Talk:The Black Moth

A fact from The Black Moth appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 10 March 2015 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the works of Georgette Heyer include her first novel The Black Moth (1921), which she based on a story she wrote for her haemophiliac younger brother?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2015/March. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/List of works by Georgette Heyer.

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Review for DYK[edit]

As I said at the DYK review, this could easily be expanded further.

The bits you've retained from the original article are a bit sub-par. The plot summary paragraph really needs referencing to a secondary source. The final sentence is completely inappropriate in tone for an encyclopedia article and there is no need to avoid spoilers in this fashion. The characters list could do with all the extra forenames taken out -- ie could just have Jack Carstares, Dick Carstares, Tracy Belmanoir. Also the character list omits Frank Fortescue!

The first sentence of the plot summary lifts from Stade & Karbiener disgraced six years earlier, returns home and becomes a highwayman so that he is able to live in the land he loves without detection. cf ...who, disgraced, becomes a highwayman so that he may continue to live in the land he loves.

It's odd to see the protagonist stated as Carstares, because it feels like Andover, who opens and closes the novel and also is the one of the two whose character undergoes growth and development. Is there a modern reference for this? If not it might be best just to omit which of the men is the protagonist.

It's widely accepted that the novel was revisited in These Old Shades, with Avon being a rewrite of Andover and Davenant of Fortescue; I believe this is mentioned in Jane Aiken Hodge's biography of Heyer but my copy is 500 miles away so I can't check. The fact is mentioned in the article for These Old Shades, with a citation to Kloester, 2011, which unfortunately I don't own. (It was also stated in the version I last read of this article, but appears to have been removed before you started to expand.)

Anna Faktorovich asserts that the publishing firm was a good choice for the young author, as Constable had a good distribution network and a wish to found new literary genres such as historical romance. cf Constable was an ideal choice for Heyer because it was a publisher that was interested in founding new genres (in this case, the historical romance novel), and it had one of the best popular distribution networks. This feels a little too close to the source to me; can you rephrase?

Is Mari Ness in Tor.com a sufficiently reliable source? I'm not sure of the critic or the site's credentials for critiquing this genre of fiction. I am particularly worried about the written (or at least co-written) by Heyer, an allegation which really needs a more reliable source.

There's also perhaps a little too close paraphrasing of Spillman: ...characteristics visible in Heyer's later works: the importance of friendship, seamless action scenes, and a "natural discourse" between the male protagonists. cf ...the novel bears some of the hallmarks of Heyer's later, greater work: fluid action sequences; easy, natural discourse between the major male characters; and an emphasis on the importance of friendship.

You might mention that Constable had already published Waverley, which Faktorovich rather implausibly claims as the first historical novel. (I suppose it might be the first historical novel in the English language?)

You could add the contemporary review by The Saturday Review quoted in Spillman, p85.

You could include the quotation from Hodge about the novel included in the Georgette Heyer article.

Not all of this needs to be fixed for the DYK to go ahead, obviously, though some of it does. Hope it's helpful in developing the article, anyway! Espresso Addict (talk) 21:00, 12 February 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Definitely some great suggestions, Espresso Addict! I've implemented some of them into the article, so hopefully it is looking better. I'm preparing to get Persuasion to FA status and will not have time to work on Moth for a while, but you are welcome to improve the article further if you wish. Thanks! Ruby 2010/2013 03:07, 5 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]