What do you think?
Rate this book
Langue[dot]doc 1305
There are people involved. That’s the first mistake.
Scientists were never meant to be part of history. Anything in the past is better studied from the present. It’s safer.
When a team of Australian scientists – and a lone historian –travel back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305 they discover being impartial, distant and objective just doesn’t work when you’re surrounded by the smells, dust and heat of a foreign land. They’re only human after all.
But by the time Artemisia is able to convince others that it’s time to worry, it’s already too late.
‘Viscerally powerful, deeply felt, strongly written: Langue[dot]doc 1305 challenges reader expectations of time travel, of ‘Grim-dark’ and of mediaeval life and brings a haunting, authentic voice both to the past and to the struggles facing the present.’
- Kari Sperring, author of Living With Ghosts
Scientists were never meant to be part of history. Anything in the past is better studied from the present. It’s safer.
When a team of Australian scientists – and a lone historian –travel back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305 they discover being impartial, distant and objective just doesn’t work when you’re surrounded by the smells, dust and heat of a foreign land. They’re only human after all.
But by the time Artemisia is able to convince others that it’s time to worry, it’s already too late.
‘Viscerally powerful, deeply felt, strongly written: Langue[dot]doc 1305 challenges reader expectations of time travel, of ‘Grim-dark’ and of mediaeval life and brings a haunting, authentic voice both to the past and to the struggles facing the present.’
- Kari Sperring, author of Living With Ghosts
287 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2014
8 people are currently reading
174 people want to read
About the author
Gillian Polack
66 books79 followersGillian is a writer and historian, currently living in Canberra, Australia. She intends to count the books in her library soon, when they stop falling on her and otherwise intimidating her.
She was given the 2020 A Bertram Chandler Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction.
She was given the 2020 A Bertram Chandler Award for lifetime achievement in science fiction.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
Read
February 25, 2015Polak breaks a lot of writing rules in this leisurely-paced tale of a group of scientists plus one historian taken back in time to the hills outside a small village in Languedoc in 1305. The narrative voice flips between various POVs in short scenes, and sometimes mixes POVs in slyly introduced omniscient. I kept wondering who was writing the story; the why gradually dawned on me, or a possible why, when we reached the end amid .
The historian, Artemisia Wormwood, feels like an outsider from the beginning. This is a state she is used to; gradually we learn why, including why her name seems consciously peculiar. The scientists are enjoined not to reveal themselves to the natives being studied by some (the others are there to look at the night sky at that time, sample the soil, etc) and either are oblivious to the historian, who keeps trying to tell them about life in 1305, or are hostile to Artemisia and her posts.
The hostile ones don't give a damn about paradigm--how people viewed the universe--in 1305, much less differentiating, or understanding, personalities. Artemisia does care, and she's curious, so when one of the scientists inevitably blunders and reveals their presence to the locals, it's Artemisia who tries to fit their presence into the worldview of the locals, specifically a knight who also feels like an outsider. And that has consequences that underscore centuries of evolving notions of what it is to be human, and who is human.
Gradually the personalities become more compelling, though there is no big ticket wars or plagues (they do discuss the climate changes coming that will in turn lead toward the massive disaster of 1348); some are petty, some are generous, some mysterious. Finally something happens that leads to a very powerful scene and revelation, before their time is up and they must shift back.
It's an odd book, I think best appreciated by readers who love history, and find interactions between personalities interesting. I venture to suggest that anyone who likes Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear, specifically the many short scenes, and a gradual rise in story tension, might appreciate this novel.
The historian, Artemisia Wormwood, feels like an outsider from the beginning. This is a state she is used to; gradually we learn why, including why her name seems consciously peculiar. The scientists are enjoined not to reveal themselves to the natives being studied by some (the others are there to look at the night sky at that time, sample the soil, etc) and either are oblivious to the historian, who keeps trying to tell them about life in 1305, or are hostile to Artemisia and her posts.
The hostile ones don't give a damn about paradigm--how people viewed the universe--in 1305, much less differentiating, or understanding, personalities. Artemisia does care, and she's curious, so when one of the scientists inevitably blunders and reveals their presence to the locals, it's Artemisia who tries to fit their presence into the worldview of the locals, specifically a knight who also feels like an outsider. And that has consequences that underscore centuries of evolving notions of what it is to be human, and who is human.
Gradually the personalities become more compelling, though there is no big ticket wars or plagues (they do discuss the climate changes coming that will in turn lead toward the massive disaster of 1348); some are petty, some are generous, some mysterious. Finally something happens that leads to a very powerful scene and revelation, before their time is up and they must shift back.
It's an odd book, I think best appreciated by readers who love history, and find interactions between personalities interesting. I venture to suggest that anyone who likes Connie Willis's Blackout and All Clear, specifically the many short scenes, and a gradual rise in story tension, might appreciate this novel.
February 15, 2015
A team of scientists and an historian travel back in time to the year 1305 in the Languedoc region in the south of France. That's pretty much were the similarities between this and every other time travel story begin and end.
This is a character-driven piece about the scientific method and the science of history, rather than an excuse to show modern people interacting with famous personages from ages past or to play authorial tricks with paradox. Langue[dot]doc gives us a realistic portrayal of working scientists and academics as well as an insight into the mindset of the inhabitants of the various social strata of the medieval Languedoc: a priest, a smith, a layabout, a shiftless knight.
This is a story that's as much about office politics as it is about a class of civilizations.
Funny, disturbing, humane and beautifully written. It's elegant and restrained and it sidesteps every trope and stereotype you might expect to encounter in an SF novel about time traveling scientists. Literary science fiction in its best.
