60 pages • 2 hours read
Deanna RaybournA Curious Beginning
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2015A modern alternative to SparkNotes and CliffsNotes, SuperSummary offers high-quality Study Guides with detailed chapter summaries and analysis of major themes, characters, and more.
Background
Cultural Context: Lepidoptery
Lepidopterology (or lepidoptery, as it is termed in A Curious Beginning) is the scientific study of moths and butterflies. A branch of entomology, or the study of insects, lepidoptery rose to popularity in the 18th and 19th centuries. “Gentlemen scientists” in Europe began cataloguing types of butterflies and moths in their home countries before venturing further afield in long and often elaborate expeditions to collect other species. These expeditions, which frequently spanned several years, were often funded by wealthy collectors.
Though contemporary attitudes about gender meant that many prominent lepidopterists were men, there were, like Veronica Speedwell, various women who contributed notably to the field. Among these was Maria Sibylla Merian, a German naturalist who became one of the first to directly inspect insects in the late 17th century (Swaby, Rachel. Headstrong: 52 Women Who Changed Science – And the World, 2015. New York: Broadway Books. pp. 47-50). Margaret Fountaine was a Victorian-era lepidopterist whose personal collection, only opened decades after her death, contained over 22,000 butterfly and moth specimens (Michael A. Salmon; Peter Marren; Basil Harley. The Aurelian Legacy: British Butterflies and Their Collectors, 2000. University of California Press. p. 199). Canadian Edna Mosher was initially denied enrollment in a PhD program due to her gender but eventually received her degree in 1915; her dissertation is still considered a definitive work on the broad classification Lepidoptera (Zimmerman, Elwood C. (1973). “Edna Mosher, 1878-1972 Authority on the pupae of Lepidoptera.” Bulletin of the Entomological Society of Canada. 5: 143-145.)
While Veronica Speedwell identifies as a lepidopterist, she notes that her study pertains to butterflies only; she is unbothered to admit that she “discriminate[s] against moths” (249).
Historical Context: The Victorian Royal Family
Queen Victoria, England’s second-longest reigning monarch ruled England from 1837 to 1901. Her reign lasted 60 years and 216 days. Her parents were Prince Edward, son of King George III, and Princess Victoire of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, a German royal. At the time of her coronation in 1837, she was only 18 years old. In 1840, she married her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg. Albert, who famously had a love connection with his wife, became Prince Consort, a role without official state powers. Victoria and Albert had nine children together. The second oldest and oldest male child, Prince Albert Edward became King Edward VII upon his mother’s death in 1901. His fictional first marriage is depicted in A Curious Beginning.
The youngest child, Princess Beatrice, was born in 1857, only four years before her father’s death in 1861. Victoria blamed Albert’s death on their son, Albert Edward, as Albert had contracted an illness after visiting Albert Edward to discuss his affair with Irish actress Nellie Clifden. Contemporary doctors attributed Albert’s death to typhoid fever, while modern doctors have suggested that he may have suffered from Crohn’s disease or stomach cancer, which led to his mother’s death. Victoria wore black, signaling her grief over her widowhood, from 1861 until her own death in 1901.
Prince Albert Edward married Princess Alexandra of Denmark; together, they had five children who survived to adulthood, including George, who would later become King George V despite being a second son. Albert Edward’s oldest son, Albert Victor, died in 1892; he was outlived by both his parents and his grandmother, Victoria. In total, Victoria had 42 grandchildren and 87 great-grandchildren, many of whom married into other royal families, earning her the nickname “grandmother of Europe.”
Political Context: Irish Home Rule
During the Victorian era, Ireland was part of the United Kingdom. England first invaded Ireland in the 1100s, and ruled over the country for centuries to come; English immigrants settled across the country but particularly in the northern counties. By the period in which A Curious Beginning is set, nearly one third of the country’s population consisted of immigrants, but this entailed the oppression of native Irish citizens. This was achieved not only through war, but also through the forceful transfer of land from Irish Catholics to English Protestants in the 17th century. Ireland officially became part of the UK after the Act of Union in 1800, which many Irish people opposed. From 1845 to 1852, the country was struck by a blight on their most prominent crop, potatoes, but British rule mandated that a large majority of their remaining crops and resources be exported. This resulted in The Great Famine, wherein roughly 1 million Irish people died and millions more emigrated.
Home Rule was a nationalist political movement from the late 19th century to the end of World War I, wherein Irish nationalists sought the right to self-govern. Considering that A Curious Beginning is set only a few decades after the end of the famine, the level of support for Ireland and the Home Rule movement shown by the primary antagonist, de Clare, isn’t surprising. However, the main character, Veronica, was brought up in England and remains loyal to the monarchy at the novel’s end. The introduction of Irish lineage and the potential for Irish independence, though, leaves the broader cultural conflict open for possible exploration later in the series. Ireland would achieve its independence in 1921, not long after the end of the Victorian era, though six northern counties remained under British control and were thereafter named Northern Ireland.
