She held him tight
This entry is going to be about my thoughts on Tam Lin and two very different interpretations that I recently read, but before that other things.
I'm going to post another prompt meme, because I loved the other one and I'm still slowly poking at them. This one's from sardonicynic
Pick a character or make up a pairing from a fandom you know I'm familiar with, and give me some kind of prompt (a line of poetry, a lyric, one word, a kink or cliché), and I will attempt at least 100 words of fic for you.
Also I have a question for everyone. I have far too many early morning things this semester and I'd rather not be constantly buying tea from other people if I can help it. What travel cups do you prefer and would you recommend?
The other thing bothering me is that the professor for one of said early morning classes is off tomorrow so the class is going to be student led. I kind of just want to sleep in since knowing this semester this is probably the only day I can get away with not going. My interest in the class and love of sleep are arguing.
Now for the discussion, I make no promises for much coherence about this since I just finished one of these books and I don't know how I feel about the ending. Under the cut will be thoughts on interpretations of Tam Lin through An Artificial Night, Fire and Hemlock and Tam Lin along with spoilers for the first two.
I was first introduced to Tam Lim through Pamela Dean's amazing book in a year of horrible English classes taught by a teacher who wanted us to win contests for her. The only good part of her class was the shelves of paperbacks that she had, I picked up Tam Lin and was completely caught. I loved the characters, the setting since I grew up on a liberal arts' college campus, Swarthmore so it felt familiar. I could see the students as my mother's students and I adored all the drama and in time grew to understand the Classical and Literature references. My copy has gone missing, but I'm due a reread.
The first book I've read recently that connects to this story is Seanan McGuire's beautiful An Artificial Night, which plunges Toby into a number of dark fairy tales. The ballad of Tam Lin is recreated at one point and I found it beautifully done because it wasn't just one person calling for her, but many. I loved that change because it makes sense, anyone who's stolen away is missed by a lot of people.
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is a strange book, because its a rather literal but not interpretation of the story. The ballad heads each of the chapters, but its not till the very end that the pieces start to go together. I think the part I found strangest about this book is how the story's Jane and Tam Lin, Polly and Tom Lynn aren't really equals in terms of age. So there's an element of using people, which sits badly especially with this story since Polly meets Tom when she's a little girl. Then their friendship grows while she gets older, its written so there's no skeevy angle, but there's still a power imbalance. At the end, she's an adult, but that doesn't quite fix it.
I really need to figure out what happened to my copy of Tam Lin.
If you've read through all of this thank you and I'd love your thoughts. I'm such a literature geek at heart.
I'm going to post another prompt meme, because I loved the other one and I'm still slowly poking at them. This one's from sardonicynic
Pick a character or make up a pairing from a fandom you know I'm familiar with, and give me some kind of prompt (a line of poetry, a lyric, one word, a kink or cliché), and I will attempt at least 100 words of fic for you.
Also I have a question for everyone. I have far too many early morning things this semester and I'd rather not be constantly buying tea from other people if I can help it. What travel cups do you prefer and would you recommend?
The other thing bothering me is that the professor for one of said early morning classes is off tomorrow so the class is going to be student led. I kind of just want to sleep in since knowing this semester this is probably the only day I can get away with not going. My interest in the class and love of sleep are arguing.
Now for the discussion, I make no promises for much coherence about this since I just finished one of these books and I don't know how I feel about the ending. Under the cut will be thoughts on interpretations of Tam Lin through An Artificial Night, Fire and Hemlock and Tam Lin along with spoilers for the first two.
I was first introduced to Tam Lim through Pamela Dean's amazing book in a year of horrible English classes taught by a teacher who wanted us to win contests for her. The only good part of her class was the shelves of paperbacks that she had, I picked up Tam Lin and was completely caught. I loved the characters, the setting since I grew up on a liberal arts' college campus, Swarthmore so it felt familiar. I could see the students as my mother's students and I adored all the drama and in time grew to understand the Classical and Literature references. My copy has gone missing, but I'm due a reread.
The first book I've read recently that connects to this story is Seanan McGuire's beautiful An Artificial Night, which plunges Toby into a number of dark fairy tales. The ballad of Tam Lin is recreated at one point and I found it beautifully done because it wasn't just one person calling for her, but many. I loved that change because it makes sense, anyone who's stolen away is missed by a lot of people.
Fire and Hemlock by Diana Wynne Jones is a strange book, because its a rather literal but not interpretation of the story. The ballad heads each of the chapters, but its not till the very end that the pieces start to go together. I think the part I found strangest about this book is how the story's Jane and Tam Lin, Polly and Tom Lynn aren't really equals in terms of age. So there's an element of using people, which sits badly especially with this story since Polly meets Tom when she's a little girl. Then their friendship grows while she gets older, its written so there's no skeevy angle, but there's still a power imbalance. At the end, she's an adult, but that doesn't quite fix it.
I really need to figure out what happened to my copy of Tam Lin.
If you've read through all of this thank you and I'd love your thoughts. I'm such a literature geek at heart.