August 5, 2018
Briefly: a bunch of mostly-scientists are sent back in time (via a semi-mysterious experimental machine called Timebot) to the year 1305, in the Languedoc region of southern France. They spend nine months mostly doing navel-gazing esoteric research in a cave system on a hill. They mostly strive to stay away from the nearest village and not interact with the locals. They are quite bad at not attracting attention.
This is totally not the time-travel book you're thinking about, nor the one you're expecting. It doesn't belong in the bin with hard science fiction, nor fantasy, nor romance, nor any other genre I can think of. I guess it's kind of an introspective Pastorale. And it's rather a lovely book that almost defies being talked about. It's a book which, if you're not watching carefully, may randomly teleport itself around to different parts of your bookshelf. You should read it while sitting comfortably in a flowery alpine meadow on a warm afternoon, beside a small babbling brook. (Bring your own wine: 1305 is a bad harvest year.)
Only one member of the "time team", Dr Artemisia Wormwood, has any interest in history, or knows anything about the languages or customs of the era. She's a medieval historian, but the milieu is only kind-of on the outskirts of her bailiwick. She is basically the lowest member on the totem pole and only became part of the team as a last-minute replacement, and because she desperately needs the promised monetary pay-out. Luckily for the group, Artemisia can communicate reasonably with Guilhem "the knight" in a form of transitional northern French.
Most of the book is quite slow-moving and a bit claustrophobic. The writing style has a lot of what I'd call ambiguity, in the sense of being somewhat impressionistic, rather than being a tight stream of just-the-facts. I was never sure whether I liked the writing style or not. There are lots of short scenes, not all of which bear very directly on the main-line of the plot, and quite a number of minor characters that come and go wispily at intervals in the narrative. But they do fill out the sense of location and culture. The book is also rather psychological and inward-looking, very much involved with the uncomfortable inter-personal relationships; the petty politics and power struggles within the time team; and with the budding friendship between Artemisia with her local informant.
For being so slow-moving, the story has a high degree of tension throughout, and I almost couldn't put it down. In the very last part of the book there are some events that sensitive readers could find disturbing, around when the team is preparing to return to their own time.
I paid retail price for the e-book at Book View Cafe. I don't know the author. The editing is excellent, and the writing is solid. While reading, I found only one microscopic thing that might be a typo, but then again, it might not be.
This is totally not the time-travel book you're thinking about, nor the one you're expecting. It doesn't belong in the bin with hard science fiction, nor fantasy, nor romance, nor any other genre I can think of. I guess it's kind of an introspective Pastorale. And it's rather a lovely book that almost defies being talked about. It's a book which, if you're not watching carefully, may randomly teleport itself around to different parts of your bookshelf. You should read it while sitting comfortably in a flowery alpine meadow on a warm afternoon, beside a small babbling brook. (Bring your own wine: 1305 is a bad harvest year.)
Only one member of the "time team", Dr Artemisia Wormwood, has any interest in history, or knows anything about the languages or customs of the era. She's a medieval historian, but the milieu is only kind-of on the outskirts of her bailiwick. She is basically the lowest member on the totem pole and only became part of the team as a last-minute replacement, and because she desperately needs the promised monetary pay-out. Luckily for the group, Artemisia can communicate reasonably with Guilhem "the knight" in a form of transitional northern French.
Most of the book is quite slow-moving and a bit claustrophobic. The writing style has a lot of what I'd call ambiguity, in the sense of being somewhat impressionistic, rather than being a tight stream of just-the-facts. I was never sure whether I liked the writing style or not. There are lots of short scenes, not all of which bear very directly on the main-line of the plot, and quite a number of minor characters that come and go wispily at intervals in the narrative. But they do fill out the sense of location and culture. The book is also rather psychological and inward-looking, very much involved with the uncomfortable inter-personal relationships; the petty politics and power struggles within the time team; and with the budding friendship between Artemisia with her local informant.
For being so slow-moving, the story has a high degree of tension throughout, and I almost couldn't put it down. In the very last part of the book there are some events that sensitive readers could find disturbing, around when the team is preparing to return to their own time.
I paid retail price for the e-book at Book View Cafe. I don't know the author. The editing is excellent, and the writing is solid. While reading, I found only one microscopic thing that might be a typo, but then again, it might not be.
January 17, 2015
This is a time travel story that deals mostly with the characters, both modern and medieval, involved. The history and character of the medieval society struck me as being very plausible, but that's hardly surprising considering the academic credentials of the author who has a PhD in Medieval Studies. I was a little less enamoured by the foibles of the modern characters involved, considering the acknowledged possibility of changing history that the faced.
The story developed well enough, but I was a little dissatisfied with the ending because I felt there were some character's whose story arc weren't finished, which is basically a backhand way of saying that, for me, the story ended to soon.
Your mileage may differ.
Caveat: the author is a friend and fellow member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild.
The story developed well enough, but I was a little dissatisfied with the ending because I felt there were some character's whose story arc weren't finished, which is basically a backhand way of saying that, for me, the story ended to soon.
Your mileage may differ.
Caveat: the author is a friend and fellow member of the Canberra Speculative Fiction Guild.
December 1, 2022
A complete waste of time. Never have I gotten so little from a book about time travel... or any book. Nothing really happened. I kept waiting for something but it never came.
