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On the stories we tell
Aug. 10th, 2007 03:19 pmI both love and hate the way the acceptable changes into the desirable into the essential into the untouchable (I bet there are more stages, and they occur in all sorts of variations on the order) over time.
Right now, cannibalism is one of those subjects that make most of us queasy. Karl Steel argues* that it was a strong narrative link between the Mermedonians and St Andrew in an Old English tale (I know I'm oversimplifying because my thoughts led me that way, but I hope I'm not misreading, which I may be, because I lost yesterday to non-work and today is rather furious).
If you do a simple transposition - turn the tale into a modern one and show the underlying religious beliefs (actually eating body and drinking blood where the knowledge is implied) then what you have is not an edifying tale of sainthood, but something Kaaron Warren or Rob Hood would write. Which leads me to the inevitable conclusions that they really need to read Andreas and that one day I'd love to edit an anthology where Medieval themes were taken for stories in this kind of way.
It also leads me to the sad possibility that a lot of edifying works might have some characteristics that make them quite ick when read by someone who doesn't read them for the intended variety of enlightenment. A particular book of Orson Scott Card's comes to mind, where child martyrdom is seen as noble and essential. There must be other examples, but I'm not someone who reads books for edification. I think I'm incorrigibly incapable of being edified.
I'm not incapable of wondering, though, about shifts in genre and in how society reads certain themes. Think of the twelfth century Arthurian romances that somehow have crept into our adventure fantasy norms. No, better not think of them. If I think of them I'll start pulling books out of shelves and my five minute break will become a three hour one.
*This is part of the "In the Middle Book Club for Discerning Scholars of Medieval Arcana" which I keep an eye on because of the promise of interesting essays. I'm not convinced that anything in Old English can be regarded as arcane, however, since there isn't much and it's reasonably well studied. In fact, anything that's been edited and published is reasonably unobscure, but way more accesible to a book club than a single copy of something in a manuscript on the other side of the world.
Right now, cannibalism is one of those subjects that make most of us queasy. Karl Steel argues* that it was a strong narrative link between the Mermedonians and St Andrew in an Old English tale (I know I'm oversimplifying because my thoughts led me that way, but I hope I'm not misreading, which I may be, because I lost yesterday to non-work and today is rather furious).
If you do a simple transposition - turn the tale into a modern one and show the underlying religious beliefs (actually eating body and drinking blood where the knowledge is implied) then what you have is not an edifying tale of sainthood, but something Kaaron Warren or Rob Hood would write. Which leads me to the inevitable conclusions that they really need to read Andreas and that one day I'd love to edit an anthology where Medieval themes were taken for stories in this kind of way.
It also leads me to the sad possibility that a lot of edifying works might have some characteristics that make them quite ick when read by someone who doesn't read them for the intended variety of enlightenment. A particular book of Orson Scott Card's comes to mind, where child martyrdom is seen as noble and essential. There must be other examples, but I'm not someone who reads books for edification. I think I'm incorrigibly incapable of being edified.
I'm not incapable of wondering, though, about shifts in genre and in how society reads certain themes. Think of the twelfth century Arthurian romances that somehow have crept into our adventure fantasy norms. No, better not think of them. If I think of them I'll start pulling books out of shelves and my five minute break will become a three hour one.
*This is part of the "In the Middle Book Club for Discerning Scholars of Medieval Arcana" which I keep an eye on because of the promise of interesting essays. I'm not convinced that anything in Old English can be regarded as arcane, however, since there isn't much and it's reasonably well studied. In fact, anything that's been edited and published is reasonably unobscure, but way more accesible to a book club than a single copy of something in a manuscript on the other side of the world.