Sunday Morning Book Thread - 06-11-2023 ["Perfessor" Squirrel]

(ht: Marcus T)

Welcome to the prestigious, internationally acclaimed, stately, and illustrious Sunday Morning Book Thread! The place where all readers are welcome, regardless of whatever guilty pleasure we feel like reading. Here is where we can discuss, argue, bicker, quibble, consider, debate, confabulate, converse, and jaw about our latest fancy in reading material. As always, pants are required, especially if you are wearing these pants...

So relax, find yourself a warm kitty (or warm puppy--I won't judge) to curl up in your lap, enjoy a fruit cocktail with your breakfast, and dive into a new book. What are YOU reading this fine morning?

PIC NOTE

Today's pic comes from a recommendation from Marcus T. The Bodleian Libraries support the University of Oxford in England. Like the Library at Trinity University in Dublin, the main Bodleian Library is a "library of deposit," meaning at least one copy of all books printed in the UK must be sent there--similar to the Library of Congress here in the USA. The Bodleian Libraries together hold a massive repository of over 13 million printed items. Like many of the libraries of Europe, it's been around for centuries, so there's no telling what sort of long-forgotten mysterious tomes are housed within the archives.

GRRRL POWER!...DONE WELL!

NOTE: This will be rather long, so feel free to jump down to the comments below if you'd like to skip the following essay!

A couple of weeks ago, ace asked Christopher R. Taylor for a link describing the "rules" for writing in today's Hollywood culture. Naturally, Christopher R. Taylor promptly responded with the link because the Moron Horde is just that good:

The Feminist Heroine's Journey

Although the article above targets the writing we see in stories for movies and television, I have no doubt that there is a concerted effort to enforce similar writing in popular literature.

I thought it might be interesting to do a character study of the series I've been reading the past few weeks, as it features a young woman as the main protagonist. How well does this protagonist compare to the rules as outlined in the link above? Let's find out together. The books in question are: Daughter of the Empire, Servant of the Empire, and Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts, published between 1988 and 1993. The setting is loosely based on feudal Japan with some additional Eastern mysticism thrown into the mix. Belief in reincarnation is embedded into the culture's religious practices. Slavery is a normal part of this society. The Empire rules a vast territory and the Emperor commands absolute power within his domain, enforced by the Great Ones, magicians of awesome power, existing outside the laws of society, yet responsible for maintaining internal stability. A major background detail is that the Emperor is apparently incapable of fathering a male heir, though he has countless daughters borne by his extensive harem of wives and concubines (over 500 and counting!). Thus, much of the political conflict centers around Houses jockeying for power just in case the Emperor dies (he's fairly young) and there is a power vacuum.

First. The patriarchy is real and must be treated as such. The female protagonist is oppressed by it. This is not optional.

This rule is in force if only because the culture is so heavily based on feudal Japan. Noble women have only two main jobs: secure a political alliance through marriage and bear a healthy son to take over as heir when he comes of age. However, both tradition and law allow for a woman to become the Lady of a noble House when there are no more male heirs. This is how Mara becomes Lady of House Acoma. Her father and brother are both killed in battle through treachery from another House. At the time, Mara was attempting to escape oppression by joining a female religious sect (similar to a nunnery). She's quite literally prevented from finalizing her vows when news is brought to her that she is the only Acoma noble left alive. As a Lady, she has all the power of a Lord, though the expectation is still for her to find a suitable husband to become the Lord of her House and then bear his male heirs. Until that happens, she is due all the respect and courtesy of a Lord of her standing.

Second. She is already the key to a better world. She has all the skills she'll need, inherently. She's the Avatar, you just got to deal with it!

No. Mara is *very* aware that she is not prepared to take over the duties of her House. She's only seventeen years old and she has little training in maintaining a large and expansive noble estate. All she has are the lessons she was taught by her father and her tutors, along with her own wits and courage, both of which are considerable, but they do not make her infallible. She is very lucky more than once, but she also makes key missteps that place her and her House in grave danger later on. It takes a long time--several years--before she acquires the confidence, knowledge, and poise necessary for her station.