February 5, 2015
It requires talent to take two disparate themes--medieval history and time travel--and marry them convincingly, let alone to create a world that is so beautifully and gracefully ordinary. I enjoy stories with a bit of action, but here is proof that one does not need blood and guts and over-the-top concepts to produce a novel that is so immersive. All you need is the right group of characters, and an author with the skill to slow the world down enough for their reality to become ours.
This is the story about a historian and a group of scientists who travel to France in 1305 in order to make their grand scientific discoveries. All without affecting the outside world, apparently, but of course that proves impossible. And perhaps, given that history had already classified the year that they stayed there as a bad year for wine and crops and all sorts of other things, reality had already adjusted for their presence.
We never really learn what the brilliant leader of the expedition is working on. We don't have explained to us Delta-T or what they learn about plant life and biodiversity and weather patterns. What we get instead is a chance to live in medieval France for a time. To learn the day-to-day details that made the people that live there so human and not just long-dead people from books. What we also learn is how personalities clash and confinement brings out the worst in some and yet allows the outsiders to make a niche for themselves. Some by staying. Some by returning with relationships in hand.
I loved this book. I loved the dignity of the story. I loved the short scenes that wove a reality tightly around me. I loved the insights into character that made all those involved so real and fractious and eminently believable. I even appreciated the frequent perspective shifts though normally that sort of writing grates on me. In this book, where we but lightly skimmed the surface of the many characters' lives, it fit. It worked. Unlike the scientists, we were just privileged bystanders.
If there was anything that left me a little dissatisfied, it was perhaps the unanswered questions at the end. The disappearing scientists - where did they go? What happened to the town and the knight after the traveller's interventions? What was the scientific discovery that Luke was so excited about?
And yet, in the end, perhaps that doesn't matter. Perhaps that's the point of this novel. People bumble blindly into situations that they don't understand, full of big thoughts and big speculations, and at the end of the day the discoveries that are made are often quite different. Perhaps more extraordinary. Perhaps more destructive because they've interrupted the natural order of things, though often that realisation doesn't come until many years later.
Perhaps sometimes there aren't any world changing discoveries at all. Just ones that change the participants and so are only important to the people themselves, not us observers. And perhaps that's equally important.
This is a lovely read, particularly those with more of a background in history than I have--I'm sure I missed a lot. 4.5 stars.
This is the story about a historian and a group of scientists who travel to France in 1305 in order to make their grand scientific discoveries. All without affecting the outside world, apparently, but of course that proves impossible. And perhaps, given that history had already classified the year that they stayed there as a bad year for wine and crops and all sorts of other things, reality had already adjusted for their presence.
We never really learn what the brilliant leader of the expedition is working on. We don't have explained to us Delta-T or what they learn about plant life and biodiversity and weather patterns. What we get instead is a chance to live in medieval France for a time. To learn the day-to-day details that made the people that live there so human and not just long-dead people from books. What we also learn is how personalities clash and confinement brings out the worst in some and yet allows the outsiders to make a niche for themselves. Some by staying. Some by returning with relationships in hand.
I loved this book. I loved the dignity of the story. I loved the short scenes that wove a reality tightly around me. I loved the insights into character that made all those involved so real and fractious and eminently believable. I even appreciated the frequent perspective shifts though normally that sort of writing grates on me. In this book, where we but lightly skimmed the surface of the many characters' lives, it fit. It worked. Unlike the scientists, we were just privileged bystanders.
If there was anything that left me a little dissatisfied, it was perhaps the unanswered questions at the end. The disappearing scientists - where did they go? What happened to the town and the knight after the traveller's interventions? What was the scientific discovery that Luke was so excited about?
And yet, in the end, perhaps that doesn't matter. Perhaps that's the point of this novel. People bumble blindly into situations that they don't understand, full of big thoughts and big speculations, and at the end of the day the discoveries that are made are often quite different. Perhaps more extraordinary. Perhaps more destructive because they've interrupted the natural order of things, though often that realisation doesn't come until many years later.
Perhaps sometimes there aren't any world changing discoveries at all. Just ones that change the participants and so are only important to the people themselves, not us observers. And perhaps that's equally important.
This is a lovely read, particularly those with more of a background in history than I have--I'm sure I missed a lot. 4.5 stars.
January 15, 2018
One of the things I enjoy most about Gillian Polack's books, besides their quirky sense of humour, is how wonderfully she explores the everyday and the ordinary, giving them texture and depth so that they're not ordinary or mundane at all.
In Langue [dot] doc 1305 Polack marries her deep knowledge as a Medievalist to a favourite SF trope – time travel to the days of knights, lords and peasants – and then does her usual magic of transforming the ordinary into the profound.
Artemesia Wormwood (a name she chose for herself) finds herself a last-minute addition to a team of Australian scientists travelling back in time to Languedoc, France, to the year 1305. She's taken on the task of team historian for the money – her sister needs it for cancer treatment – but when she goes back in time she finds the scientists generally don't have interest in, let alone respect for, her expertise.
The team is meant to be studying the era without interacting with it, and especially not with the inhabitants of the local town, St-Guilhem-le-Desert. You can imagine how successful that turns out to be.
The inevitable folding together of medieval humanity and the time team is subtle and slow, and Polack interleaves the lives of both groups of people with a gentle but inexorable rhythm.
We see parallels and echoes of each group in the other. The mischief makers and the leaders; those who are arrogant and those who are quietly trying to keep their society functioning; the friendships and the growing emnities.
Artemesia keeps trying to warn the time team that the people out there are real and that these are dangerous times. As the two groups begin to interact in small ways, however, even Artemesia may be getting complacent through her role as liaison with the knight Guilhem, himself an outsider looking for his place in the community.
