58 pages • 1 hour read
Louise PennyA World of Curiosities
Fiction | Novel | Adult | Published in 2022A 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
Historical Context: The Montreal Massacre
On December 6, 1989, an armed man named Marc Lépine entered the École Polytechnique de Montreal, a university associated with the Université de Montreal in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Polytechnique Montreal focuses on research and teaching in engineering and other applied and design disciplines. Lépine entered a classroom where a mechanical engineering class was taking place; he ordered the male students (who were most of the students in the classroom) to leave, threatening them at gunpoint. When the male students had left, Lépine opened fire on the nine female students remaining; while doing so, he made statements about his hatred for feminists. Six of these nine students died. Lépine then roamed through the school, shooting at any female students he could find. In the end, he killed a total of 14 women before shooting himself inside the school.
In her novel, Penny describes these events from the perspective of a fictional character (Armand Gamache), but includes many historically accurate details. Nathalie Provost, who appears in the novel, is a historical figure who was shot and wounded by Lépine and has spent much of her life advocating for better gun control in Canada. Penny also includes the accurate and chilling detail of a police official entering the site of the shooting to find the body of his own daughter. Louise Penny met with Nathalie Provost while writing her novel and was inspired by her advocacy for both gun control and human rights.
The attack at the Polytechnique was, at the time, one of the worst mass shootings in Canadian history. While Lépine’s focus on female victims, the statements he made during the attack, and documents found afterward (including a list of 19 prominent women whom he hoped to kill) all clearly indicated that he was focused on killing women, especially women whom he perceived as “feminists,” initial media coverage of the events was sometimes hesitant to connect the attack to misogyny and violence against women. The event eventually came to be symbolic of wider societal violence against women, and December 6 is now commemorated as the National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women in Canada.
Cultural Context: The Paston Treasure
A World of Curiosities references a well-known work of art known as The Paston Treasure. The oil painting was painted around 1670 by an unknown Dutch artist; it was commissioned by either Sir Robert Paston or Sir William Paston (his father). The Paston family had gradually acquired wealth and status in Britain; Clement Paston, who lived from 1515 to 1597, used the wealth from a successful career as a sailor and soldier to build the family seat, Oxnead Hall, and begin collecting art and other artifacts. Clement’s descendant William Paston, who lived from 1610 to 1663, traveled extensively and often brought home objects that were considered exotic or unusual. Toward the end of William’s life, either he or his son Robert commissioned the painting to depict the many unusual and noteworthy objects in the family collection; these objects were often referred to as “curiosities” and might be displayed to visitors.
Some of the objects depicted in the painting include a clock, a watch (relatively new technologies at the time), various cups made out of shells, a lobster, a songbook, a globe, and a lute. Two human figures, a young girl (possibly a member of the Paston family) and a young Black boy, are also included in the painting; it is unknown if the latter represents a specific individual or is intended to be symbolic of travels to Africa. Because the exact function and meaning of the painting, as well as the identity of the artist, remain unclear, the painting can usefully be deployed to deepen the sense of mystery within Penny’s novel.
William Paston died in 1732, and by then the family had lost most of their money. Most of their objects and art were sold, which makes the painting even more significant as a rare record of some of the collection at its height. The Paston Treasure was treated as an obscure work for centuries and was donated to the Norwich Castle Museum in 1947. Since then, the work has become the object of significant interest among art historians and has been the subject of exhibits in both England and the United States.
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