Third. Her biggest challenge isn’t defeating the antagonist, it's defeating disbelief in her. Men, in particular, won't believe she's as amazing as she really is.

Partially true. As a Lady of a House in a male-dominated society, it's natural that most of the men she encounters will underestimate her, based on her youth, her inexperience, and yes, her gender. However, as she overcomes obstacles, she demonstrates her guts and guile often enough that her enemies start taking her very seriously indeed. The Assembly of Magicians, the single most powerful political faction in the Empire, see her as a direct threat to their absolute rule. No one, not even the Emperor, can overrule the will of the Assembly, as their first charge is the stability of the Empire. Anything that threatens to overthrow that stability will be dispatched swiftly, with prejudice. Mara's strategic decisions threaten to upend millennia of stability. By the end of the second book, she's established herself as a terrifyingly effective ruler in her own right, not to be underestimated.

Fourth: She is better than any male mentor figure. There is nothing that she can be taught by a man regardless of his age, experience, or expertise. The guidance he gives is just another example of mansplaining and must be shot down hard by her. If there is a male mentor then he is the first man that must be defeated.

No. In order for her House to recover and flourish, Mara surrounds herself by numerous male mentors who teach her how to operate her family's holdings, how to maneuver in the Game of the Council, and how to rebuild her House's military strength. She even finds a trusted slave from an alien world (Midkemia, based on feudal Europe) to provide her with guidance and advice. The slave helps her reconnect with her femininity by treating her like a proper lady from his world, instead of as an object to be traded for political favors. Mara explicitly acknowledges this fact in Mistress of the Empire. Both male and female mentors (her nurse and the alien, insectoid cho-ja queen) guide Mara through the perilous world of Tsurani politics. She would never have become the dominant force for change in Tsurani culture without male mentors.

Fifth: She escapes the patriarchy and enters a new world that forces her to prove herself.

Somewhat true. After Mara's disastrous first marriage, she becomes much more reluctant to find a husband, preferring to remain as Lady of her House. When she does remarry, it's for political gain, though she does trust and respect her second husband, and grows to love him deeply. Her second husband--unlike the first--is NOT made into a proper Lord of House Acoma, instead remaining as a consort, with secondary power inside the House's internal political structure. She then has to face new challenges in this role, including leaving the Empire entirely to try and find additional supporters for change outside the boundaries of the Empire.

Sixth: She now breaks the chains that held her back. Usually by confronting her chief male oppressor.

True, but in context, it makes perfect sense that the trajectory of Mara's journey would lead her to this point. In the first two books, her main opponent is House Minwanabi, the mortal enemy of House Acoma. She spends much of her time scheming against their influence in the Imperial Court. They are one of the most powerful families, being descended from the first Five Families of the Empire. It isn't until the end of the second novel that her efforts finally yield results.

Seventh: She is briefly overwhelmed but then bounces back. This is where she levels up her already enormous power.

Somewhat true, but the context matters. Again, the end of the second book establishes Lady Mara of House Acoma as a true force within the Empire. Her efforts on behalf of the Emperor result in her being named as a Servant of the Empire, an honor bestowed only twenty times or so over the past two thousand years. She is adopted into the Imperial family and any offense against her is considered an offense against the Emperor himself. The Assembly of Magicians also declares that she is protected. Can't level up much more than that...or can she?

Eighth: She defeats her male oppressor.

Once again, true to an extent, but the context matters. Mara selected her first husband because she thought he would be more tractable than his older brother. She quickly found out her husband was an abusive, alcoholic asshole who was smarter--or at least more cunning--than most people thought. It takes some time before Mara is able to exploit her husband's weakness, eventually causing her husband to commit ritual suicide for dishonoring himself before his own father as well as the Warlord of the Empire. Mara is only able to defeat male oppressors because she is able to find their weakness and exploit it somehow. She is NOT capable of defeating anyone in open conflict, being a small, petite woman with no combat training whatsoever. She uses the laws and traditions of the Empire as her sword and shield.

