Love the mention of Dante's poor constitution, he was falling over quite often. Also loved the Tchaikovsky rec, I don't listen to a ton of instrumental stuff but it was a fun accompaniment to reading this! And your concluding framing of Dante in opposition to hoards of romance reviewers did make me laugh. I find the willingness of readers to excuse violence over cheating super interesting in general, like the humiliation is what makes it unforgivable and not the degree of harm? And I did recently find both of these Kinsale books at a used bookstore and am excited to read them soon!
i'm not familiar with most of the contents of this essay but found it all very interesting! and i too found the questions of eternal damnation, forgiveness, and absolution in Shadowheart to really enhance the story. their love had consequences "forever", not just while they were alive.
i love your continued writing on the tchaikovsky bio <3
Love the mention of Dante's poor constitution, he was falling over quite often. Also loved the Tchaikovsky rec, I don't listen to a ton of instrumental stuff but it was a fun accompaniment to reading this! And your concluding framing of Dante in opposition to hoards of romance reviewers did make me laugh. I find the willingness of readers to excuse violence over cheating super interesting in general, like the humiliation is what makes it unforgivable and not the degree of harm? And I did recently find both of these Kinsale books at a used bookstore and am excited to read them soon!
i'm not familiar with most of the contents of this essay but found it all very interesting! and i too found the questions of eternal damnation, forgiveness, and absolution in Shadowheart to really enhance the story. their love had consequences "forever", not just while they were alive.