One thing I noticed not too long ago is that while I really liked Ursula K. LeGuin's earlier works, the most recent stuff that she's done as a "feminist" writer has left me cold. I certainly don't begrudge her writing a female protagonist (which she also did back in The Tombs of Atuan during her earlier period), but the women = wise and good and longsuffering, men = cruel and stupid or resentfully powerless before the awesome generative power of the Womb-bearer really starts to rankle after a hundred pages or so.
Actually not needing validation right now, but thank you.
Buffy ,'Lies My Parents Told Me'
We're Literary 2: To Read Makes Our Speaking English Good
There's more to life than watching Buffy the Vampire Slayer! No. Really, there is! Honestly! Here's a place for Buffistas to come and discuss what it is they're reading, their favorite authors and poets. "Geez. Crack a book sometime."
Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 14, 2005 5:19:35 pm PDT #9092 of 10002
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
billytea - Sep 14, 2005 5:23:08 pm PDT #9093 of 10002
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
I certainly don't begrudge her writing a female protagonist (which she also did back in The Tombs of Atuan during her earlier period), but the women = wise and good and longsuffering, men = cruel and stupid or resentfully powerless before the awesome generative power of the Womb-bearer really starts to rankle after a hundred pages or so.
Wait, I can blame LeGuin for Everybody Loves Raymond?
Kathy A - Sep 14, 2005 5:27:31 pm PDT #9094 of 10002
We're very stretchy. - Connie Neil
I think that one of the best romance authors at writing interesting and believable heroes is Nora Roberts. You can tell that she's had extensive real-life experience with men (she has four brothers and two sons, in addition to her husband), because she really does a good job at making them believable. My favorite of her trilogies is the Chesapeake Bay series, featuring three adopted brothers. The trilogies that focus on women more, while mostly fun to read, just aren't as fascinating to me. I did like Three Fates, mostly because of the Irish family that's at the core of the story, as well as the excellent opening sequence on board the Lusitania.
Nutty - Sep 14, 2005 5:28:15 pm PDT #9095 of 10002
"Mister Spock is on his fanny, sir. Reports heavy damage."
Matt, are you referring to just the stuff in the Earthsea universe, or all her work? I thought that Tehanu was rather weak -- or, I guess, rather too obvious in its retconny feminist intent -- but that the last novel was OK. The short stories seemed a bit scattershot, in their political intent, but tended to be good stories after all.
When you look at it, really, The Tombs of Atuan buys into a lot of the woman=connected to the earth, and actually kinda evil, nonsense, which I think she tried to revise in the later novels.
Matt the Bruins fan - Sep 14, 2005 5:37:27 pm PDT #9096 of 10002
"I remember when they eventually introduced that drug kingpin who murdered people and smuggled drugs inside snakes and I was like 'Finally. A normal person.'” —RahvinDragand
Tehanu was the standard bearer, I suppose, but other non-Earthsea books as well like Always Coming Home, which I didn't even finish. I haven't read the Tales of Earthsea collection yet for fear that Magical Crispy Dragon Girl might reappear.
Considering that the particular patch of earth those women were close to in The Tombs of Atuan was inhabited by primordial powers of darkness, I'm not sure I'd take the evilness as a commentary on the gender as a whole.
Amy - Sep 14, 2005 5:44:18 pm PDT #9097 of 10002
Because books.
I think that one of the best romance authors at writing interesting and believable heroes is Nora Roberts.
Nora writes great guys. They always have guy habits, and talk like men I know.
Hee. I had a list of words you'll never see in a romance novel sex scene. (Current favourite: Grunties.) I think 'premature ejaculation' can be added to the list.
Heh.
Emily - Sep 14, 2005 7:37:42 pm PDT #9098 of 10002
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola
the women = wise and good and longsuffering, men = cruel and stupid or resentfully powerless before the awesome generative power of the Womb-bearer
Did someone say Sheri S. Tepper?
billytea - Sep 14, 2005 7:41:06 pm PDT #9099 of 10002
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Did someone say Sheri S. Tepper?
Eh. You say Sheri S. Tepper, I say Roseanne.
Emily - Sep 14, 2005 7:43:37 pm PDT #9100 of 10002
"In the equation E = mc⬧, c⬧ is a pretty big honking number." - Scola
She doesn't have to put on the red light.
Er... sorry, my hearing's not so good.
billytea - Sep 14, 2005 7:52:21 pm PDT #9101 of 10002
You were a wrong baby who grew up wrong. The wrong kind of wrong. It's better you hear it from a friend.
Er... sorry, my hearing's not so good.
Well, then Roseanne is the perfect comedian for you.