Langue [dot] doc 1305 has many delights, from the superb low key characterisation that develops such wonderful, fully human people, to Polack's equally low key yet pointed storytelling which points out how many fallacies people retain about what it is to be human in the medieval era.
Some characters are more sympathetic than others, though Polack's compassion in drawing out human frailty and strengths means that your sympathies may wax and wane until the last few chapters. Artemesia's playful academic humour and the way she's often relegated by her colleagues to 'pointless, useless irritant' ensure you're on her side from the start.
The build up to the confrontations of the conclusion is steady but never dull. When the final events take place (within the caves that are temporary home to the team, within the village, and where those two connect) they have a strong impact on both characters and reader.
I love the texture, intelligence, compassion and craft of Gillian Polack's writing. I love her quiet women finding their strength and her wit. I love her perspective as a Jewish Australian and her great humanity as a writer.
And I loved Langue [dot] doc 1305.
In Langue [dot] doc 1305 Polack marries her deep knowledge as a Medievalist to a favourite SF trope – time travel to the days of knights, lords and peasants – and then does her usual magic of transforming the ordinary into the profound.
Artemesia Wormwood (a name she chose for herself) finds herself a last-minute addition to a team of Australian scientists travelling back in time to Languedoc, France, to the year 1305. She's taken on the task of team historian for the money – her sister needs it for cancer treatment – but when she goes back in time she finds the scientists generally don't have interest in, let alone respect for, her expertise.
The team is meant to be studying the era without interacting with it, and especially not with the inhabitants of the local town, St-Guilhem-le-Desert. You can imagine how successful that turns out to be.
The inevitable folding together of medieval humanity and the time team is subtle and slow, and Polack interleaves the lives of both groups of people with a gentle but inexorable rhythm.
We see parallels and echoes of each group in the other. The mischief makers and the leaders; those who are arrogant and those who are quietly trying to keep their society functioning; the friendships and the growing emnities.
Artemesia keeps trying to warn the time team that the people out there are real and that these are dangerous times. As the two groups begin to interact in small ways, however, even Artemesia may be getting complacent through her role as liaison with the knight Guilhem, himself an outsider looking for his place in the community.
Langue [dot] doc 1305 has many delights, from the superb low key characterisation that develops such wonderful, fully human people, to Polack's equally low key yet pointed storytelling which points out how many fallacies people retain about what it is to be human in the medieval era.
Some characters are more sympathetic than others, though Polack's compassion in drawing out human frailty and strengths means that your sympathies may wax and wane until the last few chapters. Artemesia's playful academic humour and the way she's often relegated by her colleagues to 'pointless, useless irritant' ensure you're on her side from the start.
The build up to the confrontations of the conclusion is steady but never dull. When the final events take place (within the caves that are temporary home to the team, within the village, and where those two connect) they have a strong impact on both characters and reader.
I love the texture, intelligence, compassion and craft of Gillian Polack's writing. I love her quiet women finding their strength and her wit. I love her perspective as a Jewish Australian and her great humanity as a writer.
And I loved Langue [dot] doc 1305.
February 10, 2015
‘Time for Botty to beam you down into the Middle Ages!’
The plan: to send a team of Australian scientists, together with an historian, back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305. The scientists will take scientific measurements of the atmosphere, environment and ecology, and study the skies for nine months. They will live in a cave, and they will have no impact on the people or the history.
Dr Artemisia Wormwood is the historian. She’s a late inclusion to the team, and she’s and expert in Anglo-Norman and Norman hagiography, rather than medieval history. Still, Artemisia is willing to go for personal reasons.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, the only thing that the scientists seem able to agree on is that their own work is important and should be given precedence. The importance of history hardly seems worth considering. And as for keeping away from the people in the local town - why should they?
The local townsfolk soon notice the people living ‘under the hill’ and can’t decide whether they are fairies or demons. Are they simply annoying, or actually dangerous? Time passes, individuals become frustrated, and things go wrong. How will it end? Especially as no-one seems to be taking Artemisia seriously. Artemisia is the only one who can communicate with the locals, and her contact with Guilhem, the local knight, leads to a new set of problems.
‘Why did they bother bringing an historian if they assumed that historian’s stupidity?’
The novel is a series of (usually) short anecdotes, usually from the perspective of Artemisia or Guilhem. These anecdotes demonstrate all too clearly some of the things that can go wrong when people are separated by 700 (or so) years. This, for me, is a novel about difference, about the perceptions that people bring to their experience and expectation of the world in which they live. Each group (the time travellers and the townsfolk) has their leaders, each group has its outsiders. The time travel provides an opportunity to explore some of those differences.
This is a novel to read slowly and reflect on: it is interesting and enjoyable. While few of the characters appealed to me (most were either too argumentative or egotistical, or too passive), the challenges thrown up by the situation had me thinking. And for that, I can almost accept a Timebot known as ‘Botty’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
The plan: to send a team of Australian scientists, together with an historian, back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305. The scientists will take scientific measurements of the atmosphere, environment and ecology, and study the skies for nine months. They will live in a cave, and they will have no impact on the people or the history.
Dr Artemisia Wormwood is the historian. She’s a late inclusion to the team, and she’s and expert in Anglo-Norman and Norman hagiography, rather than medieval history. Still, Artemisia is willing to go for personal reasons.
So, what could possibly go wrong?
Well, the only thing that the scientists seem able to agree on is that their own work is important and should be given precedence. The importance of history hardly seems worth considering. And as for keeping away from the people in the local town - why should they?
