[Reading Notes] A Little Woman Witnessing History with Wax Figures - "Little Dot"

Have you heard of Bluebeard, Sleeping Beauty, Puss in Boots? Here's another story: a little girl with history. You want blood? I have. Palace? Of course there is. Broken house? no problem! Oh. monster? Yes, yes, I have a lot of monsters! Come and see, as long as you are willing to see, let me show how all this is made, let me tell you what human beings are in the way I am good at.

I haven't read biographical novels for a while, and this time I am honored to be invited by Yuezhi Culture to share this book about Madame Tussauds. To be honest, the author didn’t know much about Madame Tussauds. At first, it was just because I thought the cover was very beautiful. I didn’t expect that after I started reading, I immediately became immersed in the story and couldn’t extricate myself from it. The illustrations attached to the text were also Make the situation more realistic. The nearly 600 pages of content that was expected to take more than a week to read ended up in just three or four days of leisure.

The legendary life of Madame Tussauds, famous for her wax figures

Although it is written in the first person "I", the author of the book, Edward Carey, is actually a novelist and playwright who worked at Madame Tussauds. It was also because of this experience related to Madame Tussauds that he was inspired to write this book. From an orphan to a wax assistant to a teacher of a royal family member, he finally opened a wax museum by himself; originally trapped in a remote rural area, after experiencing ups and downs, he could only travel in other people's stories, and finally entered the palace in person, and traveled across the ocean to a foreign land Even though it is called "little bit", Madame Tussaud's life is not small at all, and it is also presented to readers through the author's words and the translator's fluent translation.

The truth is: people are obsessed with themselves.

Humanity is reflected in history by life because of wax statues

The "wax statue" occupies an extremely important position in Madame Tussaud's life and in the novel, especially under the author's arrangement, it reflects the most real human nature. Because "there is nothing more honest than wax", the ugly, violent, narcissistic, cruel, hidden in the bottom of the human heart are all exposed. Including the French royal family, Robesby and Napoleon, even celebrities in history had to succumb to the wax, and when the Parisians went crazy because of the wax figures of the sinners' beheaded heads, Madame Tussauds and her master Ke When Tius was asked to suspend the exhibition, Curtius's remarks that were rational and professional, further aroused the author's deep thinking.

"These heads will bring more heads. I urge you to hurry up and cover up or put them away! It must not be displayed. New exhibitions like this cannot continue."

"These wax figures just reflect what's happening in the outside world. What's happening in Paris."

"Cover up, I beg you!"

"But that would be a lie."

The turbulent Parisian society before and after the French Revolution

Like wax faithfully reflecting human nature, Madame Tussauds' story also seems to present the crumbling social reality before and after the French Revolution. From servants who can only live in cupboards, servants who can't speak, and even the royal family who can't change the status quo, a drop in the bucket of relief; to the people who are crazy and out of order because of blood after the revolution, and even "everything is guilty" ”, although it is hard for readers not to think that the characters including Madame Tussauds, Curtius and other protagonists have their own peculiarities, but in contrast, the social situation in Paris at that time is even more absurd.

History has always belonged to men. However, this historical novel does the exact opposite. The author chose "Madame Tussauds" as the first-person perspective, focusing on the story before her fame. It tells how a weak girl overcomes the barriers of class and gender, insists on the career she loves, and maintains a persevering mind in turbulent times to achieve eternal achievements.

Containing the spirit of the professional, the history of women's perspective

As a brief description of the entire work, the last paragraph on the back cover may be more appropriate. Although there are no descriptions of those landmark events of the big era, "Little Dots" leads readers to see that bloody history from a perspective different from textbooks from a female perspective. For the author, in addition to being about a person's life, biographical novels are equally important, perhaps, to allow readers to experience the historical and social atmosphere that is not currently in it. And this "Little One" is not only about Madame Tussaud's life, but also the best witness before and after the French Revolution and on the eve of the disintegration of Parisian society.

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