Eastercon: Novel Discussion: Tanith Lee - Drinking Sapphire Wine
Saturday, March 22nd, 2008 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tamaranthI'm writing up and posting, separately, notes on each panel that I attended at Eastercon. They're date-stamped with the date of the actual panel. I'll post an entry with links to all of 'em once I've finished writing up notes.
Saturday 10:00: Novel Discussion: Tanith Lee - Drinking Sapphire Wine (Craig Gidney)
One of my favourite Tanith Lee novels, so I made the effort to get up early: so did about ten other people. Slightly unnervingly, one of them was someone I haven't seen since the early 90s.
Points discussed:
- written in the 1970s, a response to the hedonism of the 1960s.
- it's not a utopia; there's no meaning to anything
- Don't Bite the Sun, the second novel in the duology, is more 'adult' -- about growing up and leaving.
- in some ways the end of Don't Bite the Sun is a triumph of conservatism, reinstatement of the family unit
- the colony of exiles is a big threat to the cities, hence the attack
- the gender-switching doesn't mean that the unnamed protagonist [henceforth 'P'] is sexless: long discussion of whether P is predominantly female or not.
- the gender-switching might seem pro-gay but it's often done to permit heterosexual sex: only a male and a female can marry -- and 'marriage' (which can be temporary) is a prerequisite for sex
- connection with Lee's 'sex and death' theme
- underlying themes of not taking responsibility; what you think you want versus what you really want; quest for happiness
- is Metallic Love a prequel?
Saturday 10:00: Novel Discussion: Tanith Lee - Drinking Sapphire Wine (Craig Gidney)
One of my favourite Tanith Lee novels, so I made the effort to get up early: so did about ten other people. Slightly unnervingly, one of them was someone I haven't seen since the early 90s.
Points discussed:
- written in the 1970s, a response to the hedonism of the 1960s.
- it's not a utopia; there's no meaning to anything
- Don't Bite the Sun, the second novel in the duology, is more 'adult' -- about growing up and leaving.
- in some ways the end of Don't Bite the Sun is a triumph of conservatism, reinstatement of the family unit
- the colony of exiles is a big threat to the cities, hence the attack
- the gender-switching doesn't mean that the unnamed protagonist [henceforth 'P'] is sexless: long discussion of whether P is predominantly female or not.
- the gender-switching might seem pro-gay but it's often done to permit heterosexual sex: only a male and a female can marry -- and 'marriage' (which can be temporary) is a prerequisite for sex
- connection with Lee's 'sex and death' theme
- underlying themes of not taking responsibility; what you think you want versus what you really want; quest for happiness
- is Metallic Love a prequel?