The local townsfolk soon notice the people living ‘under the hill’ and can’t decide whether they are fairies or demons. Are they simply annoying, or actually dangerous? Time passes, individuals become frustrated, and things go wrong. How will it end? Especially as no-one seems to be taking Artemisia seriously. Artemisia is the only one who can communicate with the locals, and her contact with Guilhem, the local knight, leads to a new set of problems.
‘Why did they bother bringing an historian if they assumed that historian’s stupidity?’
The novel is a series of (usually) short anecdotes, usually from the perspective of Artemisia or Guilhem. These anecdotes demonstrate all too clearly some of the things that can go wrong when people are separated by 700 (or so) years. This, for me, is a novel about difference, about the perceptions that people bring to their experience and expectation of the world in which they live. Each group (the time travellers and the townsfolk) has their leaders, each group has its outsiders. The time travel provides an opportunity to explore some of those differences.
This is a novel to read slowly and reflect on: it is interesting and enjoyable. While few of the characters appealed to me (most were either too argumentative or egotistical, or too passive), the challenges thrown up by the situation had me thinking. And for that, I can almost accept a Timebot known as ‘Botty’.
Jennifer Cameron-Smith
December 5, 2014
It's clear that the author understands the world of academe only too well in this cautionary tale. A time-slip from the present back to 1305 sounds marvellously exciting - until the reality of medieval time intrudes, along with the realisation that the people the scientists are studying are, in fact, people, not specimens.
Artemisia could have told them that but she's just a historian, a ring-in, and therefore supremely unimportant in the overall scheme of things. And although there are rules about not interacting, not interfering and, above all, not changing history, the line separating 'the people under the hill' from the villagers and that supposedly keeps the scientists out of sight, becomes too confining for those desperate to escape the claustrophobic presence of their companions. One by one they transgress, lured by their desire to witness at first hand what life was like in medieval time, and also to pick up some souvenirs along the way! Their actions, coupled with the suspicions of the villagers, set in train a series of events that will have a profound effect on 'history' - and on the lives of those taking part in the time-travel experiment.
Told in a series of short anecdotes, mostly from Artemisia's and the medieval knight, Guilhem's, point of view, the story is at times funny (witness the endless nitpicking, buck-shoving and argumentative interplay between the scientists) and at times moving, as when the relationship between Artemisia and Guilhem comes to an unexpected and shocking conclusion. Recommended as an interesting and enjoyable read.
Artemisia could have told them that but she's just a historian, a ring-in, and therefore supremely unimportant in the overall scheme of things. And although there are rules about not interacting, not interfering and, above all, not changing history, the line separating 'the people under the hill' from the villagers and that supposedly keeps the scientists out of sight, becomes too confining for those desperate to escape the claustrophobic presence of their companions. One by one they transgress, lured by their desire to witness at first hand what life was like in medieval time, and also to pick up some souvenirs along the way! Their actions, coupled with the suspicions of the villagers, set in train a series of events that will have a profound effect on 'history' - and on the lives of those taking part in the time-travel experiment.
Told in a series of short anecdotes, mostly from Artemisia's and the medieval knight, Guilhem's, point of view, the story is at times funny (witness the endless nitpicking, buck-shoving and argumentative interplay between the scientists) and at times moving, as when the relationship between Artemisia and Guilhem comes to an unexpected and shocking conclusion. Recommended as an interesting and enjoyable read.
September 23, 2024
It’s a simple plan: A university team will travel back in time to 1305 France, hide out in a cave, take scientific measurements of the environment and ecology for nine months, then come back. The members will avoid contact with natives and make no changes in the course of history.
What could go wrong?
Even if the team had boasted of the discipline and leadership of a NASA project, a lot could have gone wrong. Instead, the team is made up of bickering and contrarian academics with an active disdain for history and the lone historian on the team.
Meanwhile, the local townsfolk have noticed the strange people living “under the hill” and can’t decide if they’re fairies, demons, or simply bothersome and probably dangerous.
As the months go on, everyone gets too frustrated in one way or another, and things go very wrong.
The book offers quiet humor, a deep understanding of academia and the Middle Ages, and characters to remember.
What could go wrong?
Even if the team had boasted of the discipline and leadership of a NASA project, a lot could have gone wrong. Instead, the team is made up of bickering and contrarian academics with an active disdain for history and the lone historian on the team.
Meanwhile, the local townsfolk have noticed the strange people living “under the hill” and can’t decide if they’re fairies, demons, or simply bothersome and probably dangerous.
As the months go on, everyone gets too frustrated in one way or another, and things go very wrong.
The book offers quiet humor, a deep understanding of academia and the Middle Ages, and characters to remember.
November 14, 2022
I have heard the author speak at conferences, and liked what she had to say about history and food, among other things. I was looking forward to this time-travel novel, so the fact that I didn't care much for it was disappointing. And that's largely just personal preference; it may be just the thing for some other reader.
The things I liked:
This is a character-driven story. The portrayals of people's lives in the 14th-century are as well-rounded and on the mark as one would expect from a professional historian. There are no famous cameos here; these are ordinary townsfolk with their small dramas and very human priests. I particularly liked the children keeping an eye on the "fairies under the hill" (the scientific team staying in a nearby cave system). The number of men named after the local hero was also a nice touch; one of them (the smith) given considerably more status in the community than the disgruntled knight with the same name.
The sense I got that the story was about the dangers of not seeing other people as human. There are outsiders in multiple dimensions: the knight vs. the townspeople, the historian (Artemsia) vs. the rest of the time travellers, the time travellers vs. the townspeople. Some of them try to understand the others' worldview; some of them don't.
