Grr

[ladyofastolat]

Grr! I wrote a post this morning, but didn't finish it. Since LJ now saves drafts, I was able to finish it at work, but couldn't post it, since I often can't update from work. I'm home briefly now, before going to a meeting in Cowes, and went to post it from the saved draft. I did indeed post it... then noticed it had posted the incomplete saved draft from this morning, not the draft of the completed version. I deleted it... and now it's lost the draft, too, so I'll have to start again from scratch.

Or not bother. Summary was: musings about book sequels, with mentions of Robin Hobb, and Tehanu. Talk about "The King of Attolia", that I read yesterday. A review of "The Thief" by Megan Whalen Turner (the book that "The King of Attolia" is the second sequel to.) Key message: Great book! Not so great sequel. Great second sequel. Read it!

There. A two page post summarised in three lines. Off to my meeting now.

Comments

[windrunner1981.livejournal.com]

Wait...no...what...?! I want to hear more about what you think of Tehanu!

[skordh.livejournal.com]

Me too.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

Okay. I really, really disliked Tehanu when I first read it (aged 19, or so, I believe, having read the first three books at 11), and, although I've tried, I've never been able to get over my initial dislike.

The thing I really disliked was Ged losing his powers. Yes, yes, I know that this is supposed to be a good thing for him. He's finally learning happiness and love and all those things - the things he's not had while seeking power as a wizard. I know this... but I just didn't like it. At 11, I'd fallen in love with Ged the powerful wizard. I didn't want to see him as a retired, normal man, living in obscurity.

I also disliked the sudden appearance of feminism in the series. To me, it jarred too much with the rest of the series. It read like an author who had suddenly had a change of heart, and wanted to retrospectively change her existing fictional world to suit her new ideas. (Which I suppose is her right, but I didn't like it. I want to immerse myself in a fictional world, without constantly seeing the author at work. This alienates me.)

Plus I do always have a bias against female characters in fantasy novels. If a fantasy novel has a female lead, I don't even read it. I simply prefer male casts. The other books were full of men. This one was suddenly full of Girl Power with the men doing nothing.

[windrunner1981.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize. I also disliked Tehanu extremely when I first read it. While I didn't mind the feminism so much, it wasn't quite my particular brand of feminism...there was so much stress paid upon an irreconciable difference between men and women that I almost felt as if it were more regressive than progressive. It made me rather uncomfortable and depressed. And this is coming from a girl who adores strong female leads (McKinley's Aerin and Harry, Pierce's Alanna, and the Tenar from The Tombs of Atuan). But there was just so much fear and shame in the story...I don't know, I just don't see that as feminism.

I've become somewhat reconciled to Tehanu since then, although perhaps it was easier for me than you because I first read Earthsea as a college junior and went straight from The Farthest Shore to Tehanu. I didn't have 8 years of history to battle with. I also think that I'll appreciate it more as I grow older, since it seems to deal with themes that would appeal more to middle-aged/elderly readers than ambitious, fiery, young ones who think they'll never be defeated.

I do think the book has interesting things to say about power, and how power over other living creatures is incredibly dangerous and uncomfortable...and almost disrespectful. I think this has somewhat colored my perception of TDIR. I've begun to - not resent, exactly - but question the way that Old Ones take such a high hand in human affairs. This always was in the books, of course, but I've begun paying a lot more attention to it recently.

Well, I'm going to stop rambling there. Two quick long questions, if you don't mind my pursuing this further. *grins* First: What exactly bothers you about female fantasy leads? I do think that the vast majority are silly and overly "buxom", but there are some fine ones out there. *points above* And second: How do you approach Atuan, which is such a woman-centric book? Le Guin has written somewhere that when re-reading the book once, she suddenly realized that it was all about sex. I think I agree with her and would go one step further and say that it's all about a man's sexual power over a woman. There's some really unpleasant stuff there at the end in the relationship between Ged and Tenar that has always made me uncomfortable. Anyway, to sum-up this second question: recognizing both your distaste for female leads and you childhood admiration for the original Earthse trilogy, what do you think of Atuan?

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I agree about the feminism. I read some of the things LeGuin said about her reasons for writing Tehanu as she did, and she makes a lot about the irreconcilable differences between men and women, which I just don't agree with. People are people. Some characteristics are a little more likely to be found in women, and some a little more likely to be found in men, but I think people should relate to others as humans first and foremost, with gender, race and everything else pushed far into the background.

Female fantasy leads don't bother me per se (except when they insist on wearing chainmail bikinis on the front cover.) I can deal with female leads, as long as the blurb also makes clear that there's going to be an interesting male character featuring strongly, too.

My preference for male leads derives from shallowness, pure and simple. If a main character is running around with a sword, saving the world and doing cool magic, I want them to be someone I can fall in love with. I can fall in love with male heroes. Female heroes I can't. (And, yes, I realise I am totally hypocritical, given what I've just said about reacting to people as humans first and foremost, but fiction is different from life.)

I do, though, also get annoyed by the anachronism that's behind a lot of strong female leads in historical novels. So many novels end up showing a medieval woman in a medieval, patriachal society who is "strong" - i.e. uses a sword, answers back, and does things that just wouldn't have been done in that sort of society. That just annoys me. A pet hate of mine is modern values being imposed on the past. I prefer female characters, in historical settings, to be strong within the confines of their society, not "strong" in a way defined by the values of 2006, that doesn't fit in with their own world.

(If that makes sense at all...)

As for Atuan... I read it at 11, so maybe I was a bit different in my reactions then. I do remember, though, that it was my least favourite of the three, and on re-reading it, I was often tempted to skip to the bits where Ged appeared.

[ladyofastolat.livejournal.com]

I should add that when I said "if a fantasy novel has a female lead, I don't even read it", that's an exaggeration. It's more a case of, "if a fantasy novel has a female lead, I'm less likely to read it, and will check first to make sure it also has an interesting-looking male co-lead."