Kaufman, Pamela

views updated

KAUFMAN, Pamela

PERSONAL: married; husband's name Charlie (a writer); children: two sons. Education: Earned Ph.D.

ADDRESSES: Agent—c/o Author Mail, Three Rivers Press, 1745 Broadway, New York, NY 10019.

CAREER: Novelist. Formerly worked as an actress; former educator.

WRITINGS:

HISTORICAL FICTION

Shield of Three Lions, Crown (New York, NY), 1983, reprinted, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2002.

Banners of Gold (sequel to Shield of Three Lions), Crown (New York, NY, 1986, reprinted, Three Rivers Press (New York, NY), 2002.

The Book of Eleanor, Crown (New York, NY), 2002.

SIDELIGHTS: Pamela Kaufman's debut novel, Shield of Three Lions, is a work of historical fiction in which Lady Alix of Wanthwaite, an adolescent, loses her family and her lands along the Scottish border in an attack. Because she feels the only hope of regaining her inheritance is by pleading her case to King Richard the Lionhearted, she cuts her hair, dresses as a boy, and travels to Richard's encampment to be taken on as a page. Calling herself Alexander, she is befriended by Enoch, a Scottish knight who becomes her protector. Along the way, Alix/Alexander meets such figures as Robin Hood and the archbishop of Canterbury, as well as prostitutes, rogues, entertainers, and other colorful characters. Against the background of the Third Crusade, the beautiful young boy attracts the homosexual advances of Richard, while Alix, who suspects that Richard knows her true gender, mistakes his intentions as heterosexual. Richard eventually learns the truth, and Alix flees to her home to find that her castle, as well as her hand, has been given to Enoch.

Christine B. Vogel wrote in the Washington Post Book World that in Shield of Three Lions "Kaufman has captured all the pageantry, chivalry, and stench-filled realities of medieval life with a fineness of detail that bespeaks prodigious and painstaking research. Add to that her sensitivity, humor and highly creative writer's touch and you have a truly original and extraordinarily memorable story." Los Angeles Times Book Review contributor Elizabeth Wheeler felt that "Kaufman takes her history seriously. She skillfully re-creates an era of mystery and brutality, presenting an exceptional picture of the time without violating or expanding the conventions of the historical romance." A Publishers Weekly reviewer called Shield of Three Lions a "rollicking, bawdy, glorious work," and noted Kaufman's clear portrayal of Alix, whose "deepening perceptions of love, sex, human nature and honor are right on the mark and hilarious to boot."

In Banners of Gold Richard's mother, Eleanor of Aquitaine, has Lady Alix—who is now married to Enoch—abducted and brought from Scotland to France because Richard has announced that the young woman is the one with whom he wants to have children. Although Richard is married at the time, and childless, he consumates his desire for Alix, placing her life in danger. When Richard dies, Alix escapes to a nunnery to avoid the fate planned for her by Eleanor and Prince John, Richard's evil brother. A Kirkus Reviews contributor noted that Kaufman "drives her tale at a satisfying gallop" and called the book "Sound historical entertainment."

The Book of Eleanor is a fictional memoir penned as though by one of the most significant women in medieval history, Eleanor of Aquitaine, wife and mother of kings. Eleanor's history unfolds in the cell where she has been imprisoned by her second husband, the ruthless Henry II of England, after organizing a rebellion against him led by their sons. Eleanor had married Louis VII of France for political reasons while she was still in her teens and her sexually repressed husband was so jealous that he took her with him on the Crusades, where she experienced a freedom unknown to women of her time. She eventually convinced the pope to annul their marriage and then married Henry. In Kaufman's novel, Eleanor finds love with Baron Rancon, although the actual history of this affair is unknown. A Publishers Weekly contributor wrote that Kaufman's "presentation of one of history's larger-than-life heroines as an early feminist will engage and entertain readers with an interest in the life stories of powerful women."

Kaufman told CA: "My writing process is like making ovals across a page for penmanship; I redo everything. Since I write about women in the Middle Ages and since almost nothing is known about them, I write out the story, then rewrite and rewrite again until it sounds comfortable. I work all day every day. Obviously I do a lot of research, but try not to let it show. I like a humorous tone, especially high comedy. I've been an actress on Broadway and that shows: I'm aware of the laugh and waiting for it. I taught for many years as a professor and that shows as well: I teach myself first, then others.

"I like to laugh and laugh most while I'm writing, so I suppose Shield of Three Lions made me laugh most. I'm quite fond of my latest book, The Prince of Poison; it has a wonderful villain and a major theme: Magna Carta. And of course, it has humor."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Kirkus Reviews, September 1, 1986, review of Banners of Gold, p. 1314; December 15, 2001, review of The Book of Eleanor, p. 1705.

Library Journal, September 1, 1983, Andrea Lee Shuey, review of Shield of Three Lions, p. 1721; April 1, 2002, Wendy Bethel, review of The Book of Eleanor, p. 140.

Los Angeles Times Book Review, November 20, 1983, Elizabeth Wheeler, review of Shield of Three Lions, p. 14.

Publishers Weekly, July 29, 1983, review of Shield of Three Lions, p. 61; September 12, 1986, review of Banners of Gold, p. 79; January 7, 2002, review of The Book of Eleanor, p. 45.

Washington Post Book World, September 18, 1983, Christine B. Vogel, review of Shield of Three Lions, p. 8; November 30, 1986, Jeanne McManus, review of Banners of Gold, p. 8.

West Coast Review of Books, Volume 12, issue 4, review of Banners of Gold, p. 35.