Things that were neutral:
As I said, this is a character-driven story. It's slow-moving, without much plot or action, but that's fine with me as long as the characters and their interactions are interesting.
What I didn't like:
That the novel was at least as much about academic infighting and office politics as it was about time travel or history. I know that's a thing, but it's not something I have much tolerance for. When I'm reading for pleasure, I'd rather read about teamwork. I kept hoping that, under pressure, this group of academics would coalesce and learn to work together, but that never happened.
The primary 14th-century character is an arrogant, unappealing young knight with a chip on his shoulder and serious anger management issues. I ended up skimming most of the scenes where we were inside his head, and didn't follow all of his interactions with the Templars, the castle, etc. I just didn't like him enough to care.
The team of scientists were criminally stupid, doing things right and left that could either (a) cause ripple effects into their present time, or (b) goad the townspeople into doing them serious bodily injury. The time paradoxes were not examined at all. (Connie Willis—whose time travel novels were referenced a couple of times in the story—at least had a hand-wavy out for why her time travellers couldn't affect history. This book didn't even try.) What was the point of this venture? Just to do science? To refine the techniques for time travel? The time travellers are all scientists except for Artemsia, who isn't even allowed to do actual historical research. What a waste! The scientists ostracise the historian, ignore her advice, and get into trouble. And who pays for it?
There were a couple of unanswered question at the end that were particularly annoying.
The things I liked:
This is a character-driven story. The portrayals of people's lives in the 14th-century are as well-rounded and on the mark as one would expect from a professional historian. There are no famous cameos here; these are ordinary townsfolk with their small dramas and very human priests. I particularly liked the children keeping an eye on the "fairies under the hill" (the scientific team staying in a nearby cave system). The number of men named after the local hero was also a nice touch; one of them (the smith) given considerably more status in the community than the disgruntled knight with the same name.
The sense I got that the story was about the dangers of not seeing other people as human. There are outsiders in multiple dimensions: the knight vs. the townspeople, the historian (Artemsia) vs. the rest of the time travellers, the time travellers vs. the townspeople. Some of them try to understand the others' worldview; some of them don't.
Things that were neutral:
As I said, this is a character-driven story. It's slow-moving, without much plot or action, but that's fine with me as long as the characters and their interactions are interesting.
What I didn't like:
That the novel was at least as much about academic infighting and office politics as it was about time travel or history. I know that's a thing, but it's not something I have much tolerance for. When I'm reading for pleasure, I'd rather read about teamwork. I kept hoping that, under pressure, this group of academics would coalesce and learn to work together, but that never happened.
The primary 14th-century character is an arrogant, unappealing young knight with a chip on his shoulder and serious anger management issues. I ended up skimming most of the scenes where we were inside his head, and didn't follow all of his interactions with the Templars, the castle, etc. I just didn't like him enough to care.
The team of scientists were criminally stupid, doing things right and left that could either (a) cause ripple effects into their present time, or (b) goad the townspeople into doing them serious bodily injury. The time paradoxes were not examined at all. (Connie Willis—whose time travel novels were referenced a couple of times in the story—at least had a hand-wavy out for why her time travellers couldn't affect history. This book didn't even try.) What was the point of this venture? Just to do science? To refine the techniques for time travel? The time travellers are all scientists except for Artemsia, who isn't even allowed to do actual historical research. What a waste! The scientists ostracise the historian, ignore her advice, and get into trouble. And who pays for it?
There were a couple of unanswered question at the end that were particularly annoying.
March 7, 2024
I need a medievalist. Right away. [loc. 230]
An account of a, primarily Australian, research trip to medieval Languedoc, told mostly from the viewpoint of historian Artemisia Wormwood. Artemisia (who chose her own surname after divorcing her family, for reasons which are explained late in the novel) is out of work -- and in urgent need of funds -- when she's approached by an old friend who has a proposition for her. The project is a time-travel expedition: the team will spend nine months in 1305, establishing a base in a cave system near the little town of St-Guilhem-le-Desert in Languedoc. Their aim is to study meteorology, biodoversity, astronomy and climate change. They will, of course, stay concealed and not affect the lives of the locals. 'History will be fine,' team leader Luke reassures Artemisia. But Artemisia, who understands that 'it's about how people describe their realities', is not convinced.
It turns out that none of the team (except Artemisia) can communicate with the locals; that none of them (except Artemisia) understand the culture of the time into which they've been deposited; that none of them (except Artemisia) are especially concerned about interacting with the people of St-Guilhem-le-Desert. She is regarded as an irritation by the others, described as 'support staff' and not allowed to participate in planning sessions. But it's Artemisia who has to intercede with the locals when another member of the team, the dislikeable Sylvia, steals a valuable book. In the process, she becomes friendly with a local knight, Guilhem -- though he is not sanguine about 'the people who live under the hill', and he is not wholly honest with Artemisia.
Langue[dot]doc 1305 is often hilarious, but quietly so. Artemisia's conflicts with her colleagues (especially Sylvia, and team-leader Luke, whose area of expertise seems to be drawing things on whiteboards) are horribly recognisable to anyone who has worked in academia, or in a dysfunctional team. Luckily they're not all awful, and Artemisia is pretty self-sufficient. I laughed at the Connie Willis jokes, and shared Artemisia's appalled amusement at Sylvia's behaviour. Which is not to say that the novel is light-hearted and cheerful: some pretty grim things happen towards the end of the story, and it becomes clear (at least to anyone with a working knowledge of medieval history) that ... well, that things have changed.
