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[tigerkat24]

So I just finished reading Sheri Tepper's Gibbon's Decline and Fall, and while it's an amazing piece of literature, I'm a bit disturbed.
This isn't the first of Tepper's works I've read. I loved (and still love) The Gate to Women's Country, though in light of Gibbon's Decline and Fall I'm reevaluating my enjoyment of that particular book. I also

Comments

[ringlass]

That's what bothered me about "Cunt." Womanifesto! Stand with your sisters! Don't take crap because just because you're a girl! etc etc etc is all great and wonderful, but one of the biggest steps feminism has made/is making is "Yes, MEN can be supportive too, women can enjoy and like men, a penis isn't an automatic tool of oppression, etc." For as long as there have been men and women there have been men who believed women are equals (I am of course referring to the female subordination cultures, there are also cultures that always viewed them as superiors, which is a tricky business and another topic altogether.) She sounds like someone who has been deeply, desperately hurt, and the next person who comes along to help her up jerks their hand back at the last moment and laughs sort of thing. I am sorry she's propogating these particular themes; they don't get anyone anywhere

[tigerkat24]

I agree. I think the largest problem with sexism today is not that 'men are trying to keep women down' but that both sexes have difficulty realizing that the other sex is not the enemy. Men are no more evil rapists than women are seducing sluts and whores. I agree that you shouldn't take crap because you've got breasts, but neither should you take crap because you have a dick. It's unfair to everyone

[priscellie]

I read Beauty for my fairy tale revisions class, and while I found the story generally enjoyable as I was reading it, when I started to pick apart the philosophy I was appalled by the implications--particularly when she equated fictional violence to the real thing. And regarding the act of revision? Oy. We'd read Pratchett's Witches Abroad the week before, and I was disturbed at how much Beauty reminded me of Lily, Pratchett's villain. They both manipulated those around them, molding them into their own preconceived notion of what their story should be, or what part they should play in service to someone else’s tale. I actually compared the books in my final paper for that class, if you want to read it.

Out of curiosity, what does the book have to do with Gibbon's The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire? We learned about it in my sci-fi class, as it was a major influence on Asimov. He actually kept the whole 6-volume set at his writing station, and it was used as a model for his Foundation series. Snazzy.

[tigerkat24]

I would love to read your paper on Beauty. That book has always disturbed me on a fundamental level, and I've never really been sure why. Probably because of the philosophy underlying the story that I never bothered to go into because it worried me so much. I went back and read American Gods instead. Much more better.
Regarding the actual Gibbon book, not much at all. Volume One of The Decline and Fall is in someone's college dorm room and used briefly to prove that men seldom make passes at girls who wear glasses and carry bigass books (a correct philosophy in the fifties); then it provides the name of the group of girlfriends that the main character belongs to. Poor Mr. Gibbon is entirely absent despite being in the title.