Beyond Selidor

The title of this post refers not to the relationship I have with any particular person, but rather the relationship I have, at present, with my PhD.* I got a lot more work done this week, but I am still finding the whole business rather frustrating. It's easier in the early years of research, when you can measure progress by word count. Editing produces a much more ambiguous sense of achievement.

This week, Matthias' sister and her friend D visited us. They were here from Tuesday evening until early Saturday morning. Apart from Thursday, when they spent the day in London, I was in full hostess mode, showing them around Cambridge and helping them with their Christmas shopping. In the evenings, we hung out in various pubs. I like them, and I like having guests in general, but I do always breathe a sigh of relief when they're out the door, as I find the whole thing exhausting.

Other than that, I've had quite a quiet week, which has suited me fine. Term ended a week ago, and the town is cold and empty now all the undergrads have gone home. I like it better this way - more space in the library, room to move in the city centre, longer times for borrowing books and so on. We spent Saturday watching TV and reading, and this morning had a leisurely breakfast while reading the newspaper, which is one of my favourite ways to spend the time.

I'm mostly caught up with TV. Scandal ended, and while I feel mostly positive about the show, it engaged in a particular trope of which I'm not fond.

( Scandal spoilers )

I'm almost finished with Marina Warner, which is good, as I'm flying to Australia on Friday and have a couple of books lined up for the flight, The Seven Wonders by Steven Saylor, which is a prequel to his Roma Sub Rosa series of detective novels, and Sarah Rees Brennan's latest, Unspoken. I can't wait!

You should all read Foz Meadows' post on default narrative settings and the futility of arguing 'historical accuracy' in the face of accusations of the absence of narrative diversity. Her post also doubles as an excellent resource, with links that can be pulled out every time someone says that it's 'historically inaccurate' to have a fantasy novel about, say, a black, female pirate captain.

[W]hat on Earth makes you think that the classic SWM default is apolitical? If it can reasonably argued that a character’s gender, race and sexual orientation have political implications, then why should that verdict only apply to characters who differ from both yourself and your expectations? Isn’t the assertion that straight white men are narratively neutral itself a political statement, one which seeks to marginalise as exceptional or abnormal the experiences of every other possible type of person on the planet despite the fact that straight white men are themselves a global minority? And even if a particular character was deliberately written to make a political point, why should that threaten you? Why should it matter that people with different beliefs and backgrounds are using fiction to write inspirational wish-fulfillment characters for themselves, but from whose struggle and empowerment you feel personally estranged? That’s not bad writing, and as we’ve established by now, it’s certainly not bad history – and particularly not when you remember (as so many people seem to forget) that fictional cultures are under no obligation whatsoever to conform to historical mores. It just means that someone has managed to write a successful story that doesn’t consider you to be its primary audience – and if the prospect of not being wholly, overwhelmingly catered to is something you find disturbing, threatening, wrong? Then yeah: I’m going to call you a bigot, and I probably won’t be wrong.

I feel inadequate following up this link with one to my own blog, but in any case, I read The Lions of Al-Rassan. It broke my heart. And then I reviewed it.

The theme of this week is resistance. Not just the classic 'to the barricades!' active, violent resistance, but all the tiny, powerful ways people confront the things that dispossess them. The resistance that is knowing when something is deeply wrong, and articulating why that is, even if you're unable to change your circumstances. And with that in mind, the song of this week is 'All of This' by The Naked and Famous.



_________________
*I'll leave you to work out for yourselves which one of us is the passive partner.

We possess the power
if this should start to fall apart
to mend divides, to change the world
to reach the farthest star.

Everything is as it should be.

This popped up on capslock_atla. It will make no sense if you haven't seen Avatar: The Last Airbender.



For context, if you haven't seen it, here's the original 'Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny':