Revenge!

[zalena]

Another wedding dream last night in which I ripped the battery and hard drive out of the laptop of an entitled bride as bargaining collateral. On the subject of weddings, I think I've officially crossed the line from "has issues" to "morbidly obsessed." The dream was pretty much a revenge fantasy about ruining weddings

Comments

[sdn]

don't forget halseanderson's prom.

i don't disagree with you in re books not about work; there are a lot of upper middle class protagonists out there.

[zalena]

I haven't read Prom yet, though people keep telling me it's funny.

[sachie]

I had a dream about being in a wedding last night. I was eating a burger pre-wedding and accidentally got ketchup and mustard all over my dress. And then I was talking to my doctor about something and he wouldn't let me leave to go to the wedding. Somewhere in there I also inadvertently insulted the groom. I'm a nightmare to have as a bridesmaid, I tell ya!

Interesting point about revenge. I think other people's revenge is just never as interesting as your own. Could I really get into a story about someone hell-bent on revenge. Could I really relate to such a protagonist? There is something uncomfortable about the whole idea. The thought that you could cross boundaries and do terrible things. The feeling of wanting that to happen.

[zalena]

I was once at a party where everyone got talking about the best revenge they ever had. An essential part of telling this story is making the listener first understand why revenge was sought, and second making the revenge fit the offense.

I have a friend who tells a great story about salting her boss' beloved plants. "The more she watered them, the more they died," is the key phrase to the story. Without the rest of the context, the story seems kind of cruel.

But for the most part, we were all cheering for the storytellers.

Another classic variation on the revenge story: when the avenger goes too far, and the spectator waits for the karmic bounce back.

[sakuratea]

ack! I can't remember, but I think it was called Angus, it was a short story in a YA collection. I remember it as being both funny and about vengance.

To take the other half, I had a dream about my laptop getting stolen last night...

[frostmorn]

"Carrie" could be considered a revenge book. To some extent, the graphic novels "V For Vendetta" and “Kabuki: Circle Of Blood” explore that theme in interesting ways too.
You’re right, there seems to be a shortage of revenge in literature (Shakespeare excepted), while graphic novels are full of it (since it makes such a good Super Hero motivation, I suppose).
YA Fantasy is full of themes of taking responsibility, facing danger, standing on your own feet, achievement, etc. But I agree it’s a poor substitute for there being as many books about work as there are about boys.
“Endurance” is an interesting way of defining adulthood that I’d never really thought about before. I’m just coming out of that ‘sprint’ phase myself, and it’s rather disorienting.

[ashfae]

I do recommend the book and movie (actually, I preferred the movie) of The First Wives' Club. Very satisfying in its treatment of revenge, and completely idealistic.

If you're willing to jump into fantasy, one of the endless "[insert subject here] Fantastic" short story collections (inevitably edited by Greenwood or Little) has Vengeance as its [insert subject here], and it was quite an interesting story collection, though perhaps not as meditative as you're looking for.

Your analogy of adulthood is very interesting.