Ninth: She is now an independent woman who will never need a man. And she must continue her journey alone. Any other person in her life will hold her back. She will never be a wife or a mother. Those things would all hold her back. If she finds love at all, it's with another woman.

Of all the criteria on this list, it's this one that is defied most, I think. Although Mara grew up mock wrestling with her older brother, she is NOT a tom boy. She very much enjoys being a woman, and knows that she will always be heavily reliant on men to perform services and duties on her behalf. She LOVES being a mother to her children, doting on them constantly, even as she attends to the affairs of her House. She also relies constantly on her Midkemian slave to check some of her harsher impulses and prevent her from making key mistakes. When she chooses to disregard his advice, she tends to regret it. In fact, ignoring the advice of the men around her nearly costs her her life at the end of the second novel, and does result in the death of her beloved nurse, whom she has viewed as her surrogate mother since childhood. Arguably, the society in which she lives *requires* her to be a wife and mother in order to advance her cause. Her husband and children can provide a small measure of protection against rival Houses while she plays the political Game of the Council.

Tenth: Realized self-actualization. She was always a goddess and just needed to believe how awesomely amazing she always was herself.

No. Just no. Mara is a highly intelligent, forceful, and creative woman, who realizes that the society in which she was born into needs significant change. At no time does she believe that she is a goddess, and just needs to unleash the heroine inside herself to change the world. It's a long, hard slog with many setbacks and tragedies along the way. The series takes place over the course of a couple of decades, starting when she was just a seventeen-year-old girl about to join a nunnery for the rest of her life. It takes a tremendous amount of effort, luck, and skill to overcome the challenges the gods set before her, and she could never have done it all on her own. She relies extensively on a network of military might and espionage to keep her family name alive. If anything, it's her belief in the skills and abilities of *others* which lays the foundation for her success. She gives men hope who might never have found it. She raises up the downtrodden and powerless to positions of power and prestige as a reward for their faithful service.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I enjoyed this series much more than I thought I would. The advantages of age and experience, I suppose. The story of Lady Mara of House Acoma shows the RIGHT way to tell a "GRRRL POWER!" story, with a courageous, intelligent female protagonist who knows her own limitations and strives to overcome them through wisdom and compassion. Growing up in a male-dominated society obsessed with personal honor means she has to find creative ways to defy both tradition and the law in order to accomplish her goals. That she does so to become the most powerful woman in Imperial history is a testament to her abilities over time, not the result of a last minute boss-battle with the representative of the male patriarchy who is keeping her down. Indeed, when Mara does have a final confrontation against the Assembly of Magicians, she knows her only chance of survival is through rhetoric, not strength of arms or magic. Modern writers interested in telling a quality story with a female protagonist could learn a lot from this collaborative effort from Janny Wurts and Raymond E. Feist.

(ht: Quarter Twenty)

BOOKS BY MORONS

Enclosed is information of my recent publication in The Clockwork Tree Conspiracy, titled ... The Quicker the Wit. [Amazon Link - PS]

Amongst the desert tribes, God gave his followers a word to guide their lives. The Siraen worshipers have made a religion of the one command; Struggle. In the world of Îdra, in all lives big and small, war is a constant threat, while peace is a vague promise. God's mind is unreachable.

Led by their new goblin king, Kothak Dhûrz, the uruk-hai army is driven by hunger and terrible purpose. Their land is desolate; the horde must find a new nest. So the horde marches into the dark underground, bringing choking fire and sharpened iron.

A fledgling alliance of dwarves and gnomes stands together against the dark army. Sworn allies, fighting to defend a fortress city built out of shared need. The interminable struggle seems hopeless and unless something changes, the People of the Books will see their world consumed by hunger and fire. The battles between Khuzdul and Uruk-hai will never end when defeated Uruk-hai can still retreat to their unassailable Gloom.

