wednesday reading on tuesday

[ritaxis]

I reread LeGuin's The Dispossessed. This is a title that one cannot spell unless one is very lucky in grabbing Scrabble tiles, and also it is a word that it is hard to stop spelling: dissposssesssesssed. It's really fascinating to see what kind of ancient things she kept in -- slide rules, for example. But when she wrote it slide rules were the quick and easy thing for calculating and they were ubiquitous. My mother taught every kid in the neighborhood to use them.

The book is a product of its times in many ways. For a niggly little detail: it';s been a while since you could use the word "libertarian" interchangably with "anarchist."

I had forgotten a lot of the plot from just before Shevek slips his keepers, so in a way it was almost like reading it anew.  I had some quarrels with some parts, but generally I still adore it. Also I kept wondering how LeGuin keeps getting away with just plonking so much opinionated unblinking expository downright communism right there in the middle of her books. Because if she can do it...

Also, I just love Anarres. No, I don't mean I think it's the right way to run a society, I mean I love it as a setting and I appreciate its good points and I feel for the people affected by its bad points.

Also I tried reading Impostor by Valerie Freireich because it was on my shelves and I didn't remember reading it before and I thought I remembered enjoying something else of hers. I probably don't remember it because it's unreadable. The writing is fine and I'd be happy to look at something else of hers, but the story is gross, and the premise is appalling. Why is it that in all our fine imaginings of spacefaring peoples, every culture group gets to evolve and split and mutate into a jillion new things with new jargon and behaviors, but if we include a culture based on somebody's idea of what Islam is, nothing nothing nothing ever changes from the eighteenth-century stereotype of the royal harem structure? It's gotten to where if there's an Arabic name or word in the early pages of a book I am suffused with dread. If you have any suggestions for Islamic-world secular science fiction or fantasy not involving any goddamned royalty or harems let me know because boy I will need a palate cleanser even though I didn't read more than ten pages of this nonsense.

Comments

[boxofdelights]

I enjoyed Alif the Unseen, by G. Willow Wilson, although it does have a prince as a secondary character. I don't remember any harems in the sense of plural wives, but you do see the harem in the sense of "a woman's place is in the home." So, probably not going to work as a palate cleanser.

However! If you enjoy comic books (and if your library carries comics) I whole-heartedly recommend Ms. Marvel, also written by G. Willow Wilson. Kamala Khan is a teenager, a Muslim, an American of Pakistani descent, and a delight.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I don't think the mere entry of a buit of those themes completely disqualifies a story, if the story itself admits that Muslim cultures (plural!) undergo the same processes of change as the rest of humanity.

[affreca.livejournal.com]

Sorry about the drive by comment, but for a palate cleanser I recommend Sarah Zettel's Fool's War. Main character is a Muslim woman. No harems.

[ritaxis.livejournal.com]

Thank you! No worries...myself, I often browse through James Nicholl's friends page for variety.

[carbonel]

This reminds me of the way subject titles lasted forever on rasff, and there was one something like "Paper on Anarres" that started out on topic but migrated away fairly soon. But the subject header remained.

At least, I think it was rasff. Definitely Usenet, anyway.

[ocotillo-dawn.livejournal.com]

Love my scifi, and know LeGuin is a master of the craft. Despite that, I enjoy little of what she writes. Though I am in general agreement with her opinions, I dislike being pounded over the head with them. So for me, at least, she does NOT get away with it, and I strive to respect my readers intelligence a bit more than I felt she respected mine. I enjoy a bit more subtlety and a light touch. But she has her following, so if you want to preach, you should!

Oh. And Hi! I've been catching up with posts and was going to comment on a more recent of yours, but couldn't resist pounding you over the head with my opinion of LeGuin. *ahem* :)