The book I’m currently reading is an historical novel set in the Versailles palace of King Louis XIV. There are extensive descriptions of the palace and its trappings, the Sun King himself and all the courtiers who surround him, and the intricacies of their daily lives.
While I knew the times to be both extravagant and debauched, I didn’t have a lot of detailed information about the protocol and political intrigue of that court. Since I’m familiar with the author and respect her scholarship, I trust what she tells me is based on fact.
I’ve found nothing extremely surprising, it’s just all much deeper and more duplicitous than my simple little country mind ever conceived. As I read about these very real individuals, whose fates will soon sweep them into dust, I can’t help but wonder at the effort, the energy, the excesses they poured into all the things that mattered not in the least.
I thank heaven that I live in slightly more enlightened times. At least I think that until I turn on CNN.