By now you’ve no doubt become aware of the teapot-filling tempest that was inspired by a few very well-spoken lines of Hilary Mantel’s brilliant lecture delivered as the first of the London Review of Books Winter Lecture series at the British Museum. However what is being obscured by all the dust kicked into the air by the hyperbolic pronouncements of the tabloid – and, sad to note, too much of the mainstream – press is the very cogent point Ms. Mantel was making. For those who may not have had the opportunity to hear or read her words and consider them within the context of which they were spoken, the complete text of the lecture as well as the recording of it may be found on the LRB’s website.