I enjoyed this a lot. I like Polack's prose, and the Australian inflections, and her wry ironic humour. And I note that I've also greatly enjoyed The Time of the Ghosts and The Year of the Fruitcake. I should certainly read more of her work...
Fulfils the ‘title starting with the letter 'L'’ rubric of the 52 books in 2024 challenge.
Fulfils the ‘A Book With A Number(s) In The Title’ rubric of the Something Bookish Reading Challenge.
October 20, 2021
The blurb makes this sound like a cool concept. I’m not sure how the author managed to make the execution so boring. I kept hoping it would get interesting, but it was just telling, telling, telling, and somehow not even telling anything interesting. It didn’t get better. I abandoned this at chapter 18. The audiobook narrator was also rather uninflected despite a nice accent.
September 27, 2018
Most important non-complaint is I wanted more of everything. Which is a good thing, really.
June 28, 2022
Have I mentioned how much I love time-travel novels? This does not sanitise the past, and is highly recommended!
August 24, 2014
Langue[dot]doc 1305 by Gillian Polack is a time-travel novel set mostly in 1305. It basically documents the expedition's stay in 1305 and the contemporaneous goings-on in the town of Languedoc. It is the second novel I've read by the author, the other was Ms Cellophane, which is unconnected.
Langue[dot]doc 1305 is an unusual book. It's told in a series of short scenes, switching between characters from the present (or, I suppose, near future, since they can time travel) and townsfolk in 1305. Commonly such short scenes would be an indication of a fast-paced, action-heavy plot, but that is not the case here. It is not a long book, coming in at just under 300 pages, but it is a slow, languorous read. The short scenes (and I should note, not all of them a super-short, but many are) give snapshots of minor events both in the lives of the expedition and the locals. Although seemingly unconnected at first, these do tend to lay down context for later happenings.
The characters are not at all what I expected. Artemisia, the only historian on the mission, is positioned very much as the main character, even as she is isolated from the rest of the expedition due to a clash of personalities and (research) culture. The scientists, quite frankly, often acted very pettily and put me in mind of the public servants in Ms Cellophane (in particular, I found similarities between the two antagonist characters). I felt like I should be on the side of the scientists (because I am one) but they were mostly such annoying people that I was very much on Artemisia's side throughout.
Gillian Polack is a historian, specialising in Medieval France, so I have no doubt that all the history included was as accurate as possible. I am also quite sure that there were jokes that I didn't pick up on because I am not a historian, but that did not make it an unenjoyable read. Instead, I suspect others with a stronger medieval background will get more out of it than I did.
I recommend Langue[dot]doc 1305 to anyone with a passing interest in history (especially Medieval France), speculative fiction reader or not. On the other hand, those looking for action and adventure would be better off looking elsewhere.
4 / 5 stars
There are people involved. That's the first mistake.
Scientists were never meant to be part of history. Anything in the past is better studied from the present. It's safer.
When a team of Australian scientists — and a lone historian — travel back to St-Guilhem-le-Désert in 1305 they discover being impartial, distant and objective just doesn't work when you're surrounded by the smells, dust and heat of a foreign land. They're only human after all.
But by the time Artemisia is able to convince other that it's time to worry, it's already too late.
Langue[dot]doc 1305 is an unusual book. It's told in a series of short scenes, switching between characters from the present (or, I suppose, near future, since they can time travel) and townsfolk in 1305. Commonly such short scenes would be an indication of a fast-paced, action-heavy plot, but that is not the case here. It is not a long book, coming in at just under 300 pages, but it is a slow, languorous read. The short scenes (and I should note, not all of them a super-short, but many are) give snapshots of minor events both in the lives of the expedition and the locals. Although seemingly unconnected at first, these do tend to lay down context for later happenings.
The characters are not at all what I expected. Artemisia, the only historian on the mission, is positioned very much as the main character, even as she is isolated from the rest of the expedition due to a clash of personalities and (research) culture. The scientists, quite frankly, often acted very pettily and put me in mind of the public servants in Ms Cellophane (in particular, I found similarities between the two antagonist characters). I felt like I should be on the side of the scientists (because I am one) but they were mostly such annoying people that I was very much on Artemisia's side throughout.
Gillian Polack is a historian, specialising in Medieval France, so I have no doubt that all the history included was as accurate as possible. I am also quite sure that there were jokes that I didn't pick up on because I am not a historian, but that did not make it an unenjoyable read. Instead, I suspect others with a stronger medieval background will get more out of it than I did.
I recommend Langue[dot]doc 1305 to anyone with a passing interest in history (especially Medieval France), speculative fiction reader or not. On the other hand, those looking for action and adventure would be better off looking elsewhere.
4 / 5 stars
January 6, 2019
[Disclaimer: Ho ricevuto iI libro via il programma Early Reviewer di LibraryThing] Gillian Polack è una medievalista. Come si può parlare di medioevo in un libro? Per esempio si potrebbe fare un romanzo storico. Polack ha invece scelto di mandare un gruppo di ricercatori del prossimo futuro nella Linguadoca del 1305, nel primo esperimento di viaggio a ritroso nel tempo. In teoria i ricercatori dovrebbero tenersi alla larga dalla popolazione locale, per evitare di creare paradossi temporali: inutile dire che la pratica sarà piuttosto diversa e si direbbe che è proprio la loro esistenza che fa precipitare gli eventi e li fa diventare quelli che noi tutti conosciamo dai libri di storia. Il libro non è classificabile come fantascienza, ma appunto sul medioevo. Il passo è piuttosto lento, non aspettatevi chissà quali colpi di scena: nulla di male, in fin dei conti. La narrazione del Medioevo è interessante, come ci si poteva aspettare; quello che mi fa abbassare il giudizio è il modo in cui i personaggi sono pitturati. Non c'è un vero protagonista: la storica Artemisia è quella che si avvicina di più ma anche il suo personaggio dà spesso l'aria di essere solo tratteggiato senza portare i suoi tratti alla logica conclusione. Inoltre ogni tanto Polack passa a raccontare i pensieri di altri personaggi, sempre però en passant. Secondo me si poteva fare di meglio.
