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Q: I am highly aggrieved about some historical inaccuracy in your book(s)! To whom do I complain?
A: In what is certain to be the longest answer to a Frequently Asked Question (because I’m smooshing them all together into one post) here are all the historical inaccuracies that people have asked me about, and some that people haven’t asked me about, but I expected them to ask me about so I prepared answers in advance. It’s called planning, people!
- In Omaha, Emily purchases new clothes, including pantalettes. But no one called them “pantalettes” in period! This is a random comment related to me second hand. Well, here’s what I have to say to that: If “pantalettes” were good enough for The Forsyte Saga (Part 1, Chapter 1, 11th paragraph), they’re good enough for me. And I invite the mysterious anti-pantalooner to cast an eyeball into such 19th century classics as Samantha at the World’s Fair by Marietta Holley and Little Ferns for Fanny’s Little Friends to see just how wrong he/she was.
- The El didn’t go down to the bowery until 1878, but THE HIDDEN GODDESS is set in 1876! OK, it’s a fair cop. The fact of the matter is that the Chatham Square elevated station opened on September 16, 1878, no question about it. By the way, here’s how the area looked in 1878, cool huh?
As a matter of fact, in 1876, things were still pretty up in the air as far as mass transit in general, and the elevated railroad in particular, were concerned:“At the end of 1875 it looked as if rapid transit was assured. The Rapid Transit Commissioners had laid out routes for the New York Elevated Railroad and the Gilbert Elevated Railway in accordance with the new Rapid Transit Act and officials of both companies said that they had the capital to go ahead and build. Instead progress was delayed by almost two years of litigation driven mainly by the street railway companies. Only a few observers foresaw that the elevated railways would attract businesses and riders to the streets they ran in and steal away mostly the long-distance riders that were the least profitable to the street railways with their single fare for any distance. The street railway owners saw a threat to their business.” (Beach Pneumatic, by Joseph Brennan)
“On July 27 [1878], pedestrians on the Bowery were astonished by an unusual sight in the busy thoroughfare, although it was not one which was altogether unexpected. It was a test run of the elevated railway from South Ferry to the Cooper Union, the start of Third Ave itself. The train came along without further announcement than its own rumbling noise. The car was loaded with a number of railroad officers, who had started off on the trial trip over the East Side line. The train was driven slowly along Front-street, Coenties-slip, around the double curve and up Pearl-street, then along the high track over New-Bowery, up the Bowery to Cooper Union. Here it stopped. On the way it was noticed that the stations at Hanover-square, Franklin-square, and Fulton-street are nearly ready, while those at Chatham-square and along the Bowery have been scarcely begun. At Cooper Union only the trusses for the platform are up. At Fourteenth-street the posts for holding the platform trusses are in place, and several trusses are up. The stations are all being constructed, but not with great rapidity. The train was a steam dummy and a car from the Greenwich St El, which soon afterwards ran another trip to 59th St. These few early trips were probably the only time Greenwich St. equipment ran on the east side.” (Beach Pneumatic, by Joseph Brennan)
- In THE NATIVE STAR, Stanton gets thrown into blackberry bushes not just once, but twice! However, the Himalayan blackberry was not around in California in the 1870s! An invasive nuisance well known to anyone who lives in the Pacific Northwest, the Himalayan blackberry was imported in the 19th century and didn’t escape into the wild in the quantities we know it today until much later. So it’s unlikely Stanton would have gotten tangled up in it even once, never mind twice. However, blackberries are horrible to get tangled up in, which makes for hilarity. And I will generally take hilarity over veracity. And Stanton deserves to get thrown in blackberries a couple of times at least, don’t you think?
- The Stantons, in the city, in June? In THE HIDDEN GODDESS, Emily must suffer through an awful tea party with her future mother-in-law, Mrs. Stanton. However, given the social mores of the time, it’s unlikely a family of the Stanton’s standing would be in town in June at all—they would have long since decamped to milder, oceanic climes. Wrote Professor Charles Carroll in Harper’s Magazine in 1878:
“In high summer, as everyone knows, aristocratic New York… goes out of town. The ‘ribbon of respectability’ — the narrow tract from Thirty-Fourth street to Fifty-Seventh street, between Fourth and Sixth Avenues–becomes a sort of brick and cobblestone Sahara.” (New York in Summer, Charles Carroll, Harper’s Magazine, 1878)
They might have gone to Newport, or they might have gone upstate. They certainly wouldn’t have gone to Washingon, regardless of the fact that Stanton’s father is a senator. So why are they still in New York? I guess the only answer can be found in Mrs. Stanton’s unique personality. I get the feeling that the more uncomfortable everyone around her is, the better she likes it.
- A Beefsteak at Delmonico’s? Come on now. Indeed, I can see why you are disquieted. Political beefsteaks in the 19th century were messy, masculine affairs, in which politicians paraded their populist credentials by rolling up their sleeves and eating sloppy barbecue with their constituents. They were certainly NOT the usual type of entertainment offered by Delmonico’s, which was a snooty high class establishment. However, Delmonico’s did have rooms that could be rented for private events, and I thought the idea of having a Rex Fortissimus hold a beefsteak at Delmonico’s showed a lot about his character: that he wanted to be percieved as a “man of the people” and yet still taken seriously by the swells. It also would have generated talk among those invited. The guests who were used to eating at Delmonicos would have found it unusual to attend a beefsteak there — and the guests who were used to down and dirty beefsteaks held in rathskellers and pubs would have found it unusual (and probably a little exciting) to attend a function at such a tony establishment. All in all, I thought the idea of holding a beefsteak at Delmonico’s was pretty brilliant move on Fortissimus’ part, which shows just what a powerful Credomancer he really is.
- Dude, your Latin and Greek are all jacked up! In THE NATIVE STAR, there are three primary strains of magic: Credomancy (faith magic), Sangrimancy (blood magic) and Animancy (spirit magic). Linguistically, there are serious problems with all of these. First of all, the words themselves are bastard unions of Latin and Greek (the ending -mancy is Greek, while the rest is Latin.) And not very good Latin at that. Sangrimancy is just flat out wrong—what, are they working spells with sangria? If you’re trying to use Latin (and it appears that you are) wouldn’t it be sanguimancer? And to top it all off, -mancy specifically means divination, not magical practice in general. All I can say to this question is … see this spinning whirly disk I have in my hand? It is called the author hypno-spinny-distracty-thing. Look at it. Stare into it. Forget you ever asked this question. This question is meaningless to you.
- OK, so what’s the answer to my original question, Hobson? TO WHOM DO I COMPLAIN? Oh, that’s easy. I’ve set up an email just for that purpose: biteme@youhavetoomuchtimeonyourhands.com
Thanks for reading!
M.K.
Got a question about THE NATIVE STAR or THE HIDDEN GODDESS (or about any of my work, actually)? Well, what are you waiting for? Contact me!
