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Why should the guys get all the fun?
Jun. 29th, 2008 05:46 pmBeing a response to Nim's post
I like the jolly sort of books like The Three Musketeers, or Treasure Island, or The Count of Monte Christo (which I am currently reading again). I don't mind the fact that the women in them are, for all practical purposes, absent. I also adore books that are more a comedy of manners, like Pride and Prejudice, or Vanity Fair, or Jane Eyre. I like them both, and you better not try to make me choose between them, for I can't. What I do mind, and have a problem with, is the false definition that the first is a guys book and the second is a girls book.
First, great literature is simply great literature. Pride and Prejudice is a great book. It is great literature. It may not be to a particular person's taste, but I read books that I do not find to my taste because I know and recognize that they are great works of literature. You may like it, or you may dislike it, but you should not feel obligated to like it if you are a girl, or dislike it because you are a guy. I don't understand why it is often called chick lit, in a disparaging sense. It isn't a little fluffy novel, but a great and enduring work of literature. I like Pride and Prejudice, not because I am a girl, but because it is great.
Second, I like adventure stories, particularly fantasy or sci-fi adventures. But the desire for adventure is not a specifically masculine trait, but is rather a human trait. I see no reason why a girl should stay at home, but a guy gets to go off and have adventures. I see no reason why girls can't go off and slay the dragon, or defeat the overlord, or save the world. Treasure Island would be different if the main character was a girl, but that is simply saying that Treasure Island would be different if the main character was different. Every individual will defeat the dragon or save the world in their own individual way. That's all I want. I want the recognition that Treasure Island appeals to me, not because I am a tomboy, or because I have tomboy-ish tendencies, but Treasure Island appeals to me because it is a good story and I happen to have a taste for adventure.
There is something appealing in the idea of being a knight, of going off on quests, of defending the defenseless and defeating the wicked. I like the idea of sailing off to fight wicked pirates and find buried treasure. And I don't see why I can't (at least in literature).
I like the jolly sort of books like The Three Musketeers, or Treasure Island, or The Count of Monte Christo (which I am currently reading again). I don't mind the fact that the women in them are, for all practical purposes, absent. I also adore books that are more a comedy of manners, like Pride and Prejudice, or Vanity Fair, or Jane Eyre. I like them both, and you better not try to make me choose between them, for I can't. What I do mind, and have a problem with, is the false definition that the first is a guys book and the second is a girls book.
First, great literature is simply great literature. Pride and Prejudice is a great book. It is great literature. It may not be to a particular person's taste, but I read books that I do not find to my taste because I know and recognize that they are great works of literature. You may like it, or you may dislike it, but you should not feel obligated to like it if you are a girl, or dislike it because you are a guy. I don't understand why it is often called chick lit, in a disparaging sense. It isn't a little fluffy novel, but a great and enduring work of literature. I like Pride and Prejudice, not because I am a girl, but because it is great.
Second, I like adventure stories, particularly fantasy or sci-fi adventures. But the desire for adventure is not a specifically masculine trait, but is rather a human trait. I see no reason why a girl should stay at home, but a guy gets to go off and have adventures. I see no reason why girls can't go off and slay the dragon, or defeat the overlord, or save the world. Treasure Island would be different if the main character was a girl, but that is simply saying that Treasure Island would be different if the main character was different. Every individual will defeat the dragon or save the world in their own individual way. That's all I want. I want the recognition that Treasure Island appeals to me, not because I am a tomboy, or because I have tomboy-ish tendencies, but Treasure Island appeals to me because it is a good story and I happen to have a taste for adventure.
There is something appealing in the idea of being a knight, of going off on quests, of defending the defenseless and defeating the wicked. I like the idea of sailing off to fight wicked pirates and find buried treasure. And I don't see why I can't (at least in literature).
