Comments | xf_book_club: Story 107: "The Thirty-Sixth" by Jess Mabe

wendelah1 in xf_book_club

Story 107: "The Thirty-Sixth" by Jess Mabe

Mar 09, 2010 12:04

As a follow-up to "Kevin," I thought it would be interesting to post a story that deals with Mulder's spirituality. "The Thirty-Sixth" is an excellent story, which Jess said is "about faith, religion and sainthood." It's also about love. And knitting.

If you like, you can read a short excerpt: ( here )

xfile, season 7, r, msr

Comments 20

dictatorcari March 9 2010, 23:04:19 UTC

I love Jess Mabe! And ooh, I've never read this one...I'll try to sneak it into my week so I can give it a proper read and review. Hooray!

wendelah1 March 9 2010, 23:16:52 UTC

Oh, excellent. I think this is one that many people haven't read. She has her fic at Gossamer under three different names, I think. It's not that long, only 94K. If you haven't already, you must go vote for Scully in the f_march_madness. She made the elite eight but is now losing by 285 votes to Buffy. THIS IS NOT RIGHT! THIS IS A TRAVESTY!

Whoops, sorry. My Scully love knows no bounds. You do not have to be a member to vote.

dictatorcari March 9 2010, 23:19:35 UTC

Oh, I'm definitely on top of that already. Go, Scully, go!

wendelah1 March 12 2010, 01:50:42 UTC

She lost! How could this happen?

Thread 5

infinitlight March 11 2010, 10:36:36 UTC

Yay!

One of the things I like about Jess's writing is that she writes lines that are beautiful because they're *true*, not because they are just pretty. Although I love pretty/poetic writing, I think the measure of a true writer is one who makes you think "Yes, yes," while you're reading--a writer who just reinforces or reminds you of things you already knew.

So I love how well she shows us the characters--"She is very protective of you", and Mulder's thoughtful fingers on the mittens, the weight of their faith and fear, Scully's realization that she wouldn't be who she is without constant challenge, learning and growth--without ever laboring a point.

She ( ... )

infinitlight March 11 2010, 10:57:15 UTC

I mean to comment about religion! Why didn't I comment about religion? :)

I can see it must be very hard to write stories about Mulder and faith--it is something he is very closed-off about as a character--whereas it's one of the few things Scully is very open about. This story, for me, is balanced because it is exploring Mulder's character (and to an extent the nature of faith and religion), while not going overboard or having him act out of character.

maybe_amanda March 12 2010, 03:54:02 UTC

Ahh! I love this story. It deals with some perennial faves - god, faith, faith in god, god's real or imagined faith in you - but it takes a fresh look at all of them, which is always a good thing.

I love this Mulder and Scully. They feel whole and real and very very *them*. (In the past, some have suggested they are out-of-character in this story, but I don't see it. [The argument generally runs that Scully is a smart, strong, beautiful, independent woman with a badge and a gun and a hot hot man, and therefore would never stoop to knitting.] Snobs.) But I think Ma Scully says it best:

"It doesn't take patience, silly," her mother told her. "If you like it, it's enjoyable. It's not like someone's sitting there with a gun to your head. You do it because the act of creation is, in and of itself, rewarding."

I can see Scully, after what she's been through, embracing the creative, the positive, the transcendent in just this simple way:

Somehow, she wasn't ready to tell him she had created them. Ok, she was following a ( ... )

wendelah1 March 13 2010, 23:24:47 UTC

I liked it, both the first time I read it and this time, too. The idea that strong, smart independent women don't knit is ridiculous. I know at least a dozen women who fit that description who knit. I know men who knit. Maybe back in 2000, women felt they were letting down the sisterhood when they picked up their knitting needles, but this is 2010, homemade is hip, and knitting is what the in crowd does.

I agree, I think both Mulder and Scully seem in character. I can even see this as an episode, minus the sex scenes, of course. Not that I am objecting to the sex scenes. As an ending to the seventh season, I would have vastly preferred to have Mulder proclaimed a lamed-vovnik than see him abducted by aliens, then tortured to death, and improbably resurrected in season eight. Argh.

