![]() ![]() 1485-1540), Henry VIII’s infamous factotum, councilor, Master Secretary, Master of the Rolls, Chancellor of Cambridge University, Lord Keeper of the Privy Seal, Chancellor of Augmentations, Knight of the Garter, Baron of Wimbledon, Captain of the Isle of Wright, Constable of Leeds Castle, Earl of Essex, and Vicegerent in Spirituals-or, as Jane Seymour, Henry VIII’s unfortunate third wife-who lies down to give birth to Edward VI and never gets back up-puts it, “he who does everything in England.the government and the church as well.” It is the injunction by which we are governed and which governs our fictions, even fictions about the dead, as Hilary Mantel demonstrates in her nearly two-thousand-page trilogy that begins with these words and chronicles the extraordinary rise and fall of Thomas Cromwell (c. Life and narrative are mirrored in this necessity. The phrase underscores a prerequisite rather than a choice. Sometimes, in speaking, we try to make our words become truth, while at other times, our speech verifies a truth. ![]() ![]() In it there is anguish, determination, hope, wish-fulfillment, glee, self-satisfaction, relief. We say it when it seems impossible: “So now get up.” It is an expression of will that reflects back upon its speaker. We say it to others as we say it to ourselves. ![]()
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