I'm 2/3 of the way through The Dragonriders of Pern, an omnibus edition that includes Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon. Sometimes, Anne McCaffrey's writing can barely be called competent, but in these novels, while you couldn't call the writing graceful, there are few flaws to distract from the story. And what a story! Destruction falling from the sky, teleporting dragons flaming in mid-air, love, time travel, adventure, sex.
Of course, Pern's world economy is based on a caste-based pseudo-medieval system in which birth is destiny: those with good Blood rule, or ride dragons, while those with bad blood are drudges, fit for nothing but doing all the shit work all the time so the dragon-people can have hot meals at a moment's notice and drink a lot of wine. It's a social structure typical of fantasy novels, in which some people do all the work and some do none. This works because, in our fantasies, we are of course the people who do none.
And let's talk about sex roles, which are also rigidly defined. And the two main love relationships in the books both begin with rape. The word "rape" is actually used in one case; here's the other:
He wanted to be gentle, but, unaccountably, Brekke fought him. She pleaded with him.... He wasn't gentle but he was thorough, and in the end Brekke astounded him with a surrender as passionate as if her dragon had been involved. (318)
Hey, Anne McCaffrey! No Means No!
I should throw the book away, appalled. But of course I won't, because who doesn't want to indulge in a fantasy of wild adventure, in which drudges do all the work, we get to ride dragonback, and a handsome lover is so sure of what you need that he gives it to you whether you want it or not--and, oh baby, it turns out you do.
The Sci Fi novels are the only books David and I own in common. Other books are either his, not to be touched by me with thoughts of weeding, or mine, to do with as I will. With Sci Fi, we'd have to reach consensus to weed anything, and we mostly don't because we both re-read Sci Fi when we are looking for something fun. As we continue to weed other things, our collection gets skewed more and more toward Sci Fi, so that it might look to the casual observer like that's most of what we read. Not true; it's just most of what we own.
I wouldn't weed this one anyway. I'm beyond being outraged by a sexist fantasy; I can roll my eyes at it and move on, savoring the adventure. And I do. I'll probably read this one again ten years from now, with the same mix of outrage, embarrassment, and delight.
One last question, though: why do all fantasy (and some Sci Fi) worlds contain a stimulating beverage, whose name starts with c or k, which is served in steaming mugfuls? Why can't they just drink coffee?
Posted by Su Penn at July 4, 2003 08:01 AM | TrackBack