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Nov. 10th, 2007
The Catch Trap
Nov. 10th, 2007 04:53 pmI've just finished The Catch Trap, an out-of-print Marion Zimmer Bradley book about gay trapeze artists in love in the circuses of the 30s, 40s and 50s.
It's a strange, difficult to navigate book, in that it is not always easy to distinguish from the internal tone of the book, which is quite pulpy and also set in a time both closetted and constrained, and the external tone of the book, which was published in 1979 and features a more significant disclaimer about how the book isn't making any claims about the sexuality of any real people the book might reference or have even used in the process of research. The book and the book's subjects are both daring and frightened, and this is by turns confusing, fascinating and even cloying.
That said, the book has a lot of interesting things to say about discipline, creative family, dying arts and the heavy burdens of narrow lineages, but it is hard not to read it without wondering what tone it would achieve had it been written today while retaining its original setting.
It is worth noting that I found a lot of things in the book familiar both from fencing (the fact of it and the way I often long for it to be) and from having a big, crazy Italian family and a whole lot of my own temperment. Certainly, there were things about the book that made me grok my profoundly unsteady relationship with atonement.
Good, worth finding (which is apparently incredibly difficult -- this was a birthday gift), especially if you have any interest in teh history of gay literature and identity, or, conversely, if you're just a fan writer who loves the slash and wants to get a handle on teh world before or outside.
Two pieces of trivia worth noting:
There's a circus poster on the cover of the edition I have, for a performance taking place on September 11th.
The family the book is about is the Santellis. A source of grave aggravation amongst fencers is that an equiment maker named Santelli is no more.
Both random oddities made me chuckle.
It's a strange, difficult to navigate book, in that it is not always easy to distinguish from the internal tone of the book, which is quite pulpy and also set in a time both closetted and constrained, and the external tone of the book, which was published in 1979 and features a more significant disclaimer about how the book isn't making any claims about the sexuality of any real people the book might reference or have even used in the process of research. The book and the book's subjects are both daring and frightened, and this is by turns confusing, fascinating and even cloying.
That said, the book has a lot of interesting things to say about discipline, creative family, dying arts and the heavy burdens of narrow lineages, but it is hard not to read it without wondering what tone it would achieve had it been written today while retaining its original setting.
It is worth noting that I found a lot of things in the book familiar both from fencing (the fact of it and the way I often long for it to be) and from having a big, crazy Italian family and a whole lot of my own temperment. Certainly, there were things about the book that made me grok my profoundly unsteady relationship with atonement.
Good, worth finding (which is apparently incredibly difficult -- this was a birthday gift), especially if you have any interest in teh history of gay literature and identity, or, conversely, if you're just a fan writer who loves the slash and wants to get a handle on teh world before or outside.
Two pieces of trivia worth noting:
There's a circus poster on the cover of the edition I have, for a performance taking place on September 11th.
The family the book is about is the Santellis. A source of grave aggravation amongst fencers is that an equiment maker named Santelli is no more.
Both random oddities made me chuckle.
Groceries! This includes a chicken pot pie for P, and things like mozarella, prosciutto, gaufrettes and chocolate hazelnut gelato for the house. Who says Living Without has to suck?
Speaking of, time to write up some more gluten-free food reviews for AssociatedContent.com. It's a task I find it a little hard to get motivated for, but showing these companies the love to make sure they continue to exist while also making myself $$ is a good thing.
Read about the horror of grading student papers here. Shouldn't this type of stuff also have its own Internet destination? I'm telling you HitchAMammothToAPlow.com needs to happen. I'd wear the t-shirt!
Remember when I was all, "Oh hey, this Lexicon wank sucks, let's go back to the wank about Dumbledore being gay"? I take it all back. I hate this dead!gay!Dumbeldore wank.
Things that are cool about LJIdol 1: I found out about a local con I just have to go to (thanks![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
n_decisive).
Things that are cool about LJIdol 2: After one of those conversations that I thought was going to become a totally irksome LJ disagreement, the other party and I actually figured out what each other were talking about and are now on each other's friendslists.
Things that are cool about LJIdol 3: Wow. Votes. I'm a little flabbergasted. Thanks y'all.
Speaking of, time to write up some more gluten-free food reviews for AssociatedContent.com. It's a task I find it a little hard to get motivated for, but showing these companies the love to make sure they continue to exist while also making myself $$ is a good thing.
Read about the horror of grading student papers here. Shouldn't this type of stuff also have its own Internet destination? I'm telling you HitchAMammothToAPlow.com needs to happen. I'd wear the t-shirt!
Remember when I was all, "Oh hey, this Lexicon wank sucks, let's go back to the wank about Dumbledore being gay"? I take it all back. I hate this dead!gay!Dumbeldore wank.
Things that are cool about LJIdol 1: I found out about a local con I just have to go to (thanks
n_decisive).Things that are cool about LJIdol 2: After one of those conversations that I thought was going to become a totally irksome LJ disagreement, the other party and I actually figured out what each other were talking about and are now on each other's friendslists.
Things that are cool about LJIdol 3: Wow. Votes. I'm a little flabbergasted. Thanks y'all.