They Don't Have to Sparkle

[carbonelle]

Over at John C. Wright, Famous AuthorTM's blog, he celebrated the feast of the Magi a.k.a. Twelfth Night by dissing good vampires. Or perhaps, he had a somewhat more extensive point to make: the reader can make up his own mind. As soon as the contrarian impulse fired, I wasn't really paying attention. Not my strongest suit, I admit. En avantSo

Comments

[keestone]

Eh, modern lit. crit. really doesn't have to stretch very far to see the exchange of bodily fluids as a metaphorical exchange of bodily fluids (i. e., yes it is about sex. Because, it's obviously talking about sex. Also,Robert Graves' poem "Down Wanton Down" is about getting erections at embarrassing times, and the Earl of Rochester's poem "The Imperfect Enjoyment" is about premature ejaculation.). It's right there with big flashing lights pointing to it in Dracula:

"Just so. Said he not that the transfusion of his blood to her veins had made her truly his bride?"

"Yes, and it was a sweet and comforting idea for him."

"Quite so. But there was a difficulty, friend John. If so that, then what about the others? Ho, ho! Then this so sweet maid is a polyandrist, and me, with my poor wife dead to me, but alive by Church's law, though no wits, all gone, even I, who am faithful husband to this now-no-wife, am bigamist." "

(And, it's even more explicit in Carmilla, and lots of modern vamp novels don't even bother to sublimate

[carbonelle]

Point taken viz teh literary sexxors.

Your use of the word "monster" however, could use more clarity, "a monster is something we fear," is perhaps more properly, "a monster can be something we fear. Because, just for one, there are things truly out to get us that manage to inspire, not fear, but admiration, if only because the one doing the admiring is a bit dim.

I suspect that "monster" and "monstrous" would be good distinctions. Otherwise the word breaks down until no-one can discuss the idea without going hopeless at cross-purposes.

Many of my favorite stories (such as Lamplighter etc. by Cornish) take place in that space between monster and monstrous. There we have beings that are monsters in form, monsters in character, monsters in peception, and the sets all overlap. Great stuff.

[keestone]

Good point re: clarifying monster. I was making a quick generalization because I wanted to expand the discussion of monsters from the Good/Evil dichotomy that was carrying over from Wright's post, particularly since we were bringing in some Science Fictional vampires where the good and evil are kind of irrelevant questions, but fear is still definitely there. It certainly wouldn't be nicely syllogistic anyways, as we may fear monsters but that doesn't mean everything we fear is a monster. If we were actually trying to pin down "monster" as a definition, there would probably have to be a "Not Like Us" (or "inhuman" if speaking from a human perspective) bit in there as well, since that's what underpins everything from calling people who have committed horrible crimes "monstrous" to the humor of the Gingerbread man in Shrek telling the Prince, "You're a monster!" (And one of the things SF can of course do wonderfully is point out how "like us" can be such a limited perspective and a wrong-headed prejudice.)

I haven't read

[carbonelle]

The good/evil dichotomy is yet another reason why the monster/monstrous terms are so useful. To say "you're a monster" of a human being is on par with saying "You're a pig!" or "Son of diseased dog!" etc. Fine metaphorical language, but if the people involved start taking it literally, problematic. It's like saying "Good dog" and really thinking the creature has the capacity for good (or evil) and so one can hold the beast morally accountable when the next-door neighbor's cat gets into the back yard and the greyhound chases, and if no-one intervenes, will kill it.

I write this because I don't really follow: "we were bringing in some Science Fictional vampires where the good and evil are kind of irrelevant questions." Eh? SF vampires can include monsters that prey on people, but are only fearsome to the extent that poisonous snakes and scorpions are (Star Trek's Salt-eating vampire thinggummy). They also include vampires where the vampirism is a kind of disease (Peeps), or the result of an alien physiology. But the latter aren't

[johncwright]

"Try to remember the last novel where a character prayed, and his prayer was answered."

It happened in ORPHANS OF CHAOS by John C Wright. It was subtle, though.

[carbonelle]

Wait. That was science fiction? I missed that.

[carbonelle]

Actually, to be fair, I seem to recall characters praying in at least one of the Nightlands stories. But you were one of the rare authors who let the universe of the tale fit the story, however it worked best.