history readable. Her facts are correct and if you are interested in a deeper understanding of the Antoinette myth you might try The Wicked Queen by Chantal Thomas. Subtitled the origins of the myth of Marie Antoinette, I expect it to clear up any lingering doubts. I have not read it yet. I am, however, sick of hearing the phrase 'let them eat cake' being attributed to her. It is almost as ubiquitous and annoying as people's misuse of the term schizophrenic when they mean multiple personality disorder. Oh sorry there I go.

Ellie said...

Thanks for reviewing this; I picked up a signed copy at my local used bookstore about a month ago, but have not gotten around to reading it yet. It's good to know that you thought it was a good book; I'll be reading it soon!

52booksand52weeks.blogspot.com

kalea_kane said...

Not a book I would even consider until reading your review. :) Thanks!

Kelly

The Bookworm said...

this sounds very good.
great review!
http://thebookworm07.blogspot.com/

Anonymous said...

I've glanced at this book for quite a while now, but have yet to pick it up. Like you, the pink cover really caught my attention! I enjoyed the film a few years back and considered getting the book, but wondered if it would be too dense to get through -- I'm usually more of a light, contemporary reader. But your review was great! Perhaps I'll have to finally pick it up . . .

Shana said...

I love reading non-fiction history that reads like fiction. I'd love to read the book AND watch the movie. I like the pink cover!

Shana
Literarily

Katherine said...

I read this about two years ago, and I'm with you on the politics; it was a little over my head. But I really enjoyed the descriptions of family relationships. Fraser is generally an excellent popular historian, which reminds me--I've got a copy of The Gunpowder Plot on my bookshelf waiting to be read.

Eidin said...

I have Sophia Coppola's film in my netflix queue...maybe I'll move it up to the top!

Anna said...

Wonderful review! I don't know anything about Marie Antoinette, so this sounds interesting. I haven't seen the movie either. And you're right, that cover is quite pink. :)

--Anna
Diary of an Eccentric