Rar-Boo, and Why Romance Died With the 1800s

The Rar-Boo is because I am feeling better. Throat still niggly (not sore, but ticklyfied...) but otherwise I feel very good.

Also, I purchased Alan Moore's From Hell, which is rather large, and I am enjoying it immensly so far. I have not written anything in the last few days, other than a vague outline of what ought go into each chapter, and I honestly came short of what I wanted. To actually make the thing work, there needs to be twelve chapters, and I honestly don't have material for more than about 8, which means that I need to consider the development more. I have various drafts and what-not of chapter one, yet to be collated together, and I am happy with it, although as I say, there needs to be more...

Now, the From Hell purchase leads me to my second point - the death of Romance. It's odd that when characters from classic 1800s tales (Sherlock Holmes, and prompting this note, Abberline at the beginning of From Hell) move into the 1900s, their romance and intrigue is largely lost. Which is kinda strange, and has led me to ponder the reasons for this. I have come up with a few, although I will research this more thoroughly:

1) At the end of the 1800s (although it had been growing for some time) scientific and medical pursuits became the preoccupation of the gentry, and the more classical "Renaissance Gentleman" began to die down in an age of reason (although it could well be argued that this occurred during the Victorian era). Romance lost.

2) Fashion declined from awesome to meh. Romance lost.

3) To our modern minds, the 1800s, especially the latter half, was a time of vaguely mystical science, and supernatural occurrences - for example, Jack the Ripper and Springheel Jack - two of the interesting characters who sparked urban myth and legend and still haunt today. The point is this - we know enough about the 1800s (mainly 1800s London) through popular fiction and osmosis to romanticise it in our minds, to fill in the gaps with imagination, steampunk inventions and arcane magic. Which is what we as humans do. Incidentally, that is why Dan Brown's trash "Tha Da Vinci Code" was so remarkably popular (the man couldn't write, but he could spin a tale) - he essentially worked on myths and legends that most people knew little bits about, and validated them with a whole load of fiction, cleverly spun to give an amazing sense of verisimilitude - a world in which these things not only could happen, but would happen.
Once we plummeted into the 1900s, we lost that. Maybe not at the time, but for a new millenium audience, the romance is gone. We know what has happened, its in Modern History. Maybe that is the brilliance of the 1800s as the time of Romance - it is the transition point, the liminal space we moved through on the way to 'enlightenment' and scientific knowledge. And in a liminal space, anything is possible. Romance lost.

Have a great week. Blake.

PS - Stand by for the no-doubt glowing review of From Hell, as well as the inevitable comparison to the Jonny-Depp-Ian-Holm film of the same name, which was supposedly "based" on the graphic novel (from what I've read so far, it falls short. Unusually short. Like the chick on Big Brother... apparently there is a little person on there. Not a midget, but a person who was hit with a raygun and shrunk. Seriously. Australian Big Brother 2008. Mhmm. My little brother - an avid fan of the show which I myself refuse to watch - informs me that she broke her leg. I didn't giggle when I heard. Honest).