tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post6452077781780921393..comments2023-08-15T05:06:03.233-06:00Comments on The Writing Sisterhood: When “The Exotic” becomes “ The Bizarre”The Sisterhoodhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09889577041903181315noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-74020833164420068912012-04-27T04:02:19.866-06:002012-04-27T04:02:19.866-06:00The subject of vampire pregnancies also baffled me...The subject of vampire pregnancies also baffled me. It used to be that they couldn´t breed. It is still so in the Sookie Stackhouse series, but then Twilight came and changed that perception using no logic whatsoever.<br /><br />My research threw light on how culturally different British and American Literature are. As you say, you don´t find firearms or car chases, add profanity is much moresubdued in comparison to its American counterpart.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-78706921099205639452012-04-26T14:43:52.865-06:002012-04-26T14:43:52.865-06:00"Going back to literature, it is my experienc..."Going back to literature, it is my experience that only two genres bypass the formula and safely waddle into exotic cultures: mysteries (historical and others) and the late Twentieth Century bodice-ripper because they turn around universal subjects: murder and sex. "<br /><br />I found this final thought of yours intriguing. Recently I read a blog post by a British blogger and she mapped out the top five things to look for in a good mystery. One thing she noted was that she couldn't stand to read about the use of guns in a detective novel, the main reason being culture. She felt that in British literature it makes the story unbelievable, since they are not a culture of guns. With American literature it's quite the opposite. If there's a cop in a murder mystery not pulling a gun, then that becomes an unbelievable selling point to the intended audience. So honestly, I think even mysteries depend on who's telling the story, because a British detective and an American detective would view the whole firepower issue differently.<br /><br />And now that you've mentioned it, it makes me think of how many recent Masterpiece Mysteries I've watched (because they mostly take place in England, except for Wallander) and how rarely one sees firearms used during these shows, which is quite the opposite when it comes to Hollywood films and television shows.Mary Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429769115085903305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-54909071531905520072012-04-26T14:34:19.101-06:002012-04-26T14:34:19.101-06:00I just have to say, I agree with you on having sex...I just have to say, I agree with you on having sex with dead dudes -- it's a very repulsive thought. Therefore, I, too, do not enjoy the vampire craze. Here's the most mind-boggling question to some of the vampire stuff -- How does one get pregnant from a guy who's been dead for more than a hundred years? Never mind. I don't think I want to know.Mary Maryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09429769115085903305noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-64929213067230861532012-04-24T12:45:16.353-06:002012-04-24T12:45:16.353-06:00Dear Regis, you are so courageous when it comes to...Dear Regis, you are so courageous when it comes to postulate your tastes. Most people are terrified of criticizing Hemingway, one of literature’s sacred cows. I am fascinated by Hemingway the man (can’t wait to see Clive Owen portraying him), but I find that many of his works are overrated. The Old Man bores me to death, and For Whom the Bells Toll is nothing short of dull propaganda, but I do like Sun also Rises. I don´t love it as I love A Farewell to Arms, but I am very fond of the story perhaps because I read the book in college under the guidance of a wonderful teacher who really made me love it. My next post will be about those words like “impotent” that you couldn’t include in novels.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-72107684954950469922012-04-24T12:06:52.323-06:002012-04-24T12:06:52.323-06:00Regis says; I can't think of anything I've...Regis says; I can't think of anything I've read that actually made me uncomfortable, but I have avoided gruesome (holocaust etc) books. If I dip into a genre that bores me (chic lit for example), I move on. Ones that I enjoy, and stay with me, have personalities, not necessarily heroic, with whom I can identify; or are interesting studies of odd characters and interesting relationships. That said, I don't understand the popularity of 'The Sun Also Rises', (Hemingway's worst until The old man and the sea'). The pointless wanderings of a group of drunken misfits, winding up at a bullfight left me cold. I noticed in the clip, (thanks Violante) that the shocking word 'impotent' is used, whereas in the book, it was suggested by innuendo, If I remember correctly . . . . If I had a psychoanalyst, he would probably love to read this.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-52835855116672891652012-04-24T10:55:50.158-06:002012-04-24T10:55:50.158-06:00I never make absolute statements, so I wouldn’t sa...I never make absolute statements, so I wouldn’t say every reader will feel uncomfortable reading about foreign cultures unless seen through the eyes of someone like him, but most readers do. I don´t think K. Hosseini was attempting to entice Americans to read his novels, no more than we do when targeting a particular audience, but for all effects he is an American. He left Afghanistan when he was five-years old (1970) and didn´t return until 2007. As a diplomat´s son, he had a cosmopolitan upbringing. He settled in the States when he was a teenager, finished high school and went to college in America. He has spent most of his life in California so chances are that his outlook and habits make him closer to the West Coast culture than the Afghani ways.