A Great Evil has escaped its prison and fled to a distant land far to the south. The Winter Queen has found sanctuary in icy lands of endless twilight. There she plots to reclaim her past glory and seek vengeance on her past captors. The Winter Queen's imprisonment has filled her with a terrible purpose and she has declared enmity against God and his Creation. She will break the world with a gift. She promises forever.

MORON RECOMMENDATIONS

Recently I've been reading the cookbook Tasting History, based on the YouTube channel of the same name. It's a fun channel. The guy who runs it, Max Miller, has probably never even touched a weedwhacker, if you get my drift, but his show is entertaining and he does the research. The few errors I've caught him out in are of the "we had to oversimplify because this is a 10-minute video and half of it's about cooking" variety.

I've always been a fan of the Romans and now I have enough recipes to do a full-bore Roman dinner. It would be appropriate to do it in August (geddit?) but I'm inclined to wait for cooler weather to do a big meal of unfamiliar dishes.

Posted by: Trimegistus at June 04, 2023 09:25 AM (QZxDR)

Comment: I've seen a few of those videos. They are indeed entertaining, giving you a historical context for the recipes and what it must have been like to cook them back in those days. Modern cooking technology and techniques have come a long way since Roman times...

I'm currently reading The Book of the New Sun by Gene Wolfe.

I read it in high school, and I've been wanting to revisit it for a few years.

I'm, maybe, a third of the way through the first entry, and I really like the attention to detail, the guarded world building, and the steady pace. I feel like I'm the hands of someone who really knows what they are doing.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison, watching some more Best Pictures at June 04, 2023 11:54 AM (LvTSG)

Comment: I picked up the first two books in an omnibus volume at a library book sale last year and it's been in my TBR pile ever since. It's supposed to be one of the landmark series of science fiction stories. I do have GURPS New Sun, which allows you to play a role-playing game set in that world.

I've started reading it and the early parts seem to be a combination of Jack Vance's Dying Earth--as there are references to a dying sun as well as massive changes to the Earth (now called "Urth") over countless eons--and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast with the descriptions of an ancient, complex Citadel where strange rituals are performed that have lost all meaning, but are still necessary.

I read Jack Carr's latest in his James Reece series, Only The Dead. The dead body count is high even for this series, but while reading I kept asking myself, "I wonder if this is real?" Such as, is there a senator on the Senate Intelligence Committee who is a mole for the Russians? There certainly is a cabal of the elites of the world, think World Economic Forum, who have no allegiance to any particular nation-state. but who are only interested in accruing more wealth and power while keeping the endless war going but keeping it from going nuclear and ruining their game. It's this type of cabal that Reese is fighting in this book. A wonderful thriller.

Posted by: Zoltan at June 04, 2023 09:09 AM (xwsCW)

Comment: How much of this is fact? How much is fiction? The more we learn about the antics of the WEF, you have to wonder if they've just been stealing their material from spy thrillers and dystopian science fiction novels.

More Moron-recommended reading material can be found HERE! (807 Moron-recommended books so far!)

WHAT I'VE BEEN READING THIS PAST WEEK:

• Mistress of the Empire by Raymond E. Feist and Janny Wurts -- Mara of House Acoma faces her biggest challenges yet: eliminating the largest society of assassins in the Empire, as well as unraveling the mysteries behind the power of the Great Ones.
• The Book of the New Sun Volume 1 - Shadow and Claw by Gene Wolfe -- The first part is an interesting mix of Jack Vance's Dying Earth and Mervyn Peake's Gormenghast.

That's about all I have for this week. Thank you for all of your kind words regarding the Sunday Morning Book Thread. This is a very special place. You are very special people (in all the best ways!). The kindness, generosity, and wisdom of the Moron Horde knows no bounds. Let's keep reading!

If you have any suggestions for improvement, reading recommendations, or discussion topics that you'd like to see on the Sunday Morning Book Thread, you can send them to perfessor dot squirrel at-sign gmail dot com. Your feedback is always appreciated! You can also take a virtual tour of OUR library at libib.com/u/perfessorsquirrel. Since I added sections for AoSHQ, I now consider it OUR library, rather than my own personal fiefdom...

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