February 22, 2016
A clever and unusual time-travel story. A group of scientists travel back to 1305 with instructions to stay out of sight of the inhabitants of the village they are staying near. Their characters are all such that each of them has a high degree of entitlement and so little respect for the one historian in their group that her warnings are constantly disregarded.
As in any small group in a claustrophobic situation, there are personality clashes and Artemesia, the historian, is made to feel increasingly sidelined and excluded. I wanted to slap most of them on several occasions because of their rudeness and high-handedness, so I guess that meant I engaged with them.
The locals see them more and more frequently and worry about the strange folk who live in the hill outside the village, and no, in is not a typo.
The story was a good one and I was quite engrossed.
As in any small group in a claustrophobic situation, there are personality clashes and Artemesia, the historian, is made to feel increasingly sidelined and excluded. I wanted to slap most of them on several occasions because of their rudeness and high-handedness, so I guess that meant I engaged with them.
The locals see them more and more frequently and worry about the strange folk who live in the hill outside the village, and no, in is not a typo.
The story was a good one and I was quite engrossed.
November 14, 2021
A bunch of scientists and one historian go back in time. They think they can manage not to interact with the people of the time, so they skulk around in a cave and the midden. As with any bunch of people they have baggage. 9 months in close proximity with said baggage. In a time which was far from gentle to outsiders.
As you would expect it sometimes drags a bit (9 months confined to cave would do that), but then someone does something stupid or unkind or very very kind and it gets interesting again.
As you would expect it sometimes drags a bit (9 months confined to cave would do that), but then someone does something stupid or unkind or very very kind and it gets interesting again.
July 1, 2015
Love Gillian's style of fantasy writing or in this case, I suppose, SciFi. Australian characters,time travel and the French countryside! That makes up a good share of my favourite things to read about. An overall good story that hints of hidden depths especially in regard to the back story of all the characters. I really do want to know more about them. And wanting more is an excellent way to leave your readers
March 15, 2015
So what do you get when you mix time travelling scientists, a historian, a discontented knight, a superstitious town and really bad group dynamics?
https://julanne1.wordpress.com/2015/0...
https://julanne1.wordpress.com/2015/0...
August 19, 2018
Langue[dot]doc is about disquieting relationships in a team environment. The time traveling team in this book consists of research scientists who are narrowly focused on their own study to the exclusion of other team member disciplines. This dysfunctional focus led to the renunciation of certain members of the team as well as to reckless behavior that endangered the entire group.
The Langue[dot]doc team was sent to the Rhone Valley area in Southeast France during the year 1305 using a modern-day time portal. Their goal was not fully defined in the book but a medieval historian sent along as a guide to period practices and culture was deemed unimportant by the scientists. Team members’ disregard of this particular specialist led to dangerous cultural conflicts with the local populace that ultimately resulted in one of the team members being accosted.
Despite the means of travel, this book is not about time travel so much as it is about relationships. I had hoped to learn more about medieval society from the book than I did. With the narrative being more about the selfishness and self-importance of present-day team members, insufficient time was left to verbally illustrate 14th-century life. One thing that was evident is that people of that time were just as suspicious of outsiders as they are today. Anything of a negative nature that befell the town was blamed on the outsiders despite how improbable that seemed to the town’s leaders. Fear of people unlike us must be a human inborn trait.
Langue[dot]doc was not difficult to read but its personal relationship focus did not appeal to me. It did make me somewhat appreciate early 14th small town life in the Languedoc area. But, I wanted to know more about how money transfers among wealthy landowners and their distant relatives was facilitated and about how commerce between the villages, towns, and cities was conducted. Were these woven into the story, it would have made for a more interesting read.
The Langue[dot]doc team was sent to the Rhone Valley area in Southeast France during the year 1305 using a modern-day time portal. Their goal was not fully defined in the book but a medieval historian sent along as a guide to period practices and culture was deemed unimportant by the scientists. Team members’ disregard of this particular specialist led to dangerous cultural conflicts with the local populace that ultimately resulted in one of the team members being accosted.
Despite the means of travel, this book is not about time travel so much as it is about relationships. I had hoped to learn more about medieval society from the book than I did. With the narrative being more about the selfishness and self-importance of present-day team members, insufficient time was left to verbally illustrate 14th-century life. One thing that was evident is that people of that time were just as suspicious of outsiders as they are today. Anything of a negative nature that befell the town was blamed on the outsiders despite how improbable that seemed to the town’s leaders. Fear of people unlike us must be a human inborn trait.
Langue[dot]doc was not difficult to read but its personal relationship focus did not appeal to me. It did make me somewhat appreciate early 14th small town life in the Languedoc area. But, I wanted to know more about how money transfers among wealthy landowners and their distant relatives was facilitated and about how commerce between the villages, towns, and cities was conducted. Were these woven into the story, it would have made for a more interesting read.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews