The Creation of Anne Boleyn: A New Look at England’s Most Notorious Queen

Anne Boleyn is one of the most controversial figures in history. She is either a well-loved or a reviled figure. Many who sympathize with Catherine’s plight often describe Anne as a seductress and a dangerous woman. Anne Boleyn sympathizers view her as a feminist icon. Mrs. Bardo delves into history to give a portrait of who the real Anne Boleyn is. She also shows us a modern historian’s view on Anne Boleyn and how Anne has been portrayed in popular media. I thought that Mrs. Bardo did a great job in reconstructing the life of Anne Boleyn. She reminds us that we really do not know the real Anne Boleyn because most of the sources were written by Anne’s enemies. She also did an excellent job in describing Henry’s personality and explored the reason why Henry killed her. She explained that Henry had a tendency of turning on those he loved the most. Thus, she gives us a detailed look at Anne’s romance and why she fell from favor. I also liked how Mrs. Bardo looked at how modern historians have portrayed Anne Boleyn. She claims that David Starkey’s famous biography, The Six Wives of Henry VIII is more of a dramatic soap opera than history. She claims that he portrayed Anne as a woman who cries to Henry in order to get her way (on p. 4). I was a teen when I first read David Starkey’s book, but I do remember he did not paint her in a positive light. She also claims that Mrs. Weir makes many negative suppositions about Anne that are not backed up with evidence. Thus, she advises us to not take these historians words at face value, but to do further research. This is because they have a negative bias to Anne and paint their narrative to fit their agenda. I have to say that I have read many of Alison Weir’s books because she is my favorite historian. She does have a bias in her novel. However, I think that in her books regarding Anne Boleyn, she is very objective and holds a certain amount of sympathy for her. I like how Anne Boleyn has been portrayed in our popular culture. Most see Anne as a femme fatale. She shows how Anne is portrayed in Anne of a Thousand Days. Anne is seen crying and believes that Elizabeth will be queen. In The Tudors, she is also stereotyped in the home-wrecker role. However, she is shown to be a caring mother. She also analyzes Philippa Gregory’s novel, The Other Boleyn Girl. She claims Philippa Gregory’s novel is the most vicious portrayal of Anne Boleyn. She is seen as the Wicked Witch of the West doing whatever is necessary to get her way. She tells us how Philippa Gregory got Anne wrong. I am a huge Philippa Gregory fan, and The Other Boleyn Girl was the first novel to introduce me to her. However, Mrs. Gregory also uses the witch trope a lot. Many of the royals are witches, Jacquetta of Luxembourg, Elizabeth Woodville, and Elizabeth of York. Anne as a witch is really nothing new with Philippa Gregory. Her books are usually in the historical fantasy category. Thus, I do not think that Mrs. Gregory’s portrayal of Anne was the cruelest, and that her creation of Anne tainted many people’s view of her. Overall, The Creation of Anne Boleyn gives us an in-depth look at this tragic queen. While I did not agree with some of her views of how she portrays Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory, I was reminded that Anne deserves to be further examined. The novel was very engaging and it was fun to learn how popular culture has shaped our image of Anne. Mrs. Bardo shows that many people throughout the world still love Anne Boleyn. It is clear that the author has an admiration for her subject, and she wrote this book to redefine Anne because she believes that she has been unjustly attacked in history and popular media. This book is obviously written for those who know Anne Boleyn’s story. So, if you do not know much about this queen I suggest you read other biographies prior to reading this. While The Creation of Anne Boleyn may not be the best book in Tudor history, it is still a must-read book for fans of Anne Boleyn!

