What I Did During My Weekend, by Katta. :-)

[kattahj]

I'm back from the Diana Wynne Jones conference in Bristol. I tried to talk as little as possible about Bristol before I went, in part not to jinx it, and in part because I'm always afraid that if I speak on the internet about leaving my home, burglars will show up. Irrational, but there you have it

Comments

[therru]

It annoys me how few of her books they have in English at the library here in Lund!

[kattahj]

They don't have all that many in Swedish, either. A few more in Malmö, but, yeah. I've ended up buying most. SF-bokhandeln are better stocked. (It's not just DWJ, either. The library has a lousy fantasy collection altogether.)

[therru]

It's like they have no clue about what the classic fantasy canon looks like.

I ordered Hexwood as a distance loan a while ago, and it took them over six months (and several queries about it) for them to get it for me. I think it was probably closer to eight months, but I can't remember. I think someone must have bungled it or something... In the end Inger at my local branch sorted it out in a couple of weeks.

It was a good read when I finally got it, though. :)

[kattahj]

Yeah, Hexwood is great. :-)

They don't even have Octavia Butler. :-( I wrote down a few names of interesting fantasy writers people mentioned during the conference, but I did it somewhat dejectedly, because what are the odds of me actually finding them?

[kattahj]

I don't know! I just got that impression from people's faces. Maybe because it's making fun of the independence process in African countries? Or because it's not fantasy? Or because it's not all that brilliant? (But TBH several DWJ stories aren't all that brilliant. Most of the Chrestomanci novels would fall into that category for me.)

[ethelmay]

Possibly because one of the white characters says in exasperation that he could do with a spot of white supremacy? (He doesn't really mean it.) Also the sheer effrontery of *making up* an African country, from a thoroughly colonialist point of view for the most part. (I have to say that _Castle in the Sky_ is not a whole lot better as far as cultural appropriation goes.)

[kattahj]

Possibly because one of the white characters says in exasperation that he could do with a spot of white supremacy?

He's described as a dick pretty much the whole way through, though.

Also the sheer effrontery of *making up* an African country, from a thoroughly colonialist point of view for the most part.

I'm... not sure it could have been done with a non-madeup country? I get your point, and I doubt it could have been written nowadays, but given the subject, I feel she could have done a whole lot worse. The African characters don't come off as any worse than the British ones. It's a minefield, though, and I think maybe it would have been better not to use Africa - made-up European countries have been used in The Mouse That Roared etc, and that would have saved her some pitfalls. (25 years later, though, it would have been pretty bad taste.)

(I have to say that _Castle in the Sky_ is not a whole lot better as far as cultural appropriation goes.)Castle in the Air (I assume you mean this, and not the Miyazaki movie?) would be pretty

[bookelfe]

I am FULL OF JEALOUSY. But I am also so glad that it was awesome! :D :D :D

[kattahj]

It really was awesome. I am KICKING myself for not having arranged to stay until Monday. OTOH, considering I ended up having to buy double train tickets, maybe it's better for my finances this way.

70 people from 14 countries, and some fantastic discussions!

Sorry, not helping against the jealousy. Maybe next time you'll be able to go and I won't? (That's highly likely for any event, really.)

[emmaco]

I loved Helgard's paper too, possibly because my background is outside of literature too but I had never thought of using outside knowledge applied to novels like that.

I was a bit confused by the philosophy one. I kept getting mixed up between what was modal logic and what was fiction.

[kattahj]

I think maybe the difference isn't that big? I've only read high school philosophy, but as I understood it it's mostly about "what if" statements. So parallel universa might exist, but not haphazardly? But don't take my word for it.

[emmaco]

I think it's the not haphazardly part that I don't quite understand, ie the rules of logic etc. But it was still an interesting talk, even if I felt like there was a major gap in my education!

[kattahj]

I think they still have to make basic sense? So things can't be true and not true at once, and people can't go between worlds, and they can only be in one place at once. Which I guess would explain the not-branching thing, except not really, because they'd be identical clones, and that's entirely possible, and to me no stranger than DID. But then, I'm not a philosopher, and philosophy came up with weird shit like Xeno's Arrow anyway. *grin* But at least it's all jolly interesting and mind-fuckery, and that's something the conference and DWJ in general truly celebrate.

[greenygal]

I am basically just stuck on the idea of "Diana Wynne Jones conference". That sounds like the most awesome thing ever.

[kattahj]

It so totally was!