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We are on quite a few email lists (more than we care to admit), and every now and then the subject of extensive, intensive, mind boggling research arises. Generally in the context of making sure every word, thought, and gesture of a novel set in times long past are correct. As if we really know for sure how one cut her meat in 1066. Alexei Sayle discusses the notion that research can sometimes get in the way of the story (using, by way of example, Philip Roth’s glove making digression in American Pastoral). We’ve heard from some authors that they don’t research at all…and in those moments where we agonize over the flowers on the carpet at the Millenium Biltmore in Los Angeles, we envy them.

• Just ask a bloke who knows