L U N A T A L K with Eva Moon

Go Commando for Literacy

July 10, 2007 on 1:02 pm | In General Musing |

The hottest news from this year’s International Medieval Congress (IMC) at the University of Leeds (UK) has to do with the role of undies in the spread of literacy.

According to new research, the biggest factor in the proliferation of books was cheap paper - not the printing press. Parchment was scarce and must more costly than paper made from rags. In the 13th century more and more people began moving to urban centers and the wearing of underpants became much more common, leading to greater and greater availability of rags. Um. Maybe.

Now, I’m trying to think of how to use this in my book. I haven’t mentioned this here yet, but the spousal unit and I are collaborating on an alt-history novel that takes place in England in the year 1200. Doing the research has been fascinating. Even the parts that have nothing to do with undergarments. But even more fascinating (and maddening) has been the process of plotting the book. We have several rules that are making things difficult:

1. No character shall act stupidly just so we can get away with a poor plot device.
2. No character shall be evil simply for the hell of it. People have genuine and complex motivations - even bad guys.
3. The plot shall not depend on ridiculous coincidences to save us the effort of writing a story that actually makes sense. (take that, Ocean’s 13!)
4. No monologuing.
5. Conversations shall be conversational. Not opportunities for the authors to show off how much research they did.
6. Sweat the small stuff. Make this world as real, accurate and lived in as we can and know where we’re choosing to stray from historical fact.

As fun as it is to contemplate the role of underwear in literacy, I suspect the availability of rags had more to do with a general rise in the standard of living and than most people would rather have had an extra shirt. Other sources suggest that women wore no undies at all until the 19th century.

See more like that one:

• Drabble Babble
• Lies, Damn Lies and Publishing
• Deranged Atheist Sock Monkey
• Supershort
• Flasher