I think with MZB--there is a lot of hesitation to bring her personal life into discussion of her books, but I think it's actually highly relevant. Her personal issues show up all over her books.
First, she was married to a pedophile and there's evidence that she may have known and covered for him. Some of her books come off as apologia for pedophilia. The Catch Trap (which has a really, really problematic portrayal of pedophilic gay incest--I couldn't even finish it) is where these issues show up the most, but they show up in Darkover, too. She probably had at least one relationship with a woman for a while and always had queer leanings--but I believe rejected that aspect of her life when she began identifying strongly as Christian, and I don't think she was ever really comfortable with her sexuality--which, I think, explains a lot about how she handles queer women in the Darkover books. I wouldn't call her a "feminist" writer, either, not really.
So I don't know--I am always hesitant to recommend Darkover. The books are incredibly variable in quality, they have a lot of awesome aspects, they have a lot of really problematic aspects. They are very much a product of their period of feminism. I loved them as a teenager, but I'm kind of afraid to go back and read most of them now.
no subject
I think with MZB--there is a lot of hesitation to bring her personal life into discussion of her books, but I think it's actually highly relevant. Her personal issues show up all over her books.
First, she was married to a pedophile and there's evidence that she may have known and covered for him. Some of her books come off as apologia for pedophilia. The Catch Trap (which has a really, really problematic portrayal of pedophilic gay incest--I couldn't even finish it) is where these issues show up the most, but they show up in Darkover, too. She probably had at least one relationship with a woman for a while and always had queer leanings--but I believe rejected that aspect of her life when she began identifying strongly as Christian, and I don't think she was ever really comfortable with her sexuality--which, I think, explains a lot about how she handles queer women in the Darkover books. I wouldn't call her a "feminist" writer, either, not really.
So I don't know--I am always hesitant to recommend Darkover. The books are incredibly variable in quality, they have a lot of awesome aspects, they have a lot of really problematic aspects. They are very much a product of their period of feminism. I loved them as a teenager, but I'm kind of afraid to go back and read most of them now.