... the ambiguity of expression.' She uses this ambiguity to create a convincing but unusual novel based on an unusual painting. The attraction of this ambiguity to the novelist is that she has a lot of freedom within which to write her story and to make it attractive to the 21st century reader. Tracy Chevalier uses the other Vermeer paintings and the limited biographical information about his life to create a picture of 17th century life which is appealing to her 21st century audience. She has a problem because the details of a 17th century life may not be so appealing to a 21st century audience; we do not have the same situations as described in the book. So she may have adapted them to make the characters more interesting for her 21st century readers. Chevalier is dealing with situations alien to her audience, for example, the majority of the population ...

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