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tied him to a tree like saint sebastian
two questions about the Vorkosigan Saga:
1. how does swearing someone work in terms of the armsmans' score/Vorloupulous' law? When Miles swears Arde and Baz in - when Mark swears Elena - do those count as additions to the number of Vorkosigan Armsmen? Because neither boy acts as though a slot needs to be open before a swearing can happen, on penalty of high treason. Is there a textual explanation, or is it a crack in the narrative?
2. Why, when Bujold so obviously understands why aspects of Miles' courtship of Ekaterin are really borderline in terms of acceptable behavior, does she choose to have the story go down that way? There are all of these words about how Ekaterin needs some time, some confidence, some space - Bujold clearly does get it, at some level. Does she just not care? Why was it necessary for her to write the story about Miles pushing Ekaterin's consent and disrespecting her boundaries and still getting her to marry him in the end?
It would have been really cool if it had gone the other way, actually been a healthy and functional romance all the time, instead of just some of the time.
1. how does swearing someone work in terms of the armsmans' score/Vorloupulous' law? When Miles swears Arde and Baz in - when Mark swears Elena - do those count as additions to the number of Vorkosigan Armsmen? Because neither boy acts as though a slot needs to be open before a swearing can happen, on penalty of high treason. Is there a textual explanation, or is it a crack in the narrative?
2. Why, when Bujold so obviously understands why aspects of Miles' courtship of Ekaterin are really borderline in terms of acceptable behavior, does she choose to have the story go down that way? There are all of these words about how Ekaterin needs some time, some confidence, some space - Bujold clearly does get it, at some level. Does she just not care? Why was it necessary for her to write the story about Miles pushing Ekaterin's consent and disrespecting her boundaries and still getting her to marry him in the end?
It would have been really cool if it had gone the other way, actually been a healthy and functional romance all the time, instead of just some of the time.
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2. I only just realized this, but ACC is a huge homage to Dorothy L. Sayers' Gaudy Night, in which a similar courtship takes place over months and years. I think LMB wanted to preserve the basic story of "man pursues a woman who believes she is broken and no longer eligible for love; realizes he can't 'fix' or 'save' her, is humbled, and apologizes handsomely; she is inspired to pursue him, and they all live happily ever after." However, she tried to fit it into a too-compressed timeline.
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The racist remark in Gaudy Night
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And yes to the homage to GN, and to the rush which is tied up with the action/spy/political narratives of Barrayar which are in both of Ekaterin's novels.
I have loved Bujold's work for a long time but more and more I am uncomfortable with how her major female characters (except for Ista in the Chalion series, but only Ista) are treated. It's....well, it's one of those problematic things. I LOVE the characters, but I wish they had the time/space/narrative attention that the male characters do.
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Spoilers in linked review
http://ltimmelduchamp.com/criticism/campaign.html
(One of the male academics writing on Bujold gets grumpy about this review by Duchamp--and other feminists reviews of LMB's work--if you like, I can try to give you the info).
Re: Spoilers in linked review
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2. I will have to think more about this.
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I'd also like the version in which Tien doesn't handily die and they all have to work that one out.
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It's only legal if there are places in the score to do it, and it's possible that there are. We don't ever get a full list of armsmen. It also could be that Miles is banking on the fact that he's unlikely to get caught, that it doesn't completely count. He's not thinking about VorL's law at all.
But it's just not explained.