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A review by rmardel
My Theodosia by Anya Seton
3.0
I loved this book when I was a teenager, and have reread it before this. I wanted to read this book after reading Nancy Isenberg's biography of Aaron Burr, Fallen Founder, partly because the author mentioned at Seton had hinted at incest between Aaron Burr and his daughter, Theodosia.
I still don't see the incest, although I see some mentions of this thought in the mind of Theodosia's rather narrow-minded inlaws. I am inclined to think this view is one primarily promulgated by Phillipa Gregory in her later introductions to the reissues of the Seton works. I do think that Seton plays up this dependence and imparts a kind of naivete to Theodosia that is seems unsubstantiated. It makes a good story, I suppose, but a story I found maddening. I found it maddening because the author deliberately takes aspects of 18th century life and her characters and paints them in a way intended to inflame the sensibilities of 20th century (or 21st century) readers, adding a subtext to the story that was probably not at all there. I have no problems with the author's portrayal of how misguided popular opinion shapes history or even of the difference between the cultures of Theodosia's youth and her later marriage. I have lived and seen too much of cultural differences and petty narrow-minded self interest to realize that there is a grain of truth in all this.
It was a good book for my youthful self. I remain indebted to it as it sparked an interest in Aaron Burr and early American history. The book is fiction, I recognize the differences between fiction and history and think that fiction needs to take some license in order to make its points. I do not, however, think this is one of Seton's best books, but since it was her first, this seems reasonable.
I still don't see the incest, although I see some mentions of this thought in the mind of Theodosia's rather narrow-minded inlaws. I am inclined to think this view is one primarily promulgated by Phillipa Gregory in her later introductions to the reissues of the Seton works. I do think that Seton plays up this dependence and imparts a kind of naivete to Theodosia that is seems unsubstantiated. It makes a good story, I suppose, but a story I found maddening. I found it maddening because the author deliberately takes aspects of 18th century life and her characters and paints them in a way intended to inflame the sensibilities of 20th century (or 21st century) readers, adding a subtext to the story that was probably not at all there. I have no problems with the author's portrayal of how misguided popular opinion shapes history or even of the difference between the cultures of Theodosia's youth and her later marriage. I have lived and seen too much of cultural differences and petty narrow-minded self interest to realize that there is a grain of truth in all this.
It was a good book for my youthful self. I remain indebted to it as it sparked an interest in Aaron Burr and early American history. The book is fiction, I recognize the differences between fiction and history and think that fiction needs to take some license in order to make its points. I do not, however, think this is one of Seton's best books, but since it was her first, this seems reasonable.