Pleasure For Pleasure (36 page)
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Authors: Eloisa James
M
ore than any of my previous novels, this story owes a debt to Shakespeare. The interweaving between my novel and Shakespeare's
A Midsummer Night's Dream
go from the enchanted wood and its fairies, to the drug,
love-in-idleness
, to the characters' names, used by Darlington in Hellgate's
Memoirs
. But underpinning these structural links is a deeper thought. In Shakespeare's play a man believes himself in love, and under the drug of moonlight, an enchanted forest, and a measured dose of
love-in-idleness
, he changes his mind and discovers true love. The same is true for my novel's hero. Mayne was so muddled in his thinking about women that he wasn't able to think clearly until he had lost his rational sense altogether. And Josie (plus a little
love-in-idleness
) was just the one to do that service for him.
At one point Josie quotes from another bit of Shakespeare, talking of a
wilderness of lust
. This is not from
A Midsummer Night's Dream
, but from an altogether harder-edged source, a sonnet written (as far as we know) for Shakespeare's private
pleasure, and from his most private feelings. “The expense of spirit in a waste of shame/Is lust in action,” he writes, talking of sexual intercourse undertaken purely from motives of desire. Mayne knew the landscape of Shakespeare's sonnet. He had lived in that wasteland of shame for years. I knew it would take an extraordinary woman to drag him into heartfelt life again, but Josie could be trusted to do it.
One final note on Hellgate's
Memoirs
. I made them up, obviously, but I had a bit of help with Hellgate's exuberant, overwrought language. At various points Hellgate borrows from the letters of Sarah Bernhardt (a French actress from the 1800s) and from those of Napoleon Bonaparte to Madam Marie Welewska in 1807. If you would like more exact information on Hellgate's bits and pieces, Marvell's poem quoted by Josie, the Minerva Press, or references to Shakespeare, please visit my website at
www.eloisajames.com.
For each of my books, I put up pages giving you an inside scoop on characters, history, and anything else I find interesting. Do stop byâand while you're there, wander by my Bulletin Board and join the discussion about this novel!
I wish to thank novelist Carola Dunn for generously sharing her expertise in arcane Regency minutiae. Dr. Jean-Marc Passelergue of Baugé, France, gave the Earl of Mayne the perfect motto, and Sylvia Clemot of Rueil Malmaison, France, generously provided my Sylvie with excellent French. As always, my research assistant, Franzeca Drouin, was a treasure of information, though all errors are (regretfully) my own.
This book is dedicated to the bon-bon lovers who frequent the Eloisa James Bulletin Board, sharing their laughter, creativity, and passion for the Earl of Mayne. Love you, guys!
Author of eleven award-winning romances, E
LOISA
J
AMES
is a professor of English literature who lives with her family in New Jersey. All her books must have been written in her sleep, because her days are taken up by caring for two children with advanced degrees in whining, a demanding guinea pig, a smelly frog, and a tumbledown house. Letters from readers provide a great escape! Write Eloisa at [email protected] or visit her website at www.eloisajames.com.
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FOR
NEW YORK TIMES
AND
USA TODAY
BESTSELLER
ELOISA
JAMES
“O
ne of the brightest lights in our genre. Her writing is truly scrumptious.”
Teresa Medeiros
“S
he writes with a captivating blend of charm, style, and grace that never fails to leave the reader sighing and smiling and falling in love.”
Julia Quinn
“C
all her âthe historical Jennifer Crusie'â¦James gives readers plenty of reasons to laugh.”
Publishers Weekly
“S
he's a gift every romance reader should give herself.”
Connie Brockway
“[
J
ames] forces the reader into a delicious surrender.”
USA Today
“R
omance writing does not get much better than this.”
People
P
LEASURE FOR
P
LEASURE
T
HE
T
AMING OF THE
D
UKE
K
ISS
M
E,
A
NNABEL
M
UCH
A
DO
A
BOUT
Y
OU
Y
OUR
W
ICKED
W
AYS
A W
ILD
P
URSUIT
F
OOL FOR
L
OVE
D
UCHESS IN
L
OVE
Coming Soon
D
ESPERATE
D
UCHESSES
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, organizations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
PLEASURE FOR PLEASURE
. Copyright © 2006 by Eloisa James. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books.
ePub edition November 2006 ISBN 9780061795237
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