I really like this passage, because it is so exactly how she would and does feel. And because that's what I think of when I think of real love: nothing mushy or gentle or even always pleasant. No-one loves without pain or loss--Scully would know that ( ... )

mosinging1986 March 12 2010, 03:58:07 UTC

I was enjoying this until I got to the line, "Jesus never spoke of
Original Sin." I'm not going to get into a theological debate here, but that's not quite accurate. It always irks me when authors (whether fic or pro) can't be bothered to do basic research.

Maybe I'll come back to it at some point. Like I said, I was liking it to that point.

infinitlight March 13 2010, 04:18:14 UTC

I'm not even slightly qualified to discuss theological accuracy, but I hope you'll give it another try sometime. I think the themes and intent are strong enough to make it a very rewarding story. :)

wendelah1 March 13 2010, 20:58:08 UTC

I am sorry to hear that line put mosinging1986 off the story, though not surprised. I am surprised that she assumed that Jess did no research. I just tried myself to locate a passage anywhere in the Christian Bible where Jesus mentions the phrase "original sin." There are none; in fact, a key word search of Jesus, original, and sin in the Douay-Rheims Bible brings up nothing, because there is no passage of scripture containing all three words, which I think is the point that Mulder was trying to make. The doctrine of original sin is just that, a doctrine, which if memory serves, originated sometime in the second century. You could make the argument that it is correct doctrine, of course, but you can't say that Jesus spoke of original sin. That is but one reason so many Christians reject it.

What is also interesting to me is how Scully reacted to Mulder's words.

"You, as a Catholic, should be aware that people often create an internal reference for the structure of their religious beliefs. Jesus never spoke of Original Sin."

She didn't bristle ( ... )

estella_c March 13 2010, 14:55:01 UTC

I've always loved Jess's work in a personal way; I think it was the earthy sense of humor that I first fell for. But although there are a lot of good things about this story, as always, it's not a favorite of mine ( ... )

Part 1 wendelah1 March 13 2010, 22:31:09 UTC

The fabric of existence weaves itself whole.
~Charles Ives

I think this is what Jess's story is about. Everything in this X-Files universe is about fate, about destiny. Leah believes Esther may be a lamed vovnik, and that she was born to protect her sister. Leah thinks that Scully was born to protect Mulder. The Mulder and the Levich families are also inter-connected, and as he tells Scully to reassure her of Mulder's survival, Rabbi Levich believes that Mulder is a kind of lamed-volnik.

"He will. It is part of his destiny, part of his role. That's why he lives
today, after all the things they have tried to do to him."

"Who?" she said, wiping her nose on her sleeve. She had regressed that far.

"When a man is designed to carry the weight of the world on his shoulders,
there are plenty who would add to the load."The knitting is a metaphor for Scully's attempt to get her life back together, following the horrible events of the the end of season six through beginning of season seven. Knitting is a poor substitute for companionship, ( ... )

Part 2 wendelah1 March 13 2010, 22:59:51 UTC

EC, I so love it when you don't like the stories as much as I do. Regardless, your posts always give me something to bounce my feeble brain against.

"Are you serious?" he said. "Look around you, Scully, look at the world. How ( ... )

Re: Part 2 estella_c March 14 2010, 20:40:25 UTC

Speaking of fairytales, just call me the prose princess. The princess so pathetically sensitive that she could feel a pea under ten mattresses. (There must be x-rated versions of that. Must investigate.)

I could hardly regret that someone got a lift from a Jessfic. And the passages you quote are wonderful. I especially liked Scully's "Why the hell not?" Works better than a mournful, patient response.

But where do you get that Leah is a stand-in for Diana? They're both tall? And this isn't tv, it's fiction. In fact it's fanfic, which is meant to *improve on* tv.

Wasn't there a conversation about fate at the end of one of the mytharc-heavy episodes? Someone will remember.

I wasn't comparing "The Thirty-Sixth" with "The Other Man." Unless it's comparing to say that one is really good and one is great. They are what they are, in Hollywoodspeak, and there's no reason not to appreciate both.

Thread 5