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-64625733975033042662012-04-24T10:40:43.005-06:002012-04-24T10:40:43.005-06:00Since childhood I have been a lover of the exotic ...Since childhood I have been a lover of the exotic in fiction, and being a Third World Baby, Americans and their culture were (until my resettlement in USA) exotic territory. I confess that I am still a fairy tale lover, magic and the occult fascinate me, and as a woman of faith I sincerely believe in the supernatural, but I crave for the familiar like anybody else. As you say, Sister Stephanie, when fiction becomes too oddball for my taste, I just walk away from it. <br /><br />It´s why I have never been part of the vampire cult. As they constantly screech to Sookie Stackhouse, having affairs with dead dudes is gross and not very romantic! A werewolf however is human most of the time, so it´s easier for me to relate to having an affair with one. But only when he is human. <br /><br />Alice Borchardt, Anne Rice’s sister, in her novel The Silver Wolf wrote about a werewolf girl living in Charlemagne days. Excellent novel with one “but.” Regaene, the heroine, falls for enigmatic Maeniel, who luckily for her is also a werewolf. So far so good, but there is a scene where they mate, while in animal shape, that turned me off. I love animals and I have too much respect for them to find their sex habits arousing. I felt like a peeping tom watching dogs copulate.<br /><br />Oohh, and on the exhilarating and never ending subject of George R.R. Martin´s work. I read yesterday, that his original intention was to write a historical novel about the War of the Roses, but he found more literary freedom when settling his plot in a fantastic realm that kept similarities with our Middle Ages. I agree that keeping magic in its place, and emphasizing more human emotions like the struggle for power, is what has let him gather such a large mainstream following.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-69240875011942036012012-04-24T09:32:38.116-06:002012-04-24T09:32:38.116-06:00Like you, Violante, I'm not a fan of sword-and...Like you, Violante, I'm not a fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy, but George R. R. Martin has been an exception. What makes the Song of Fire And Ice familiar-enough territory for me is the political machinations. Politics are politics: the game-playing is easily identifiable almost regardless of culture or even world. Martin only begins to bring in actual magic at the end of the first book, and by the end of the second book (where I am now) there's still not a lot of it: it's pretty realistic. Maybe this is why he's been able to crossover and accrue fans who wouldn't normally read him. Well, the HBO series doesn't hurt. :) There are enough dragons to make the diehard high-fantasy fans happy, but enough actual *story* to make the rest of us happy.<br /><br />I can only assume that you are correct, and that I only read things that are familiar enough to be to be comfortable. I'm not sure how I'd know if there was an exception to that: maybe if I read (for example) Japanese books in translation, written by an author writing purely for his own cohort? I did read "The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle" by Haruki Murakami, which felt pretty accessible to me (though I didn't love it), even though it was in fact written in Japanese originally. But I didn't know Khaled Hosseini had such an American background, or was writing deliberately to entice an American audience: perhaps Murakami also knows western culture and knew to drop enough "western-ness" into his novel to make it accessible to outsiders?<br /><br />I was really into Orson Scott Card for a while, and loved the Ender series ... until Ender started encountering sentient viruses. The series got progressively weirder, until it was just too oddball for me to follow anymore ... I hadn't thought about it, but this could be another example of your point. Card didn't give us anything familiar to hang on to.Stephaniehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02187854108656107958noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-87771563353106022012-04-24T07:20:06.131-06:002012-04-24T07:20:06.131-06:00True, I know many people who resent Fantasy unless...True, I know many people who resent Fantasy unless there are humans involved. I confess that I cringe when I read science fiction or fantasy that is too “bizarre” (e.g. to removed from human sensibilities and realm)<br /><br />The King and I is actually based on a true story. Anna the governess did exist and she wrote her memoirs about her experiences with the King of Siam in two books The English Governess at the Siamese Court and Romance of the Harem. <br /><br />For centuries, most probably since Ancient Greeks, foreign civilizations and native customs were exposed through the eyes of explorers, conquistadors and finally diplomats and colonial civil servants. So the formula is derived from the writing style of real life accounts and official reports.<br /><br />About translations, American audience’s first encounter with Mel Gibson was the Australian flick “Mad Max”. It was so incomprehensible that it had to be translated from “strine” to American English! Poor Mel Gibson got a horrible dubbing! I am sad to say I have never seen the original, so I cannot tell if the language was that indecipherable.Violantehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02800111423488923625noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3266371808927804670.post-76475812941329468012012-04-23T18:08:07.925-06:002012-04-23T18:08:07.925-06:00"...the need to describe the bizarre through ..."...the need to describe the bizarre through familiar eyes."<br /><br />This also applies to fantasy. We see it in "Chronicles of Narnia" where the children are normal human beings who, together with the audience, discover a fantastic world.<br /><br />I can think of other examples where I've seen this "identification method": the film "The Last Samurai", where Tom Cruise plays an American officer who travels to Japan to train soldiers in modern warfare and is imprisoned by the samurai; the historical novel "Olivia and Jai" where an English woman visits her aunt and uncle in India during the 1840s and falls in love with a "native"; and the musical "The King and I" with Deborah Kerr.<br /><br />"Some members of the audience will need to see a good story reenacted by their own actors, speaking in their own language or accent, and expressing their cultural idiosyncrasies."<br /><br />This is so true. I know that in Italy and Spain, for example, movies are dubbed into Italian or Spanish (in Latin America they only add subtitles). The most shocking thing I have seen done in a US Spanish station was that they dubbed a movie from Spain to a "neutral" or Mexican-accented Spanish.<br /><br />Interesting and thought-provoking post, Sister Violante!Lorenahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17848249911635132594noreply@blogger.com