The book's title is most interesting--"The Creation of Anne Boleyn." In short, this book explores the social construction of Henry VIII's second wife and second queen. Much of the book focuses on (Page xvii) "how she has been imagined and represented over the centuries since her death. . . ." This is not, then, so much a biography of Anne Boleyn (although there are biographical elements) as a study of how others saw and defined her--whether for good or ill.The author, Susan Bordo, carried out what she calls cultural detective work. She strives to show how many who have authored works about Boleyn write their own views into their analysis of her. In the process, she is critical of major authors on the subject such as Alison Weir and Philippa Gregory. And Bordo goes back to some of the Queen's contemporaries, who were implacable enemies of hers (e.g., Eustace Chapuys), and notes how critics of Boleyn even today tend to use those "out to get her" as serious sources).Bordo describes the rapid fall of the Queen, with a perfect storm of negative events conspiring against her, and her ultimate death. The final chapter in the first part of the book (entitled "Queen, Interrupted") asks why Henry VIII went so far as to have her executed, when he could have simply ended their marriage and sent her to a nunnery. The answer takes on a psychological cast. I am not so sure how convinced I am so many years after the fact, in terms of such an effort, but it is interesting to contemplate. In the process of assessing her rise and fall, we get glimpses into some of the key players of the era--Thomas More, Thomas Wolsey, Thomas Cromwell, and others. As one sees some of these major figures become doomed under Henry, Anne's fall is perhaps not so surprising.Part II looks at depictions of Anne in literature and plays and the like. Part II is quite interesting--the portrayal of Anne Boleyn in movies. Bordo does a comparative analysis of how Boleyn is treated in a variety of movies (and TV series)--"Anne of a Thousand Days," "The Tudors," "The Six Wives of Henry VIII," "The Other Boleyn Girl," and "The Private Life of Henry VIII."All in all, a well written book on a fascinating subject. The work made me think about Anne Boleyn in a different way, and that suggests that this volume is worth considering.

I never write reviews to the books I buy because there are so many semi-professionals out there doing it and much better than I ever could. But I really enjoyed this cultural historian's take and loved the 'created' image of Anne Boleyn on the front cover!

Highly readable, interesting and thought provoking. An excellent and refreshing read on Anne Boleyn, I really enjoyed it, and if you love everything AB you must read it. Well done Susan Bordo !

Interesting book about Anne's image over the centuries..the writer enjoys debunking the views of othe historians.

Well worth a read ..a balanced view.Highly entertaining.

I pondered this book for a while before ordering it. I'm glad I bought it. The writer has split the book into two sections: one of which re-examines the known facts of Anne's life leading up to her eventual downfall and execution. Anne comes across as more complicated than one might think - scheming gold digger, or sacrificial lamb for the cause of the new religion, or innocent victim of her mercurial husband? We are presented with a very nuanced take on the situation, including a phsychological profile of Henry the Eighth based on the nature of his pampered, largely female dominated, somewhat disfunctional upbringing. This interpretation of his character,as a spoilt and self-centred man, even in his younger days, shows him as a creature of extremes in his friendships and affections. Many people whom he once loved and lionised (Anne B. included) were turned on eventually, as they somehow "let him down", often in ways that they themselves did not understand. By loving or caring about a person, he was in effect giving them an element of power over him, and this he could not tolerate. This aspect of the book is well presented and well argued. Anne herself swore before witnesses, on the brink of death and trusting in the reality of her immortal soul (which as a believer she could not risk perjuring) that she was innocent of any sexual betrayal of Henry. Would such a devout woman have lied at such a critical moment?The second part concentrates on how we, her public down the centuries, have interpreted her story in all its complexity, in fiction, in film, on TV and in biography. This endless fascination has rendered her simultaneously both extremely familiar and utterly unknowable. Henry as he embarked on a new marriage with Anne's polar opposite (the mild, docile Jane Seymour)had workmen slaving away in all his residences to erase every trace of the doomed second wife, the woman for whom he had defied Christendom. Her cultural memory has not been as easy to obliterate as her portraits, emblems and letters, and she remains a vivid if always elusive presence.Is this a good book? I think so, and will shortly re-read it more slowly. It is certainly different and poses some interesting suggestions as to why Anne's tragedy unfolded as it did.