Emma MasonCritiques

A brief but nicely done introduction and overview.

This is a reassessment of the reign of this Norman king, his namesake father the Conqueror's immediate successor and generally thought of as one of the most obscure post-Conquest kings, best known through the controversial nature of his death, either in a hunting accident, or an assassination masquerading as an accident, in the New Forest. Otherwise his negative reputation has largely been created and maintained by monastic chroniclers alienated largely by his dispute with Archbishop Anselm and by the fact that he never married, had no known mistresses and so was regarded as sexually suspect. This book puts William in his historical perspective and offers redress, though he does still come across as a rather colourless figure in between his father and younger brother Henry.

Despite this work's worthiness, as a reading experience it was not enjoyable. The text is rather dry and quite repetitive in places. The chapters are not divided into different sections covering different topics, while the paragraphs are often far too long, one being three pages long. Finally, not the author's fault, but the font in the hardback version is very small and difficult to read while holding the book comfortably.

When I learned that this book was available I had no hesitation in placing an order. Even the title is so apt, because for me the artist will always be "Mr Tavener", of all my art teachers through five years of art education the one I admired and respected the most.

This slim volume offers a brief and interesting biography and includes 100 full-colour plates of Mr Tavener's lithographs and lino-cuts, with a further 50 or so illustrations almost all in colour accompanying the text. It provides an invaluable survey of his work.

For me Mr Tavener's prints are without equal. I was a student of his when I attended Eastbourne School of Art prior to taking a degree course, and I enjoyed two years attending his print-making classes. One of the great pleasures of these classes was seeing some of his own work in progress. It brings back fond memoires to see some of the work he was producing then illustrated in this book, along with a number of his prints which I am now very proud to own.

What Struck me about Mr Tavener was his unquestioning dedication to his work, such that he found it difficult to conceive that an artists could at any time not be working on his art. He was a man of remarkable patience, and it seems in my experience never forget his students.

I am so pleased to have this book which faithfully reproduces some of Mr Tavener's work, it is a book that deserves wide distribution, I cannot recommend it too highly!

Rather dry history, although it has a good evaluation of sources and Mason always makes it clears which sources are being used at any point in time. As for the "murder" this isn't dealt with in the detail that the title of the book suggests, and Mason is less than definite on her conclusions on this episode.½

I feel like I should have liked this book more than I did: Emma Mason's treatment of King William II (aka, William Rufus) was well researched, clearly written, and provided about as much information as I thought I wanted about this king. However, I found myself struggling to finish it. I think part of the reason is due to the fact that, at least in comparison to his father William the Conqueror, his life was far less interesting and his reign much shorter. Additionally, the title of the book implies that Mason would spend lots of time on Rufus' mysterious death while hunting in the New Forest in 1100, but only the last dozen pages or so are devoted to it. I would only recommend this book if you have a special interest in Rufus or want to read biographies on all the Norman kings. If you only have a more general interest in the time period, find a more general book on the Norman monarchs to get a summary of Rufus' reign (suggestion: The Struggle for Mastery: The Penguin History of Britain, 1066-1284, by Carpenter).½