Author’s Notes

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” is a theme that has inspired poets, artists and writers since the Middle Ages. Of course I knew the poem by Keats, some of the Pre-Raffaelite paintings, and I was also aware that there was some kind of medieval ballad or other of the same title.

When I researched the poems and the paintings to find inspiration for my story, I was struck by the many layers of culture that had coalesced in the theme of “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” over the centuries. There’s not just a host of medieval ballads dealing with the merciless lady or heaps of Pre-Raffaelite paintings. There are modern poems taking up the topic, caricatures, cartoons and even a short film!


Resources


Poetry:

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by John Keats, of course

“La Belle Dame Sans Mercy” by Alain Chartier, edited by Dana Symons

“Alain Chartier, The quarrel of the belle dame sans mercy” by Joan E. McRae, a Google Books preview


Other Literature:

But there were many other literary sources I looked at that contain references to LBDSM: Hardy, Ulysses, Nabokov … and I came across many other interesting books and sources during my research, for example “Romantic medicine and John Keats” by Hermione De Almeida.


Art:

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by George Barbier in “La Gazette du Bon Ton”, 1921

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Frank Cadogan Cowper (1877-1958)

“La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Walter Crane (1845-1915)


Comics:

A comic about “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” by Neil Cohn.

Version 1

Version 2


Film:

A short film by Hidetoshi Oneda: “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” — Trailer



A Challenging Prompt …

While it was fascinating to delve into these riches,  it was also very challenging to transform the inspiration I found into a story.  This prompt definitely offered the opportunity to attempt a more literary approach than HP fanfic usually allows and I was determined to make the most of it.

It was not easy to find a suitable approach. What stalled me for a while was how little Hermione fits the theme — one of her most striking traits of character IMO is her compassion. Even for house-elves and hippogriffs, even when everyone is laughing at her.

But “The quarrel of the belle dame sans mercy” also contains the ballad “The Belle Dame Qui Eut Mercy”, a rebuttal of the original ballad (more information about that ballad may be found here) and a modern poem “La Belle Dame Avec Merci” by Michael Fleming can be found here.

Once I saw the Lady Without Mercy juxtaposed to the Lady With Mercy, inspiration struck and the rest was (almost) easy.


Formal Realisation

Since the prompt was based on a ballad (which  in turn was based on another ballad), I wanted to express this formal tradition. Therefore I chose a form of constrained writing to present my story, as a reminder of the ballads that inspired it.

  • La Belle Sorcière Sans Merci has ten chapters with exactly 100, 200, 300, 400, 500, 600, 700, 800, 900 and 1,000 words as counted by MS Word
  • La Belle Sorcière Avec Merci has ten chapters with exactly 1,000, 900, 800, 700, 600, 500, 400, 300, 200 and 100 words as counted by MS Word

Additionally, I used changes of tense and POV to enhance the difference between dreamworld and real world.


Textual Allusions and References

Where the story allowed it — or even demanded it — I infused it with various textual references and allusions to the many versions and references to “La Belle Dame Sans Merci” that I found during my research.

I’ve referenced the most important and most obvious allusions in this edition of “La Belle Sorcière”. However, there are actually many more, along with a few more or less veiled puns …

My hope is that they enhance the story a little and create at least a sense of the long tradition “La Belle Sorcière” is based on. After all, “La Belle Sorcière” is only the latest  interpretation of pop culture to explore a theme that has inspired artists and writers since the Middle Ages.


Thank you!

First of all: a big “thank you” to evieeros for this wonderful prompt that provided hours of inspiration and creativity.

I cannot thank everyone who helped me with this story often enough: my beta-readers and alpha-readers: , , ; to my legal advisor: ; to my Brit-pickers: and ; and to fellow fanfic authors who graciously granted me permission to refer to some very special ideas used in their various stories: and . Thank you so much!

And last but not least: thank YOU for reading the story and even making it to the end of the Author’s Notes. Thank you for spending time with my writing. I hope you enjoyed it a little bit!

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